PDF (Portable Document Format) has become firmly established as the ubiquitous standard for document sharing and preservation.
However, simply viewing PDFs isn't always enough for your specific needs. If you need to annotate, edit, convert, or secure your documents, a robust PDF editor is absolutely essential.
As you might expect, there’s a plethora of options available, which makes choosing the right one a daunting task.
If you are looking for some pointers to help you decide on a suitable PDF editor for Windows, let's take a look at the best products and their main features. This should help you make an informed decision.
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC
When you are talking about PDF products, a good starting point is usually the originator of the PDF format, Adobe Acrobat. Its Pro DC demonstrates why it tends to remain the industry standard. It boasts a comprehensive suite of features, including:
Advanced Editing: Allows you to modify text, images, and objects directly within the PDF.
Conversion Capabilities: Convert PDFs to and from various formats, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and image files.
Form Creation and Editing: This lets you create interactive PDF forms with fillable fields and digital signatures.
Document Security: You have the ability to encrypt PDFs, add password protection, and redact sensitive information.
Its collaboration tools are useful too. This lets you share PDFs for review, add comments and track changes.
Another notable feature is OCR (Optical Character Recognition): This enables you to convert scanned documents into editable and searchable PDFs.
Pro DC also offers seamless integration with other Adobe Creative Cloud applications.
Foxit PDF Editor
Foxit PDF Editor is a powerful and user-friendly alternative to Adobe Acrobat. It offers some notable features that help it compete against rival products.
You get an intuitive interface that is easy to navigate and allows for efficient PDF editing. It is straightforward to modify text, images, and pages with ease. You can also add comments, markups, and annotations for collaborative review.
You get flexible conversion options with this product. Making it easy to convert PDFs to and from various file formats. The security features are good too. You can protect PDFs with passwords, digital signatures, and redaction.
Excellent cloud integration is another notable feature. You can easily connect to popular cloud storage services for seamless file access.
Nitro PDF Pro
You will quickly discover that Nitro PDF Pro is a feature-rich PDF editor that has been designed primarily for business users.
You get advanced editing options, allowing you to modify text, images, and pages with precision. In addition, it’s relatively simple to create PDFs from various sources and convert them to other formats. You can then secure your PDFs with digital signatures, passwords, and redaction.
If you need to collaborate with others, you can share PDFs for review, add comments, and track changes. There is also a useful OCR Functionality that lets you convert scanned documents into searchable and editable PDFs.
It is also worth highlighting the batch processing feature. This means you can perform tasks on multiple PDFs simultaneously.
PDF-XChange Editor
A key point to note about PDF-XChange Editor is that it offers a wide range of features at a competitive price. Some of its key features include:
Extensive Annotation Tools: You can add comments, markups, and annotations with a variety of tools.
PDF Editing: This allows you to modify text, images, and pages with precision.
OCR Capabilities: Convert scanned documents into editable PDFs.
Good Security Features: Protect PDFs with passwords, digital signatures, and redaction.
Form Creation and Filling: Create and fill interactive PDF forms.
Plugin Support: Enjoy extended functionality with various plugins.
Xodo PDF Studio
Xodo PDF Studio is a cross-platform PDF editor that stands out as a result of its intended focus on good usability and notable affordability.
Overall, it provides a good balance of features for all of your general PDF editing needs.
It offers cross-platform compatibility, allowing you to work on either Windows, macOS, or Linux.
Annotation and markup tools are straightforward, thanks to extensive tools for adding comments, highlights, and annotations.
When you are in PDF editing mode you can quickly and easily modify text, images, and pages. Form filling and creation are also straightforward. You will find it a breeze to fill and create interactive PDF forms.
If you want to convert scanned documents into searchable and editable PDFs or convert PDFs to various formats, you will find that the user-friendly interface is easy to use and navigate.
Sejda PDF Editor
In a nutshell, Sejda PDF Editor is a cloud-based and desktop PDF editor that offers a simple and intuitive interface.
There are online and desktop versions available. You can access the editor through your web browser or download the desktop application, depending on which option you choose.
It has basic editing options that let you modify text, images, and pages. However, there are some worthy features that help make it value for money. With the help of PDF merging and splitting you can combine or separate PDF files, and with PDF compression, you can reduce the file size of your PDF.
There is also the ability to fill out interactive PDF forms and protect your PDFs with passwords.
Smallpdf
In simple terms, Smallpdf is a user-friendly online PDF tool that offers a variety of useful features.
You have the ability to edit PDFs directly in your web browser, and you can convert PDFs to and from various formats. There is also the option to combine or separate PDF files and reduce the file size of PDFs if you need to.
The ability to sign PDFs electronically is also a useful feature. To summarize, Smallpdf has a simple interface, making it very easy to use.
PDFescape
If you are looking for a simple option with no cost outlay you might want to look at PDFescape. It is a free online PDF editor that offers basic editing and annotation features.
If you want to edit PDFs directly in your web browser without downloading any software or add comments, highlights, and markups, without any bells and whistles, PDFescape ticks some basic boxes.
It should be noted that you get fairly basic security features with this product, although there is password protection.
Tips for Choosing the Right PDF Editor
Finding the best PDF editor for you largely depends on your specific needs and budget. If you require advanced editing capabilities and seamless integration with other Adobe products, Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is an obvious choice, but you pay a premium for the name.
If you want a more affordable option with a user-friendly interface, Xodo PDF Studio provides a strong cross-platform option.
Know that you have an idea of what these PDF Editor products have to offer, you can make a more informed purchasing decision.
