Question - PDF Creators

Hi all,

I have a really simple question: What's the best program for viewing and creating PDF files? Money is not an issue, so feel free to recommend anything that is good. I've heard some negative things about Adobe, but I don't know if any of it is true. I, unfortunately, do not have experience with any of the other programs in existence.

A quick Google search yielded the following results:

http://www.docudesk.com/deskpdf_pdf_writer_lp6.shtml?gclid=CML9leiNhJQCFQZinAodUFc3Wg

http://www.prosoftlabs.org/Adobe/PR.htm

http://www.primopdf.com/

Can anyone vouch for any one of the programs linked above or recommend any other program? I thank anyone who takes the time to help me out.

 

What negative things did you hear about Adobe? Adobe reader is good. I have heard of Foxit reader, but never tried it. PrimoPDF is a PDF creator.
Well you can know more in the free software thread.

 

Well, I've heard the dreaded 'it takes up a lot of resources' thing. That, however, I've come to realize is the mantra about almost any software that gets mentioned. We all worry about that perhaps too much. What really has me nervous is I hear that it crashes when users are viewing large PDF files, which I will be using. I will also be creating large PDF files as well. I don't need something that freezes up or crashes on me during use.

 

The only negative that I am aware of regarding Adobe is the cost. The full program that you can create and edit is not inexpensive. It is the best one. I have not had problems with Adobe crashing.

Primo works very well to create them, but you cannot edit them.

You can create, save and edit PDF files in Word 2007.

As noted, you can download the Reader for free.

There are several programs that you can fill PDF files. Some work very well.

What exactly do you want to do?

 

A lot of programs nowadays have the option of simply exporting your files as a PDF, including Openoffice which is completely free. As for the best viewer out there, I'd have to go w/ Adobe Reader, I mean you can never go wrong w/ Adobe....

 

An associate and I will be creating a lot of files of various sizes for our young venture. We will be creating employee handbooks, applications, and various other HR-related documentation that needs to be viewable but locked. I know Adobe is the biggest name, but I was wondering if there was anything comparable.

 

If you are not going to have to edit them, Primo PDF works fine. It works as a print server and after you have your document done, you select it as the printer and it formats the document in PDF format.

If you are using Word 2007, you can also use it to do what you want. Plus you can edit. If you have Office Professional, you can also use Excel to make forms in PDF format which could help on many of the documents you are talking about.

If you are going to do a lot if it, then buy Adobe. It would be the best for large creation, formatting abilities, and editing. Adobe was the creator of the format and is widely accepted as the standard.

OpenOffice can also save in PDF format.

There are a ton of them available and many offer trial versions that you can test out.

 

Gotcha. Thanks for all of your time and information. I really appreciate it, Jakpro.

 

I use Foxit as my PDF reader, but still have Adobe to edit/do whatever with PDFs.

I just feel that Foxit is less of a memory hog and it's pretty fast. The downside is that using Foxit means that you can't open PDFs inside your web browser.

 

I hear you. I might look into Foxit when I have some time. I've been looking at the Adobe prices, and they're pretty steep. However, like I said before, price doesn't matter much to me right now. I'm willing to shell out the cash.

 

Creating and reading are 2 different things.

For creating, PDFCreator is free and works like any other printer. However it doesn't support advanced features (that I know of), like embedded internet links and embedded bookmarks. If your documents have a table of contents, internal bookmarks allow each item to be clicked so the user can go right to the page it's on. If you're looking to be professional, Acrobat is probably the way to go.

For a reader, Adobe is the standard, but calling it bloated is an understatement. It is absolutely one of the worst programs out there. Older versions were much better, but now they have just gone off the deep end. Foxit Reader is very good and free, but doesn't support some advanced PDF features like prefill forms.

Actually, I think Foxit makes PDF creators as well which are not free but also not as expensive as Adobe. They are probably worth a look.

 

This is another one of those things I've heard from more than a few sources. I'm a little concerned, but not that much over this issue. I still haven't paid for anything yet. I'm going to wait a little while and do some more research before committing to Adobe.

 

When it comes to creating, editing, and maintaining PDF documents, nothing comes close to Adobe. We've been using it for years, and there isn't anything better. Since money isn't an issue, go with Adobe.

 

Thanks, Kego. Hey, can you quickly elaborate on some of the "bloated" claims? How has that affected your work or even your system?

 

Adobe Acrobat has not slowed down any of our systems. These are engineering machines, running Probe and other CPU intensive apps - hasn't caused one problem. I think the Reader software is what most people think of when talking about software bloat.

 

Yes, it's the reader that's bloated and terrible. Haven't used the creator in a while, so can't comment on that.

 

In what ways do you consider Adobe Reader as bloated?

 

Same question. What is it about the reader that's bloated? Although I'm not incredibly worried about bloat, I would like to know what I'm getting.

 

I would like to know what exactly "bloated" means?

Does this mean that it uses an inordinate amount of system resources?

I have found that the newer versions of Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader are more streamlined and operate faster than previous versions. Version 8 is fast. Version 9 is supposed to be even faster, but it has not been released.

 

I don't have any problems with the latest version of the Reader. I haven't noticed any system slowdown since installing it. Perhaps I just don't subscribe to the same definition of "bloat" as some people; I have plenty of drive space to spare and, apparently, enough memory and processing oomph to go around.

 

I hear you.