Adobe Acrobat Reader vs. UPDF from Superace

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.

We have been using UPDF from Superace for all our PDF files. Because we work across 4 different companies and like 10+ different teams, UPDF fits us well. We can leave comments for other users, and they finalize a PDF document very easily especially if we need to get a signature from lawyers for contract approval. Then we can easily protect the PDF document and send it over via email to CEO or other stakeholders.

• It has all the tools that individuals need for reading/doing light editing of PDF files.
• It is the most secure PDF reader on the market, and it tends to get patched with timely updates on a regular basis.
• It usually works very well, as far as the software itself. It doesn't crash a lot, or is particularly an error prone software platform.

Incentivized

• OCR feature
• Sharing via email
• Leaving comments

• 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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

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.

The application is pretty much "plug and play"

Incentivized

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.

• It's available for free, so there is no excuse to not install
• Contains features that you would normally have to pay for in competitor software, so it has a positive impact on ROI
• Reduces the amount of printing
• Decreases the amount of time spent on regulatory and governance documentation

Incentivized