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PDFpen has established itself as the go-to PDF app for many Mac users over the past decade. With a balance between simplicity and a rich …
Starting at $79.95 one-time fee
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What is PDFpen?
PDFpen is an all-purpose PDF editor designed for Mac, iPad, and iPhone. According to the vendor, it offers a wide range of features that allow users to add signatures, text, and images, make corrections, perform OCR on scanned documents, fill out and sign forms, redact personal information, and more....
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Basic
$79.95
Cloud
one-time fee
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Product Details
- About
- Tech Details
What is PDFpen?
PDFpen is an all-purpose PDF editor designed for Mac, iPad, and iPhone. According to the vendor, it offers a wide range of features that allow users to add signatures, text, and images, make corrections, perform OCR on scanned documents, fill out and sign forms, redact personal information, and more. The software is said to be suitable for businesses of all sizes and caters to various professions and industries including legal professionals, financial institutions, real estate agencies, education institutions, and healthcare organizations.
Key Features
Edit PDF Files with Ease: According to the vendor, PDFpen allows users to mark up documents with highlighting, underscoring, and strikethrough. They can add text, images, and signatures to PDF files and easily correct text using editable text blocks. Users can also manipulate images within the PDF, move, resize, copy, and delete them. Copying and pasting rich text from PDFs retains fonts and formatting, including columns. File attachments, annotations, audio annotations, notes, comments, and cloud annotations can all be added to PDF files. Objects can be snapped in place with guides, and users can add page numbers, bookmarks, headers, footers, line numbers, and watermarks to PDF files.
Scan & OCR — Preview Text: According to the vendor, PDFpen enables users to perform OCR (Optical Character Recognition) on scanned documents, allowing them to edit the OCR text. Scanning can be done directly from Image Capture or any Mac-compatible scanner. Users can adjust resolution, color depth, contrast, skew, and size of an image or scanned document. Context-sensitive popup menus enable quick edits, and PDF manipulations can be automated using AppleScript and JavaScript Automation. Additionally, PDF documents can be compressed for smaller file sizes.
Redact Personal Information: According to the vendor, PDFpen allows users to redact or erase text, including OCR text, from PDF files. They can also password protect documents with up to 256-bit AES encryption and edit document permissions to restrict saving, printing, copying, and more. The software offers full-screen mode, zoom options, and the ability to print notes, comments, and a list of all annotations along with the document.
Sign & Fill Forms: According to the vendor, PDFpen allows users to validate digital signatures for authenticity and trust of digitally signed documents. They can digitally sign documents using AATL (Adobe Approved Trust List) or create a self-signed certificate. Interactive PDF forms can be filled out and signed, and users can apply business-related and sign here stamps via the Library. Frequently-used images, signatures, objects, and text can be saved in the Library and synced with PDFpen for iPad & iPhone via iCloud. Seamless editing with PDFpen for iPad & iPhone can be done using iCloud or Dropbox.
Auto-generate Fillable Form Fields: According to the vendor, PDFpen enables users to convert websites to multi-page PDFs with hyperlinks. They can create and edit cross-platform fillable PDF forms and export PDFs to various formats such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF Archive (PDF/A). The software also allows for automatic creation of form fields in non-interactive forms and the creation and editing of document Table of Contents. Additionally, users can create portfolio documents by combining related files together.
PDFpen Features
- Supported: Annotations
- Supported: Convert to PDF
- Supported: Digital Signature
- Supported: Encryption
- Supported: Merge/Append Files
- Supported: PDF Reader
- Supported: Watermarking
PDFpen Technical Details
| Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Mac |
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PDFpen has established itself as the go-to PDF app for many Mac users over the past decade. With a balance between simplicity and a rich feature-set, it offers an effortless way to work with PDF files. Users have found PDFpen to be versatile and reliable, providing a hassle-free experience for various PDF-related tasks.
One key use case of PDFpen is its ability to annotate and highlight PDF documents. With its intuitive interface, users can easily mark up important sections or make notes directly on the document. This feature is particularly useful for students and professionals who need to review and collaborate on documents.
Another valuable use case of PDFpen is its powerful editing capabilities. Users can easily edit text, add or delete pages, change images, and even OCR scanned documents. This makes it a valuable tool for anyone who needs to make changes or corrections in existing PDF files without having to go back to the original source document.
PDFpen also offers robust form-filling functionality. Users can effortlessly fill out interactive forms, sign documents digitally, and even create their own forms for others to fill out. This feature simplifies administrative tasks such as filling out applications, contracts, or legal documents.
Additionally, PDFpen provides seamless integration with cloud storage services such as Dropbox and iCloud. This allows users to access and sync their PDF files across multiple devices, ensuring that they have the most up-to-date version at all times.
While some users may argue that Adobe products are superior, many find PDFpen to be a worthy investment due to its affordability and reliability. Its rich feature set coupled with its user-friendly interface make it an attractive choice for those seeking an efficient PDF solution on macOS.
Comprehensive PDF Editor: Many users have praised PDFpen for being a comprehensive PDF editor, offering a robust set of features that rival those of Adobe Acrobat.
Intuitive Annotation and Signature Tools: Reviewers have found the annotation and signature capabilities of PDFpen to be intuitive and easy to use. Users can effortlessly add comments, highlights, and digital signatures to their PDFs.
Seamless Integration and Workflow: Several users recommend PDFpen for its seamless integration with existing workflows. They appreciate how the software seamlessly syncs across multiple devices, allowing them to switch between a tablet and a computer without any disruptions to productivity.
User Interface: Several users have expressed dissatisfaction with the user interface of PDFpen Pro, stating that it is not very user-friendly and makes it difficult for them to efficiently discover and utilize the various features of the software.
Uncertainty about Future Direction: Some users have raised concerns about the future direction of PDFpen Pro since its acquisition by Nitro. This lack of clarity has left them uncertain and hesitant about investing in or relying on the software for their PDF editing needs.
Crashes and Slow Performance: A number of reviewers have reported experiencing continuous crashes and slow performance while using PDFpen Pro. These technical issues can significantly impact productivity and overall user experience with the software.