Alternatives to Adobe Acrobat

Hi all,
I've just about had enough of Adobe Acrobat's cumbersome and tediously slow operation!
I need to be able to create, annotate and edit PDFs...can I get some recommendations for alternatives please?
Thanks,
Nige

Not too many options:
pdf-Office or pdf-Office Pro
PDFPenPro
Look for these at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.

Similar Messages

Native Mac alternative to Adobe Reader Pro

Hello people,
I'm looking after an alternative to Adobe Acrobat Reader Pro, through which i can create custom forms with fixed text and text fields (that not only can accept text input but in some cases show possible options from drop down menus) kinda like a smart PDF form.
I don't like using Adobe products at all and pretty much have a grudge on Adobe. The alternative doesn't really even need PDF support but if it can export to PDF that might be a plus. I use PDFPen Pro but that doesn't do what i explained above.
Was also looking at Filemaker (yes i know it's a DB app) in a possible conjunction with PDF Manipulator plugin but i don't think that will help me do what i need to accomplish. The end goal would be to create a dozen PDF, or whatever format, forms that can simplify the work in my small business, since we do work with a lot of repetitive documents that need change only in some small parts.
Do you guys have any idea?
Thanks

There's no such thing as Adobe Reader Pro. There is Adobe Acrobat, which creates PDFs and Adobe Reader which reads PDFs. Finding an alternative to Acrobat might be difficult in that Adobe owns the PDF format. PDFPen is the only one I've heard of, but I'm not really in the market for that software.
If you are looking for another format to use in-house, that may be possible, but I don't know of any.
I have worked in the Air Force for over 20 years. In that time I've seen them go through various iterations of Form creation and filling software. Every time I've had to ask myself, "why don't we just use Acrobat?" I don't know if it is a licensing thing, but we license all of Microsoft, so I'm not sure that's the answer.
An in-house database solution would likely work for the small number of forms you need. So would Mail Merge in Word. You can create fill-in forms in Word, also. It will do dropdown menu selections, check boxes, etc.

Alternative to Adobe Pro for generating light-weight PDFs for Mac?

Is anyone aware of a lower cost alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro for generating light weight PDFs?

Almost anything will export to PDF. Pages, for instance. $20.
You'd be hard pressed to find anything that won't.

Per Adobe website, a download for Acrobat 9 for Mac is "not available." What alternative does Adobe offer to those who have bought and paid for Acrobat and now have computers without optical drive to install that previously purchased software? Buy a PC? B

Per Adobe website, a download for Acrobat 9 for Mac is "not available." What alternative does Adobe offer to those who have bought and paid for Acrobat and now have computers without optical drive to install that previously purchased software? Buy a PC? Buy an external CD drive? Is the answer really "too bad"?

Acrobat 9 for Mac can be downloaded from
Download Adobe CS5 Free Trials – All Direct Links without Akamai | ProDesignTools
Follow the Very Important Instructions on that page first BEFORE you click the download link.

How do I customize Adobe Acrobat Standard DC or Adobe Acrobat Pro DC to do what I'd like? Actually this a multiple-question inquiry.

Note, I was unable to find a "How TO", Tutorial, or FAQ relevant to the following questions.
For instance, how do I easily append to an existing PDF with minimum clicks (which I could do with an earlier version of Acrobat Standard)?
I'm using a 30-day trial of Adobe Acrobat Pro DC to scan documents and in certain situations, append to existing PDFs.
I'd prefer to trial the Adobe Acrobat Standard vs. Pro DC because that's what I intend to purchase. I'd prefer to not get accustomed to Pro if Standard is very different.
1. After selecting Edit > Preferences and specifying certain defaults, most take effect as suspected but some do not, like the one's I'm going to elaborate on below. Why?
2. Alternatively, is there a Tool or a way to create a local customized Profile and default to that Profile to avoid having to repeat the following steps?
   This should not be confused with the online Profile (or Communities Profile) whereby one states one's Name etc.
File
> Create
   > PDF from scanner
     > Custom scan
       > Color Mode: Black and White
       > Append to existing file
         > Browse
           > Select file
             > Scan
This is a cumbersome task to repeat each time I'm ready to scan. Using an earlier version of Acrobat Standard, I'd simply double-click the PDF I wished to append to,
Acrobat would default to the appropriate scanner, and know that I wished to append to an existing file without me having to select that option. Presently it doesn't appear to be that easy/simple.
Perhaps it is (or can be with guidance). Please assist.
3. Please find attached the following snapshots/images... CORRECTION, IF ADOBE SUPPORT CONTACTS ME ABOUT THIS, I'LL GLADLY FORWARD SCREENSHOTS.
   Meaning, there does not appear to be a way to include screenshots on Forums.
3a See Error. Is there a way to get a more accurate description of the error (i.e., turn on debugging etc.)?
3b When Creating a PDF, the prompts still seen after clicking "Configure Presets" and changing Color Mode from AutoDetect to Black and White. Why?
3c Custom Scan Input, where I changed Color Mode from AutoDetect to Black and White and why I must also tell Acrobat to append AND to browse to a pre-defined default location?
4. Must I be "Logged in" to use the product? The first time launching it, I was prompted to login using the credentials used to create the account and download the product. Now when using the product it appears to be automatically "Logged in" or online. I would prefer to use it in an "offline mode" if there is such a thing.
5. Once the product is purchased, what are my support options? Can questions be answered or issues resolved with a phone call or are they limited to the Acrobat Forum(s) and/or Adobe Communities? Even after clicking "Ready to contact us? Start here." I'm only given the Forum option (over and over) vs. Chat vs. Email Support etc.
If I've posted these inquiries to the wrong Forum or Discussion, if prudent, please collectively relocate them. Regardless, please advise. Thanks!

uninstall all acrobat/reader versions and retry installing.
or check your log files for more specific help, Troubleshoot install issues with log files | CS5, CS5.5, CS6

Adobe Acrobat Pro failed to print pdf file

I downloaded adobe acrobat pro and started the 30 trial version just a few minutes ago.
I could open files through adobe acrobat and convert word files to pdf, but when i tried converting a publisher file it could not go through. An error popped up which read "Adobe PDF printer failed to print pdf file".
The publisher file I am hoping to convert to pdf is a 21 page panorama article. It contains lots of images and a variety of font types.
I do not know other alternatives for solving this issue.
Your help will be very much appreciated.
Thank you!
Erik

It seems to be that Adobe Acrobat virtual printer is not properly installed on your PC or you are not selecting Adobe PDF printer to print PDF document. Checkout the below screen shot to see proper printer.
After trying this if you have same problem you may trt some other virtual printer that easily convert or print any file as PDF, you may checkout here.

Adobe Acrobat 6.0 on Windows 8.1?

How can I install Adobe Acrobat 6.0 on Windows 8.1?

It is unknown if you can install it in Win8, particularly the 64-bit system. It would generally be recommended that you buy the new version AA XI. If you have Win8, have you tried the install? Did you succeed, though some parts will likely fail in any case? Can you open Acrobat and Distiller? If the latter two are yes, then you will find that you will be missing the Adobe PDF printer and AcroTray will not function. You only alternative is to install a color PS printer, such as one from HP, change the name to Adobe PDF, and change the port to FILE. Assuming the rest works, you can then create PDFs by printing to the Adobe PDF printer and creating the resultant PS printer (may be a PRN extension). Open that file in Distiller and you should have a PDF. That would be the process, but have no idea if it works on Win8 or 8.1. Let us know the results if you try.
I have followed this process for both AA5 and AA7 on Win7 (32 and 64 bit system respectively). I don't use them there, but the process did work in both cases.

Adobe Acrobat Pro X download for Mac

I need help finding out how to download Adobe Acrobat Pro X? I bought it on CD with my CS6 but I cannot find those disks. I bought a new computer and want to put it on there, but I cannot find it anywhere on line to download. I can find the Pro XI but I need just the Pro X. Where can I find it to download? I have my serial number and have been able to make the other versions of CS6 to work, but I cannot find Pro X.

The download page for CS6 is here, but Acrobat is missing as an individual download:, so you'll need to download whichever suite you purchased.
http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/cs6-product-downloads.html
Alternatively, if you've lost the disk, then you could try to contact Adobe to see if they'll send you a replacement set.
No doubt Adobe will want to sell (sorry, rent) you the Creative Cloud version, which is download only. Of course, you may not want to get involved in that.

Create Subcategory option in adobe acrobat pro

Hello,
I am trying to create form like this ( National Healthcare Achievers, 2015 | Nominate ). I am done with everything but i don't know how to create following functionality with adobe acrobat pro. Even any alternative solution will work too. But i need to distinguish every category. Kindly help.
Thanks

The link you posted gives me a 404 page not found error.

Creating 508 Adobe Acrobat Accessible Docs from various sources and formats

Note: I have no 508 training, except for perusing of documents on the web.
I need to create searchable 508 Compliance report documents for Adobe Acrobat (not for the web at this time) from merged PDF files.
To create these reports, I do not have originals, all I have been given are PDFs, some of which have been created from Word and others scanned (some with OCR and some not). Some of the reports are converted directly from Word but may also be a combination of electronic and scanned pages (signature pages, graphics, appendices, etc.) Often the scanned pages have not been scanned to actual letter size (8.5 x. 11), but are smaller. Sometimes they are larger or A4.
In preparing the final report, I take all of the PDFs and merge them into one document.
I add watermarks and headers/footers to the whole document.
In order to get all of the watermarks and headers/footers to align on the page with ease, I need all of the pages to be the standard letter size of 8.5 x 11 without losing any information.
The only way I can figure out how to achieve this is to take the pages (usually scanned pages) that need to be enlarged (sometimes reduced) and Print to a PDF.
This will create a new PDF of the existing PDF; making it the standard letter size of 8.5 x 11, without cropping.
I can then replace the odd-sized pages with the new PDF pages, creating a document where all of the pages are now the standard letter size of 8.5 x 11.
Once my document is all the same size, I can add my watermarks and header/footers.
I still need to make the whole document a searchable 508 Adobe Acrobat compliant document.
I believe I need to run the OCR Text Recognition to convert/capture scanned pages and pictures to make this document a searchable 508 Adobe Acrobat compliant document.
I tried running the OCR text recognition on the current merged (160 pages) PDF document (before adding my watermarks, headers/footers) to capture the scanned text, and I receive the following errors:
        This page contains renderable text.
        This page has graphics other than images or text on it. It cannot be captured.
When I ran the Adobe Acrobat Accessibility checker, I get the following errors:
       The first page is a scanned signature page: the error says
1 image with no alternate text
            1 element(s) that are not contained within the structure tree.
1.     Inaccessible page content
     Most of the remaining detailed report errors are:
Inaccessible page content
1 element(s) that are not contained within the structure tree.
I tested one page and used the Touch Up Reading Order tool and added alternate text to a signature block, ran the accessibility checker again, but still came back with alternate text errors.
I am open to suggestions. Feel free to advise me from beginning to end in regards to what I’m trying to accomplish.
THANK YOU!

You do have a boat load of work.
     This page contains renderable text.
     This page has graphics other than images or text on it. It cannot be captured.
This isn't an "error". Acrobat's OCR cannot process PDF page content that is not exclusively an image.
    1 image with no alternate text
When properly tagged, an image or graphic in a PDF is identified by the PDF element "Figure"
(<Figure>).
All Figures shall have an Alternate Text Description.
You may have images/graphics that are tagged as Figures but should be Artifacts.
OCR - The hidden layer of OCR output provided by Searchable Image or Searchable Image (Exact)
is, for practicable purposes, not something one can effectively created Tagged PDF from.
Prior to Acrobat 9 one would use Formatted Text and Graphics. With Acrobat 9 one would use
ClearScan. Alternatively, one might just re-key the content in an authoring application and output Tagged, accessible PDF.
Watermarks & Header/Footers -
Oh boy; well, once you have everything else in a "green board" line up you'd add these and manually
"fold" them into the structure tree via proper tagging.
So, the first step is to gain at least a fundamental understanding of what an Accessible PDF is and
how to create it. Then you'd want to become familiar with Section 508 1194.22.
As each of the paragraphs are correlated to WCAG 1.0, you'll want to review it to understand what
the correlation is and how it relates to PDF.
However, Section 508 will be changing.
The Draft Updated Standards and Guidelines are on the street.
The window for public comment closed a few weeks ago.
PDF - What it is: An ISO Standard (ISO 32000-1:2008)
Obtain a free version of this ISO Standard to study what "Tagged" PDF is (Accessibiity is just one facility associated with Tagged PDF).
http://www.acrobatusers.com/blogs/leonardr/adobe-posts-free-iso-32000
Section 508, 1194.22
http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web
The "change" that is pending - at the Access Board's site:
Section 508 Homepage: Electronic and Information Technology
http://www.access-board.gov/508.htm
Download the PDF of the Draft Updated Standards and Guidelines for review and study.
Note that, in part, this more closely aligns Section 508 to WCAG 2.0.
WCAG 1.0
http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505/
WCAG 2.0
http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php
Start with the Overview and work through the technical, educational, and transition to 2.0 information.
"How To"
Still relevant in an Acrobat 9 world:
Creating Accessible PDFs using Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional, Greg Pisocky
http://www.appligent.com/adobeaccessibility
(Download to PDF file and exercise files (ZIP file).
For Acrobat 9:
http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/products/acrobat/
For links to an accessibility overview and FAQ.
Acrobat accessibility training resources
http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/products/acrobat/training.html
Yes, review - study all.
A resource listing at Acrobat Users Community
(PDF Tags Books thread)
http://www.acrobatusers.com/forums/aucbb/viewtopic.php?id=15622
I've not checked all the links recently - some destinations of the URLs may be gone
(floatsom on in the deep blue of the web <g>).
Regardless, much "how to" was in PDF documents Adobe published for earlier Acrobat releases.
It is still relevant.
Accessibility on demand eSeminars:
http://www.acrobatusers.com/learning_center/eseminars/on_demand
Scroll through the pages of links to the recorded eSeminars to locate and view -
--| David Mankin's "Scanning and OCR"
--| Duff Johnson's "Tech Talk: Making PDF files comply with Section 508"
Transcript, PDF of PowerPoint file, other information for download at Lori Kassuba's AUC Blog -
http://www.acrobatusers.com/blogs/lkassuba/making-pdfs-comply-section-508-tech-talk-0
--| Charlie Pike's "Accessibility"
"Q&A" transcript at Lori Kassuba's AUC Blog -
http://www.acrobatusers.com/blogs/lkassuba/top-questions-june-accessibility-eseminar
Accessibility Forum at AUC - Accessible PDF related posts
http://www.acrobatusers.com/forums/aucbb/viewforum.php?id=18
Read through Duff Johnson's AUC Blog and Talking PDF articles related to accessible PDF.
--| AUC Blog http://www.acrobatusers.com/blogs/duffjohnson
--| "Talking PDF" http://www.appligent.com/talkingpdf
Visit Adobe TV
--| Ensuring Your PDF is Accessible
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/acrobat-tips-and-tricks/ensuring-your-pdf-is-accessible/
--| Navigating an Accessible PDF Document (Part 1)
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/acrobat-tips-and-tricks/navigating-an-accessible-pdf-document-pa rt-1/
--| Navigating an Accessible PDF Document (Part 2)
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/acrobat-tips-and-tricks/navigating-an-accessible-pdf-document-pa rt-2/
Getting underway from cold iron shutdown takes time and effort.
Be well...

I was able to open a pdf document but was unable to save to my computer. I have adobe acrobat pro x

I was able to open a pdf document but was unable to save to my computer. I have adobe acrobat pro xi. the message i received was. "the document could not be saved. there was a problem reading the document (8)."
I was able to convert it to a Word document and then save, but I should not have to do that.

Did you try a Save As? What OS? Have you updated Acrobat?
Another alternative is to print to a new PDF. That is probably a better work flow than going to WORD and back.

How can I procure a TLP license for the French version of Adobe Acrobat?

My company has been successfully licensing the English language version of Adobe Acrobat (Std 7 Pro) under TLP for nearly two years from our US-based reseller, for locations in both the US and in Canada. Now I have a license request from our location in Quebec for the French language version, and neither my reseller nor the reseller's Adobe specialist have been able to provide any useful (or even coherent) advice on how to accomplish that. Can you help?
Scott Miller
Manager IT Security
Unimin Corporation

R e a l l y ? ? ? ? ? ? Nobody at Adobe sales, support, or in its reseller or user community has a clue how to procure a TLP license for Acrobat in a jurisdiction using one language localization and deploy it to a subsidiary in a jurisdiction using another? Surely you aren't serious? This is an elementary corporate software licensing question. The inability of Adobe (et al) to provide any answer does not bode any better for its future than does the fall of Flash to HTML5 for web page rendering. The history of IT companies that come to believe that they have some kind of historical entitlement to market share and no longer need to work for it isn't pretty. Watching this company attempt to sustain itself on Creative Cloud subscriptions alone should be amusing. One more reason to lkeep looking for alternative formats and products, I guess.

Adobe acrobat is required at the stations of a system based on SDK?

Hello,
I am starting a system that extracts text from PDF files using xy coordinates. Understood through the posts, which Adobe Acrobat is required to use the Acrobat SDK. My question is if it is only necessary in the development machine or if you also need to install Adobe Acrobat in stations where they will run the system?
I could build the system on the development machine that has Adobe Acrobat installed, create an installation package and distribute the stations, without installing Adobe Acrobat?
I need urgent reply, please!
Grateful.

Thanks for the clarifications.
But there is no alternative, I do not need to install Adobe Acrobat on the clients?
Such as the purchase of a dll from Adobe, just as there are third-party dlls?

Using Java Script in Adobe Acrobat

I am attempting to create input forms using Adobe Acrobat. I've got the form created, and most of the functionality works. The only issue I'm having is that my end users need to be able to fill out the form, click the Submit button, and the form data needs to be sent to an e-mail address for processing. I don't need the form to be saved and sent as a PDF attachment, I just need the form data to be submitted as the BODY of an e-mail. I was told I needed to write a Java Script for this, but I don't know the first thing about that. Can anyone help me out with a Javascript they already use? I've got a week to make these forms work.

Most web hosting services will have a mailform type script installed and available for use. If you're running your own web server, such scripts are freely available. The form just needs to be configured correctly to work with the server script. When the form is submitted to the web server, the server-side mailform script reads the incoming data and generates an email that includes the name/value pairs in the body of the email. There are literally thousands of such scripts available, to you'd have to refer to their documentation for information on setting up the form to submit to the script you want to use.
No scripting is necessary in the form in order to submit to the web server, thought the submitForm method can be used and offers a bit more flexibility. For example, you can use a script to check the form for completeness/correctness before submitting and abort if something is wrong.
A major advantage of submitting to a web server is it is generally far more reliable than the alternative of relying on the user's system to send the email. It can also be secured relatively easily with HTTPS/SSL, though that just covers the form submission and not when the server sends the email.

Adobe Reader vs Adobe Acrobat Pro

I was able to make and compile PDF docs in the Adobe Acrobat
Pro. Today, every time I click on the Pro, the Reader opens where I
have no editing ability. I'm simply trying to create a flyer, like
I always had, where I combined several PDF docs into one and
organized the pages. Every shortcut for Pro is opening as the
Reader. What gives? This is sucking up my time and I'm getting
frustrated. Did I do something wrong? I'm simply saving a Word doc
as a PDF and then opening that PDF in Pro.

Hello sanitra,
See if you can open Acrobat Pro manually, then within Acrobat
using file:open (or some opening variation), choosing the Word/PDF
doc you want to open up, from within Acrobat pro.
If all double-clicks of pdfs are opening up in Reader, and
you do not wish for it to do so, you will want to change the
application association for .pdf files to reflect Acrobat Pro,
instead of the Reader application.
Perhaps the Reader got set as the default application upon
install.
Alternatively, this question would best be asked in the
Acrobat Forums.
Link to
Acrobat Forums
Thanks!
Pete

Alternatives to Adobe Acrobat

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