PDFpen - is it just me or is this thing a hog?

[RandomCitizen]

Seven days ago I purchased a new MacBook Pro 15" (specs found in the sig line). I used PDFpen constantly with my previous MacBook, a Mid-2010 13" Core Duo 2 with 8 MB / 256 GB SSD.

It was a glitchy, glitchy memory hogging piece of software. it would crash. The frame rates on the computer would go to nothing, especially when using it full screen (but even normally).

Over half the reason I upgraded seven days ago was because I wanted PDFpen pro to work like a champ and I figured a new i7 MacBook Pro 15" rocket ship would do just that - handle PDFpen easily.

Today, I used it for two hours and I'm telling you, I could've been out of it in an hour or so, if it would've been stable. I had to force it to quite six times and I never got finished what I was doing - I had to throw it over onto my iPad and use PDF Expert from Readdle. I don't like editing a PDF on my iPad, only signing documents - that is it!

Is anybody else having or have had issues like this with PDFpen? I'm honestly not trying to slander them, but when the fastest laptops can't run it efficiently, what do we need, a Mac Pro with 12 cores?

 

[wadjj]

I find it not very responsive on my late 2013 13' rMBP too, which is weird given all bloggers spoke nothing but highly of it.

 

[RandomCitizen]

I find it not very responsive on my late 2013 13' rMBP too, which is weird given all bloggers spoke nothing but highly of it.

Well, maybe I can give you some hope. I've got it figure out, I think.

Take a PDF which has given you hell and click Print and then "Save as PDF." Let it save it as a PDF with a different name, like "XXXX 2."

Open that new PDF up and see how it performs?

Report back, please.

Thanks

 

[Mugwumper]

No problems for me - ??

I have both an older 27" iMac with 8GB RAM and a new 15" rMBP with 16GB RAM. My usage primarily is to create a new .pdf from several other documents (financial, text, photos) and the final file is 20-50 pages.

On the iMac, I usually have many other apps running simultaneously (Word, Excel, Chrome, Mail, Calendar, Contacts), and never have any issues.

On the rMBP, the app load is similar, but with this much RAM and the SSD, nothing is slow. ;^)

I, too, have had issues with certain .pdf's and was never able to figure why (perhaps the app that created it was older, and didn't conform to the specs?). And I have also done what was suggested (Save As with a new name) and could sometimes get the file to open properly. My biggest indicator of a problem file is the size: if I see a 1- or 2-page document over 1MB, I will probably have issues with it.

Did you notice this behavior after a recent PDFpen update or a MacOS update?

Sorry, no words of wisdom here . . .

 

[RandomCitizen]

I have both an older 27" iMac with 8GB RAM and a new 15" rMBP with 16GB RAM. My usage primarily is to create a new .pdf from several other documents (financial, text, photos) and the final file is 20-50 pages.

On the iMac, I usually have many other apps running simultaneously (Word, Excel, Chrome, Mail, Calendar, Contacts), and never have any issues.

On the rMBP, the app load is similar, but with this much RAM and the SSD, nothing is slow. ;^)

I, too, have had issues with certain .pdf's and was never able to figure why (perhaps the app that created it was older, and didn't conform to the specs?). And I have also done what was suggested (Save As with a new name) and could sometimes get the file to open properly. My biggest indicator of a problem file is the size: if I see a 1- or 2-page document over 1MB, I will probably have issues with it.

Did you notice this behavior after a recent PDFpen update or a MacOS update?

Sorry, no words of wisdom here . . .

I've had issues with this for several versions.

According to PDFpen support staff, "there are a lot of bad PDF's out there." And I believe it.

Most of the PDF's I deal with are 20 pages or so and are about 4-6 MB's. But, I also occasionally deal with 50-60 page PDF's.

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By the way guys, the only reason I say to rename the PDF to a new name is just so you can run a test. After I have confirmed that this solves problems for me, I just resave every PDF I have to deal with and I overwrite, instead of rename.

 

[wadjj]

Well, maybe I can give you some hope. I've got it figure out, I think.



Take a PDF which has given you hell and click Print and then "Save as PDF." Let it save it as a PDF with a different name, like "XXXX 2."



Open that new PDF up and see how it performs?



Report back, please.



Thanks

Sometimes it does. But I never had such problem with foxit pdf reader on windows which is free. I don't believe it is justified for a piece of expensive software. Plus, preview and pdf reader on iPad handle those files just fine. I'm very unimpressed, to say the least.

 

[Cassady]

What exactly are you doing with the PDF? Annotating? OCR'ing? Converting?

Had PDFPenPro seize on many times before, BUT that was with my using Hazel to batch convert/OCR PDF's for me, so I guess it was to be expected...

Depending on what you're doing, that might explain things.

That being said - must agree with what others have said here. You get some pretty ugly pdf's out there. Ones that had AbbyFineReader, Prizmo and PDFPenPro *all* getting stuck on...

 

[RandomCitizen]

Sometimes it does. But I never had such problem with foxit pdf reader on windows which is free. I don't believe it is justified for a piece of expensive software. Plus, preview and pdf reader on iPad handle those files just fine. I'm very unimpressed, to say the least.

Foxit PDF is a reader? Reading a PDF is one thing, processing for OCR and editing is entirely different from just reading. For example, the Preview app looks at these ugly PDF's just fine.

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What exactly are you doing with the PDF? Annotating? OCR'ing? Converting?

Had PDFPenPro seize on many times before, BUT that was with my using Hazel to batch convert/OCR PDF's for me, so I guess it was to be expected...

Depending on what you're doing, that might explain things.

That being said - must agree with what others have said here. You get some pretty ugly pdf's out there. Ones that had AbbyFineReader, Prizmo and PDFPenPro *all* getting stuck on...

"You get some pretty ugly pdf's out there"
Yeah, that's exactly what the support guy said. Normally, I'll OCR and annotate. That's it.