Recommend a PDF editor....

[Meractik]

It can be free or reasonably priced but MUST have the following features:

- Allow creation of fill-able fields on a scanned document

- allow for black out methods to hide information

- allow for rotations of documents

- allow for over-writing of existing data on a scanned document by creating text boxes which can be edited to change font size/style/color

- enable security features which allow you to limit re-saving a file under different name, print limitations, file editing limitations, and other alterations of existing PDF

- something that starts up relatively fast and is not a resource hog (I am used to using Foxit Software PDF Reader (and have attempted to use their editor, but its rather difficult and not very user friendly nor does it allow all the features I need)

- enable ability to extract/split PDF files into individual separate files

*please do not suggest adobe acrobat, its such a resource hog and slows down the opening of PDF's considerably...* *I HATE IT*

 

[Apathetic]

A couple of things you should know about:

1) "black out" methods don't remove the data you're trying to hide. They just cover it up. Anyone with a half decent PDF tool can easily see what it is you're trying to hide.

2) Scanned documents are often stored as images (JPEG, TIFF, etc) with a PDF wrapper around them. If you have one of these, there's no text to edit. It's just a single large picture of a page.

Dave

 

[Meractik]

A couple of things you should know about:

1) "black out" methods don't remove the data you're trying to hide. They just cover it up. Anyone with a half decent PDF tool can easily see what it is you're trying to hide.

2) Scanned documents are often stored as images (JPEG, TIFF, etc) with a PDF wrapper around them. If you have one of these, there's no text to edit. It's just a single large picture of a page.

Dave

1) I know this, but after using the blackout method one can simply print that page then scan it and turn it into another PDF from within which the data is hidden in a more neat manner then just using a sharpie and scribbling on it.

2) I am talking about the feature to take an existing stored image of a PDF file and placing "fill-able" context on top of the form and saving it in that fill-able format, so that when printing in the future you can just type it.

In the past forms would be fill-able but then unable to save the contents of items filled in the form in my experience, I would love to have both options - create fill-able fields while also saving the file once fill-able fields are filled in.

 

[sygyzy]

I was under the impression that since Adobe created and owns the PDF format, they are careful who they let produce software to edit it. They are obviously very open with viewing it and printing it, but editing? Is there third-party software that can do everything you need?

 

[Meractik]

I was under the impression that since Adobe created and owns the PDF format, they are careful who they let produce software to edit it. They are obviously very open with viewing it and printing it, but editing? Is there third-party software that can do everything you need?

I have used a few programs in the past that i felt where superior to adobe in terms of how well they operated and used less resources. There are an abundance of PDF editors out there (some with more features then others...) - I am simply asking for recommendations of some that people may use opposite adobe programs... with the features I mentioned.. so far ones I have tried have some features but not all of what I would like, so perhaps people here might use or know of something I haven't discovered yet.

 

[bruceb]

Try Nitropdf ... it may do all you want ... has a trial .. http://www.nitropdf.com/pro/edit-pdf.aspx

or maybe Cutepdf ... http://www.cutepdf.com/

 

[Nothinman]

PDF is meant to be a print/presentation format, not an editable document like those from Word, LaTex, Libre Office, etc. Ideally, you should figure out what's wrong with your workflow that's making you edit PDFs and fix that.

 

[corkyg]

I do most of what you want with NitroPDF. OTH, the best and most secure way is to reopen the PDF file in Word or WordPerfect and edit there. Then create a new PDF file.

 

[Steltek]

It can be free or reasonably priced but MUST have the following features:

- Allow creation of fill-able fields on a scanned document
- allow for rotations of documents
- enable ability to extract/split PDF files into individual separate files

NitroPDF Pro 7 can easily do all of these things.

- enable security features which allow you to limit re-saving a file under different name, print limitations, file editing limitations, and other alterations of existing PDF

NitroPDF can also do this, as can Acrobat. However, be aware that not all PDF software will honor all security restrictions. For instance, you can add security restrictions in Adobe Acrobat Pro that are strictly enforced in Acrobat Reader, but which will be ignored by NitroPDF and other PDF packages. Unless you are providing your users with software, you can't presume that all users will use the same software to work with your documents.

Going beyond simple password rights restrictions, Acrobat is probably the only game in town and I'm sure that rights management options probably aren't cheap.

- allow for black out methods to hide information
- allow for over-writing of existing data on a scanned document by creating text boxes which can be edited to change font size/style/color

Do you mean just to hide things, or to actually permanently remove them? As others have pointed out, the ability to permanently redact data is restricted to documents that contain actual identifiable objects and not just a scanned image. NitroPDF Pro 7 has a scan and OCR module; however, though it is impressive that they try to provide this functionality at NitroPDF's price point, the results are in line with the price (i.e. not that impressive from what I've seen thus far). Acrobat Pro can, of course, OCR image scans to complex content PDF forms, but again it doesn't work as well as a full OCR package would. Of course, a full OCR package will recognize the text far better than Acrobat, but at the expense of the formatting.

Of the available options I've used over the years, Acrobat is really the only game in town here unless you want to spend a few thousand dollars.

- something that starts up relatively fast and is not a resource hog (I am used to using Foxit Software PDF Reader (and have attempted to use their editor, but its rather difficult and not very user friendly nor does it allow all the features I need)

*please do not suggest adobe acrobat, its such a resource hog and slows down the opening of PDF's considerably...* *I HATE IT*

There is a reason that Acrobat owns the majority of the desktop market for PDF manipulation software - they simply have few credible competitors. Overall, I'd rate NitroPDF Pro 7 (who I see as currently the most advanced competitor) as being overall at the level of what Acrobat 5 or 6 provided. It does provide some of the more advanced features of Acrobat X, but overall nothing like what Acrobat brings to the table. Of course, this is not to say that NitroPDF is anything to sneeze at, either. I have both and use both and can honestly say that I use NitroPDF Pro as (or even more) often than I use Acrobat, especially for creating fill-in forms (though the auto form creation wizard in Acrobat Pro X, which automatically adds form fields to existing PDFs is nice for creating base forms for editing).

FYI: If you restrict your forms development to Acrobat Pro only and don't involve XML, the learning curve isn't very bad. The editing interface in Acrobat X Pro actually isn't that bad, though I often find myself longing for the simplicity that was Acrobat 5. Now, if you move beyond Acrobat Pro to the LiveCycle Designer software (included with Acrobat Pro), you do face a major learning curve (plus, once you've gone LiveCycle, the document becomes XML and can never be edited in Acrobat again).