ABBYY, headquartered in Moscow offers FineReader, a PDF editor that allows users to convert, edit, share, and collaborate on PDFs. FineReader also converts scanned documents into searchable PDF files.
$16
per month per user
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Acrobat Reader is a PDF viewer and converter, available as a free download from Adobe. Users can view, sign, collaborate on and annotate PDF files, or edit and convert PDFs into file formats like Excel and Word.
FineReader is critical for any business that handles scanned documents or works with files that need conversion to Excel, PDF, Powerpoint or various other programs. It's ability to automatically process, read documents and suggest tables is impressive. It can take printed documents and convert all of the text to a editable format which is a huge time saver. In regards to tables it can automatically find and identify columns and separate them out for immediate use in Excel
This is a useful tool for anyone who downloads and uses PDFs in the day-to-day operations of their role. It has many functionalities like PDF to word documents, e-signatures, commenting, and printing PDF documents. You can annotate PDFs from anywhere, store files on the cloud, and ultimately it makes it easier to collaborate with colleagues. It would be best for e-signatures and editing PDFs, but mainly the program is used for doing anything you like to a PDF.
A versioning system of the work done or the editions that have been saved in the files, or a tracking of changes between one version and another would be fabulous
An improvement that would be asked would be as previews or suggestions of the type of file that could be beneficial to use in an edition
The redesign of the panels is that of the analyzed document, the edition and the changes in my opinion need a resizing to have a better view of the work
Being able to add image "stamps" to a document is a little tricky as the stamp has to already be in PDF format (at least on Mac) to work. This mean you have to convert the image to PDF before you can use it as a stamp.
Being only able to save one signature and one set of initials is a bit of a pain but you can actually use stamps if you need different versions frequently used scribbles for various reasons. The stamp won't secure the document and prevent future changes the same way the signature would though.
All of the other features you might want to use are only included with Acrobat Pro but the options are all displayed in the Reader app. When clicked they will offer the free trial that leads to a paid subscription. This is more of an annoyance but you can't fault Adobe for trying to make a sale.
To be honest, I do not have any say in the renewal of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. It is managed at an enterprise level, and the decision to renew or not renew is handled well above my pay grade as an external consultant.
The main issues or limitations with Adobe Acrobat Reader DC usually stem from the device or OS rather than the software or document. Complaints typically arise when contributors use a different app to view or edit, which is understandably outside of Adobe's control. It would be helpful if the ability to open and fill a PDF was built into the OS, but that's more of a licensing issue than anything else.
While Adobe Reader can identify documents and convert them to some other various formats, it cannot process the documents to identify tables for use in Excel. We only had success by letting Adobe read a file for any identifiable text but it wasn't always accurate. FineReaders ability to handle hundreds of pages at once felt leaps and bounds above Adobe
We have reviewed DocuSign in comparison to [Adobe] Acrobat Reader [DC's] e-sign capabilities. We found that DocuSign has more robust options when creating contracts and consent capabilities. DocuSign's online UI is much more suited to this type of task as well. However, we decided to stick with [Adobe] Acrobat Reader DC because of the price (DocuSign is more expensive) and we felt we didn't need all of the bells and whistles for contract signature and consent.
