OneNote vs. Tungsten Power PDF

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
OneNote
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft's OneNote is a digital note-taking app, supporting photos, annotating, web page clipping, emailing, and synchronizing notes across devices.N/A
Tungsten Power PDF
Score 9.7 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
Tungsten Power PDF (formerly Kofax) is an easy-to-use, secure and inexpensive solution to manage PDFs for businesses and individuals. Benefits: Ease of Use: Works like Office desktop products, so it's easier to learn Compatibility: Works across devices and platforms, share documents in a storage cloud …
$129
one-time fee per license
Pricing
OneNoteTungsten Power PDF
Editions & Modules
Microsoft OneNote
Free
Power PDF Standard
$129
one-time fee per license
Power PDF for Mac
$129
one-time fee per license
Power PDF Advanced
$179
one-time fee per license
Power PDF Business
Get a Quote: Subscription and Perpetual available
per year per seat
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
OneNoteTungsten Power PDF
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsDesktop licenses are buy once, own forever. No subscription fees. Business server licenses are term-based or perpetual with optional maintenance & support contract. Volume and upgrade discounts available.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
OneNoteTungsten Power PDF
Considered Both Products
OneNote

No answer on this topic

Tungsten Power PDF
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
When we were evaluating PDF programs nearly a decade ago, we compared the Adobe Acrobat program against Nuance PDF. Price was the primary differentiator. In 2020 when we were once again evaluating PDF software, we found there was an even wider price gap between Power PDF and …
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
The weaknesses are basically the same. The search and mark tools are better in Kofax.
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
Kofax Power PDF stacks up to Adobe Reader by offering the same options as Adobe does. Power PDF is as compatible as Adobe on all platforms, and offers many of the same options. Power PDF provides for a signature option, a typewriter option, a highlight option, and many of the …
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
Has the most capabilities of any similar app. and is a better value. Easier to use than Acrobat.
Features
OneNoteTungsten Power PDF
PDF Editors
Comparison of PDF Editors features of Product A and Product B
OneNote
-
Ratings
Tungsten Power PDF
8.8
28 Ratings
1% above category average
Edit Text and Images00 Ratings6.226 Ratings
Merge or Split PDFs00 Ratings9.828 Ratings
Add Annotations00 Ratings9.326 Ratings
Text Recognition (OCR)00 Ratings7.222 Ratings
Page Management00 Ratings7.526 Ratings
Form Creation and Editing00 Ratings9.520 Ratings
Secure PDFs00 Ratings9.720 Ratings
Convert to Different Formats00 Ratings9.623 Ratings
Comment and Review Tools00 Ratings9.423 Ratings
Undo and Redo Actions00 Ratings9.623 Ratings
Best Alternatives
OneNoteTungsten Power PDF
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

pdfFiller
pdfFiller
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies

No answers on this topic

pdfFiller
pdfFiller
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises

No answers on this topic

Bluebeam
Bluebeam
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
OneNoteTungsten Power PDF
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(74 ratings)
9.7
(599 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(13 ratings)
9.8
(112 ratings)
Usability
7.7
(14 ratings)
9.8
(46 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(2 ratings)
9.1
(13 ratings)
Performance
8.8
(3 ratings)
9.1
(13 ratings)
Support Rating
8.7
(10 ratings)
9.9
(435 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
3.6
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(33 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(9 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(10 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(12 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(7 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(7 ratings)
User Testimonials
OneNoteTungsten Power PDF
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
In my opinion OneNote is a must for anyone who does business. It’s versatile, stable and sustainable. It can keep private information private - like passwords. It can be used for collaborative work - like standard operating procedures. It is fairly easy to use and far superior to pen and paper. When used for meeting notes, it can be flagged with icons that are searchable - like ideas or important items. You can even create Outlook tasks on the fly
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
GREAT for combining documents into a single PDF. Great for working with a PDF. Not so great converting PDF to Word format. Would like to see more effort put into that development. Would like to see more effective testing of updates prior to pushing them out as well. Otherwise it is awesome.
Read full review
Pros
Microsoft
  • Because of its flexibility and ability to hold different types of content (text, images, tables), it is a great tool for collecting content from different resources and organizing it in one place.
  • Technical support analysts are using sections for their support case analysis; they paste pieces of logs, screen-shots, document their steps in troubleshooting etc., all in one section, to get the full picture yet stay organized.
  • The logic of content structure; Notebook>Section>Page>Paragraph, allows you to manage and collect all needed information by the areas of the user's responsibility. For example; each of my projects has its own section, in which each page is a task.
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
  • Typewriter functionality is great, although can take some time to load. This allows you to fill in text wherever applicable without turning the rest of the pdf into editable text.
  • Fast load times
  • Has autogenerated text feature so anything in the pdf can become editable
Read full review
Cons
Microsoft
  • The table editing tools are too simplistic and lack the features found in other Office products.
  • Some content loses its rich text formatting when being pasted into OneNote. A workaround is to paste the content first into Outlook or Word and then copy/pasting that into OneNote.
  • Microsoft is moving away from a local install of OneNote, which means notebooks have to be in the cloud in Office 2019. This will actually reduce the usefulness of OneNote in some environments and opens the door to competitor products.
  • Update: Microsoft has now announced that it will continue to support OneNote 2016 through 2023. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Office-365-Blog/Your-OneNote/ba-p/954922
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
  • I find that quickly editing text within a document or adding a line of text is clunky and can snowball into things popping out of place. I prefer to export text, and then work on it elsewhere.
  • Sometimes it seems that text recognition is trying too hard and throws me paper punches as "O"s and wrinkles as shapes, so I have to get rid of those artifacts.
  • The "Update Available" popup which is usually not an actual update announcement but rather an offer to sell me something is annoying.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
As this is not a compulsory tool in our organization, I would say all depends on the decision makers, however since this is a part of MS Office, I am sure we will have it for as long as we will possibly need it. However, I would not be so sure, if it was a separate product
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
Tungsten Power PDF is easy to use, the staff all like it, and there are no issues with it on any level. It is a more cost-effective solution to our PDF needs than other products currently available on the market. This product works as intended and it fits our business needs perfectly.
Read full review
Usability
Microsoft
I find OneNote incredibly usable. I'm fairly middle of the road when it comes to tech savvy-ness. The platform was very easy to learn and explore. I like that OneNote is no clunky and offers a clean interface. This is important when it comes to deciding if a tool is usable for multiple people.
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
It is fast and easy to get the hang of. It really didn't take a lot of effort to learn how to use this program and I appreciated that it was pretty "plug and play" and there wasn't a long learning curve.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
Other that a PDF partially disappearing if left up for a long period of time - no issues. (If you close it and reopen it, it is all there. We have some PDFs that are 400-600 pages long.)
Read full review
Performance
Microsoft
Overall, I rate OneNote's performance highly. In general, notebooks, sections and pages load quickly. OneNote integrates with other apps and info ca easily be shared/copied to and from the tool to other tools. Moreover, Notebooks tend to sync quickly meaning shared notebooks are up to date almost immediately provided there are no syncing issues.
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
Pages nearly always load at the expected rapid speed. Some documents that print quickly from Adobe Reader print much more slowly from Power PDF. I have never generated a report - that's a feature I didn't know existed until now and do not know what it's for
Read full review
Support Rating
Microsoft
Since it is part of Microsoft Office and used across the globe there are a lot of support options available. It's quickest to just do a google search which will have plenty of articles to help you since there are so many OneNote users but as an Office customer you also have access to Microsoft support and I have had good experiences with their support (probably because I'm with a large company who is a large customer to them).
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
I have used it for 15 years and have only needed support once: a simple update that allowed me to use the software as intended. The support team was attentive and responsive, and I was on my way very quickly.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
I got an overview of the product from my predecessor who was about to retire from the job I now hold. He did not go into very many of the features and probably only knew about the ones he used most frequently.
Read full review
Online Training
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
We watched the training videos and tested out the features and functionality side by side. Some features are not used on a regular basis is it is convenient to go back and review training on that particular functionality when needed.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
Easy and quick, with no problems or support needed. Worked as intended right out of the box. E-signing was the only area that implementation was dificult and required support
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
I tried using Evernote and it is an equally usable tool, however, I prefer the interface and capabilities of OneNote. OneNote seems much easier to use and understand. I think that may primarily be because OneNote is a Microsoft application and I am very used to using Microsoft applications such as Word, Excel, etc. I also use OneNote to keep my grocery list. It does as good of a job as the grocery list applications out there, only I like the flexibility I have with OneNote and how I specifically do my shopping.
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
There is nothing to compare it to. Tungsten Power PDF is by far an easier and more efficient option. The one advantage of CutePDF is the functionality of overlay and underlay with headers and footers. The other functions in Tungsten Power PDF are much easier to use. Pricing is also an attractive option.
Read full review
Scalability
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
Not really familiar since I'm the only person who uses it. But in the past it has been my understanding that Power PDF was offered only on a single-license basis, so it's been expensive for me to use it at home and at work because I had to pay for it on my own. In my current position management supports it so I at least only have to pay for it once.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • OneNote has become our organizational standard method of taking electronic notes (though some still prefer pen and paper.) It has been a zero cost outlay due to its freely available nature.
  • Its integration with other Microsoft Office products makes it easy to share notes and content between products, allowing for easy collaboration where needed.
  • OneNote's integration with OneDrive ensures that individual's notes are always safe and secure, taking away the tedious responsibility of backup from the user, and makes it happen seamlessly in the background.
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
  • Although it was expensive to get the program (just under $200), I found that it was nice that there was only that one time charge. If there were updating or annual fees, I think that would be a deal breaker. Thankfully there isn't, though!
Read full review
ScreenShots

Tungsten Power PDF Screenshots

Screenshot of the PDF Create Assistant, which can be used to create multiple PDFs at the same time from a variety of source formats. Create individual PDFs, or combine into one PDF package.Screenshot of PDF Profiles that can be created to apply commonly desired settings to new PDF documents created in Power PDF.Screenshot of the application's color, changed from purple to blue, light gray or dark gray.Screenshot of some lightweight document automation that can also be achieved with the Watched Folder and Sequence features.Screenshot of where packages can be signed with pre built templates using Kofax Sign Doc or other integrating e-signersScreenshot of PDFs that can be navigated with a thumbnail view