Mac OS X alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro/Standard

[LT1FirebirdSLP]

I'll keep it short and sweet.

1) I have looked through the forums already, and have seen a lot about joining PDF files and the lack of the ability to take multiple documents and join them into one single file. However, I do not see much of anything on a generally good alternative to Adobe Acrobat.

2) I am looking to create forms, edit PDF files, possible OCR, etc.

3) I am sorry, but for personal use, spending $450.00 on Adobe Acrobat Pro for Mac OS X is simply out of the question. I am sure most of you will agree with me on this.

I have seen a couple of software items floating around on the web like PDF Studio, PDFpen and others but I am not sure that these will suffice. I am new to Mac. Less than a week to be specific, but learning rapidly. I want to know what season Mac users have to satisfy their PDF creation/editing needs.

Thanks!

 

[miles01110]

For forms or editing you won't find anything better than Acrobat. See if your employer will pay for it or if they have a volume licensing agreement.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Maybe have a look at 30 Alternatives To Adobe Acrobat.



Helpful Information for Any Mac User by GGJstudios

 

[LT1FirebirdSLP]

Yea, I am pretty good at not being an answer gnome in forums so I def did my research. Actually, I did read through that 30 Alternatives to Acrobat and that is how I came across PDFpen. Not quite looking for an Acrobat Lite though.

The other link you tossed is in my bookmarks. It has been a handy reference ever since I got my iMac 21.5" i3 3.2GHz 4Mb last Wednesday.

Thanks man.

 

[MisterMe]

Maybe have a look at 30 Alternatives To Adobe Acrobat.



Helpful Information for Any Mac User by GGJstudios

The title is misleading. Only 20 of the alternatives are MacOS X alternatives. Others run on Windows and Linux. Of the 20, many are essentially different aspects of the same thing without added functionality. From were I sit, Adobe Acrobat Pro X is mission critical for anyone who must edit PDF files on the job.

 

[mpshay]

Acrobat Pro is great (actually overkill for me), but pretty expensive. I bought a copy of PDF pen from the app store. Pretty good and I now have the software on 4 desktops & a laptop for one low price. I didn't hurt that I had a bunch of money in my iTunes account so it almost seemed like it was "free" at the time.

 

[CylonGlitch]

1) I have looked through the forums already, and have seen a lot about joining PDF files and the lack of the ability to take multiple documents and join them into one single file. However, I do not see much of anything on a generally good alternative to Adobe Acrobat.

You can easily join files with Preview; you just have to know how to do it correctly. Just open all the files you want together. Find the first page, and drag all the other pages to it (you'll get a green + sign). After the second page is added (the first one dragged to the first page) the first page becomes a binder (shows a black binding along the left side and an arrow on the right) to indicate there are multiple pages. Drag the other files as needed. Select the "new" first page document and either save, or save as. And you're done.

2) I am looking to create forms, edit PDF files, possible OCR, etc.

I use Open Office for creating PDF forms. Editing PDFs is a bit harder, fortunately I'm generating data so I only need to add pages or files together. OCR is not something I've dealt with.

3) I am sorry, but for personal use, spending $450.00 on Adobe Acrobat Pro for Mac OS X is simply out of the question. I am sure most of you will agree with me on this.

For personal use, yeah, too expensive. But there are free / alternatives. They may not be as easy to use, but they aren't difficult either.

 

[clunymarie]

I'll keep it short and sweet.

1) I have looked through the forums already, and have seen a lot about joining PDF files and the lack of the ability to take multiple documents and join them into one single file. However, I do not see much of anything on a generally good alternative to Adobe Acrobat.

2) I am looking to create forms, edit PDF files, possible OCR, etc.

3) I am sorry, but for personal use, spending $450.00 on Adobe Acrobat Pro for Mac OS X is simply out of the question. I am sure most of you will agree with me on this.

I have seen a couple of software items floating around on the web like PDF Studio, PDFpen and others but I am not sure that these will suffice. I am new to Mac. Less than a week to be specific, but learning rapidly. I want to know what season Mac users have to satisfy their PDF creation/editing needs.

Thanks!

How about a copy of Adobe Acrobat Pro version 9? I didn't delete mine when I bout Pro X, and now I'm using it with elCapital because Pro X doesn't work! Somebody out there might be willing to part with a used copy.

 

[chabig]

I don't want CylonGlitch's post about using Preview to get lost in the shuffle. Preview easily joins files, splits files, adds and removes pages from files, and rearranges pages inside pdf files. Acrobat isn't necessary for that at all.

 

[campyguy]

How about a copy of Adobe Acrobat Pro version 9? I didn't delete mine when I bout Pro X, and now I'm using it with elCapital because Pro X doesn't work! Somebody out there might be willing to part with a used copy.

Let's hope they found a solution, given the going-on 5 years they've had...

 

[thejoshhoward]

I've been very pleased with PDF Expert by Readdle. Maybe check that out. I think it's $50, but the developer is fantastic and constantly updating/fixing any problems I've ever noticed.

 

[KALLT]

Adobe provides the most comprehensive document support, because they own the PDF specification to begin with.

I've been very pleased with PDF Expert by Readdle. Maybe check that out. I think it's $50, but the developer is fantastic and constantly updating/fixing any problems I've ever noticed.

PDF Expert is predominantly a PDF reader with slight editing capabilities, not a creator. Creating PDFs is something that Adobe keeps close to heart. It also does not support OCR.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Adobe provides the most comprehensive document support, because they own the PDF specification to begin with.



PDF Expert is predominantly a PDF reader with slight editing capabilities, not a creator. Creating PDFs is something that Adobe keeps close to heart. It also does not support OCR.

Not surprised that Adobe keeps the best. The only issue is, that Adobe like to install more files than one would like. The good thing is that you can remove them without effecting the app.