Feed aggregator

Don't perch on your camera-equipped throne assuming your "data" is end-to-end encrypted. It's not quite that simple.

CZUR ET24 Pro: 30-second review

Most people think of scanners as that quaint mechanism that looks like an old photocopier on the printer, or an independent flatbed ideal for capturing receipts.

But in commercial terms, there are two pathways to bulk image capture: industrial document scanners that can handle hundreds of documents in short order, or devices like the CZUR ET24 Pro focused on book scanning.

Scanning books is a critical task for museums and archives where many people wish to see and read rare books, but the process is often detrimental to the documents.

The CZUR ET24 Pro is a camera solution designed specifically to cope with books where the scanning surface is likely to be curved, and the captured data will need to be flattened to provide the best viewing experience for others.

It features a 24MP camera mounted on a stand with its own lighting source and the electronics needed to profile the curve of the pages, and pass that information on to the scanning software to make appropriate adjustments.

The workflow allows the operator to turn the pages, hold them down and then trigger a capture using the foot pedal, hand switch or software-controlled, before moving on to the next page.

In addition to auto-flatten functionality, the software can also de-skew and includes OCR that can understand 180 different languages.

The CZUR ET24 Pro can scan any documents up to A3 size (16.5” x 11.7”), making it suitable for the majority of book scanning projects. CZUR makes a series of these devices, with the ET24 Pro being a mid-range option; it also makes cheaper, lower-resolution ET16 Plus and ET18 Pro models, in addition to the larger ET25 Pro and ET Max variants.

The only significant caveat with this device is the price, with the asking price being $649 for this model. That probably prices this hardware out for anyone who just wants to capture a single book, but for those who do this job regularly, it might be a solid investment.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)CZUR ET24 Pro: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? From $649/£649/€629
• When is it out? Available now
• Where can you get it? Through an online retailer or direct from CZUR

The range of CZUR scanners can be purchased through Amazon and AliExpress, and the asking price on Amazon is $649 in the USA, in the UK it's £649 at Amazon.co.uk, and €629 in Europe. Though the Europeans have a voucher deal running that reduced that to €534, making it the cheapest place to get it via Amazon.

The AliExpress pricing is better for the UK at £507.07, but for both the EU and USA customers, it's more expensive to get it from AliExpress than it is from Amazon.

Book scanning appears to be a subject that CZUR has effectively ring-fenced, since many competitor products are rebadged versions of its products. There are hand scanners and a few cheaper versions of the same concept, but CZUR has a wide range of options progressing from small portal solutions to larger professional installations.

Because there aren’t many competitors, the price is the price, and only the potential purchaser can determine if that represents value for money.

For what hardware is in this equipment, it seems expensive to this reviewer, but for those scanning books every day, it might seem like a bargain.

• Value: ★★★★☆

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)CZUR ET24 Pro: Specs

Feature

Specification

Product Type

Smart Book & Document Scanner

Camera Sensor

CMOS, 24 Megapixels

Resolution

5696 x 4272 pixels (320 DPI default)

Max Scan Area

?A3 (420 x 297 mm / 16.5 x 11.7 in); Max: 480 x 360 mm (18.89 x 14.17 in)

Max Scan Thickness

35 mm (A3), 50 mm (A4)

Scan Speed

1.5 seconds per page (single/dual pages)

Image Format

JPG

Export Formats

JPG, PDF, Searchable PDF, Word, Excel, TIFF

Color Depth

24 bits

Video Streaming

MJPG

Preview

PC Visual Presenter: 3072 x 1728 @12fps; Scanning: 1536 x 1152 @20fps

Light Source

Built-in top LED and side lights

Focus Mode

Fixed focus

Trigger Methods

Device control, software, hand button, foot pedal

System Support

Windows XP/7/8/10/11 (32/64-bit), macOS 10.11+, Linux Ubuntu 16.04+

Processor

Dual-core OpenRISC 32-bit

Laser Assistance

3 laser rays

Memory

1Gbit DDR

HDMI Output

HDMI 1.4 (Visual Presenter: 1920x1080P 60Hz/50Hz, 1280x720P 60Hz/50Hz, etc.)

Display

2.4" LCD, 4:3, 320x240

USB

USB 2.0 High-Speed

Power

Input: AC 100-240V 50/60Hz; Output: DC 9V/1.5A-2A

OCR

ABBYY OCR, supports 180+ languages

Software Features

Flattening curve, smart paging, tilt correction, auto-cropping, fingerprint removal, background purifying, colour modes, auto/manual scan, watermark, screen/video recording, combine sides, blank page detection

Optical Features

EFL: 4.55mm, BFL: 3.4mm, F/NO: 4.5, IR Cut: 650±10nm, Field of View: 82°, Distortion:

CZUR ET24 Pro: Design

• Mostly plastic
• Built-for purpose
• Plenty of options

I was initially somewhat disappointed with this device, or rather, specifically the build quality, as it is almost entirely made of relatively thin plastic.

Given the L-shaped form factor, I at least expected the base to be mostly metal to counteract the weight of the top arm that holds the camera. It’s not, and therefore, the whole construction isn’t far from toppling over if something or someone accidentally collides with it.

That said, it comes mostly in one piece, and the only feature that requires attaching other than cables is the side lighting component that is roughly halfway up from the base. This is attached using magnets, and again, they needed to be stronger magnets to avoid this part falling if knocked.

The base has four buttons and connections on the rear for attaching the various triggers, an included power supply and, on this model, a display via HDMI.

If you attach all the cables provided, including the foot pedal and hand button, there could be five cables coming out of the scanner, which is a bit messy.

One annoyance is that this uses generally old technology. The USB cable to connect it to a computer is Type-A, so that’s a pain for anyone with a modern laptop which has only USB-C, and the Type-A is USB 2.0, making for longer file transfers than are possible with better connectivity. Not that the scanned files it captures are huge, but USB has got better for many reasons with each subsequent release.

There is another way to use the scanner: use it for presentations and display what it sees via the HDMI output. This sounds super-useful until you realise that the maximum resolution supported by the HDMI is 1080p, whereas the captures are 5696 x 4272 pixels or nearly six times bigger. You can zoom the display to see more detail from the capture, but why this isn’t in 4K is a mystery.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Another curiosity is that on top of the scanner, where the camera is supported, is a small colour LCD display, which shows what the camera is currently seeing. If you are sitting in front of the scanner, unless you are remarkably tall, you won’t be able to see the display unless you are standing up. That might be great for posture, but the idea of scanning a book while standing up seems mildly bonkers for those in the later stages of life.

There is an easy fix for this would be that the display was hinged, just like the ones that are on most 3D printers, and this would have worked for both standing and sitting operations. This evidently was either never considered by the designers or they rejected it on a cost basis. Whatever the reason, it was an obvious omission that needs to be rectified.

Along with the scanner and its cables, CZUR also provides two ‘finger cots’, curious devices I’ll discuss in the user experience section. And, also a CD with the software on it. No, that’s not a bit of my infamously odd UK humour, this scanner came with a CD, something I’ve not seen with a tech product in many a year.

Why wasn’t it a cheap USB flash drive? I’ve no idea, but I take it that CZUR thinks that the market for these devices is those still using technology from the end of the previous century.

And, as if to underline this point in neon marker, the software is provided in a version that runs on Windows XP, disturbingly.

To be clear, you can download the software and the manuals from the CZUR website if you can’t find a PC with an optical drive mounted.

• Design: ★★★★☆

CZUR ET24 Pro: Features

• OpenRISC 32-bit
• 1Gbit DDR?
• Lasers?

CZUR describes the processor in the scanner as being a dual-core OpenRISC 32-bit, which covers a great many possible processors, none of which is especially impressive. The specifications also tell us that it has 1Gbit DDR. I find that hard to believe, because original DDR isn’t made these days, and also that would be 128MB/s of memory, which seems implausibly small for the job.

Perhaps those were typos, and it has 1GB of maybe DDR4, but I do wonder why they didn’t just take off-the-shelf phone electronics with their 64-bit ARM SoCs rather than building a complete bespoke platform to do the same job as phones do literally for pennies. And if they had taken that path, the scanner could have been wireless-capable and also have had USB-C inherently.

Another head-scratcher in the specs is that it indicates that the scanner has three lasers, which I presume are used to calculate the curve of the pages so they can be accurately flattened once scanned. My problem with this is that there is no evidence in use that there are any lasers, at least not ones that produce visible light frequencies.

I suspect this is another Chinese-made product where infrared and lasers are confused, as I can’t see anyone in the valuable book trade wanting their most valuable assets subjected to laser light if they could help it.

It should be noted that the profiling of the page has some significant limitations in the thickness of the book that can be scanned. The depth that can be adjusted for is 35 mm at A3 and 50 mm at A4. If your book is thicker than that, or you don’t hold it down to flatten it as much as possible, then you will end up with less than perfect scans.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

• Features: ★★★⯪☆

CZUR ET24 Pro: User experience

• Define a workspace
• Tons of features
• Lacks a clearly defined workflow

Setting up this scanner doesn’t just involve getting it out of the box, plugging it all together and installing the software, as there are some subtle nuances to the installation that I wasn’t aware of.

For starters, there is a black neoprene mat that comes with the scanner that shows exactly the area that the camera is focused on, and it has a notch cut on one side, which is where the scanner must be precisely placed. Failure to do this accurately will impact the scanning process, so make sure it's right.

One thing that I only realised after a few scans was that no objects other than the book and your hands can be inside the border of the mat, and that includes the cabling. If it crosses the threshold of the mat, the software will think it's something to scan, and that will throw all sorts of things out of whack.

The software, which I’ll get to shortly, is designed to realise what fingers look like and will remove them from the processed image if you are using them to hold the pages down. However, also included are two yellow ‘finger cots’, which are devices to perform the same page-holding function, but are easier for the software to erase. They also provide a means to touch the book without adding skin oils to the paper, which is also useful for rare publications.

The biggest issue I had in creating a suitable workspace for this device was the amount of space it required. To avoid cables crossing the mat meant the laptop needed to be well away from the scanner, and my 120cm long pine table was probably the minimum size that is workable. Anything smaller and the computer will be too close to the scanning mat, making the scanning exercise more challenging. It would probably work better with a desktop system under the desk, although where you would put the mouse and keyboard is debatable.

In a previous role, I worked with document scanners, and it was a two-person operation: one handled the scanner and documents, while the other operated the computer.

That might seem people-intensive, but it's significantly more efficient than having one person do the whole thing by themselves.

In my experience, working alone, this process turned out to be more complex than I’d originally anticipated. This was mostly down to the need to use both hands to hold down the book and then needing a third hand or a foot to trigger the scanning process.

There is an ‘Auto-scan’ function that can detect page turns, but it’s easy to make a slight adjustment with the finger cots and trigger another scan of a page you have already captured. Facing pages can be captured as left and right images or as a combined, flattened output, which allows some leeway in cropping and adjusting how the captures are processed on each side.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

There are, however, a few things missing that I’d have liked to have seen. Having worked with a repository containing millions of images, a golden no-no is having images with the same name, since this can lead to overwriting a file with something else.

What this software doesn’t offer is the unique label that is never reused and added to every filename. You can create daily or project-driven folders, but this system would be massively advantaged if the capture files were integrated with a database, possibly detailing who scanned them, what adjustments have been applied and other information, such as an index code for the book.

While it can scan barcodes present on the book, it doesn’t use the same logic to identify page numbers that can then be inserted automatically into the file naming model. That wouldn’t be difficult to achieve, and could make a file collection that is correctly sorted by page, irrespective of the order it was scanned.

What is more comprehensive are the options for exporting the files in PDF, Tiff and various other formats.

My assessment of the software is that it isn’t exactly intuitive, but I did eventually locate the features I was looking for. While I was reviewing the scanner, it was updated, suggesting that it does get improved on some basis, which is gratifying.

What it lacks is an inherent workflow, where a book goes in one end and scanned digital data comes out of the other end.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

• User experience: ★★★⯪☆

CZUR ET24 Pro: Final verdict

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Typically, with me, first impressions play a big part, and the amount of plastic in this product I found off-putting out of the box. However, after I’d used it, my opinion of this device subtly improved, because in the end of the day it does what CZUR claims for it.

I still think it needs a heavier base to counteract the arm, and a swivel on the display to make it easier to see when sat in front, but the workflow is practical, and it's possible to scan even a large book in an afternoon.

Does this justify the price? Probably not, but given the minimal product options that anyone wanting to scan a book has, that might be something you are forced to deal with.

I should mention before I get complaints that there are potential legal pitfalls to copying books protected by copyright, and that those using devices like the CZUR 24 Pro need to be aware of where those limitations exist in their specific geography.

This equipment can scan any book or publication, but doing so may not be protected under the law. But, if you have publications you can justify digitising, the CZUR 24 Pro will do it reasonably efficiently with a bit of training.

• Final score: ★★★★☆

Should you buy a CZUR ET24 Pro?

Value

Seems expensive, till you realise the limited alternatives

4 / 5

Design

Simple but effective design that is quiet and attractive

4 / 5

Features

Odd hardware choices

3 / 5

User experience

Lots of features but lacks straightforward workflow

4 /5

Overall

Does whats required, but needs training

4 / 5

Buy it if...

You need to scan some books.
While this isn't perfect at all, this is far superior to trying to use a flat-bed scanner or taking photographs.

Don't buy it if...

You have no scanning strategy.
The worst possible approach to scanning documents is to assume its a photocopy exercise. If you think that, then the CZUR ET24 Pro or any other book-scanning equipment will be a wasted investment. Develop a plan that considers how the contents will be stored, retrieved and distributed, and then think about a scanner.

For more essentials, we've tested the best scanners and best home printers.

The CZUR ET24 Pro is a scanner designed to efficiently capture books up to A3 in size.

The Way Home season 4 drops in 2026, and it will be the final ever season. Instead of asking Netflix to make more, we should enjoy what we have.

With Matheus Cunha back in the mix, will Man U put him in the game? Tune in to find out.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made the remarks to an Indian broadcaster before landing in India for a state visit, but refused to elaborate on what Russia could accept or reject.

(Image credit: Alexander Kazakov)

The International Landscape Photographer of The Year 2025 contest winners have been announced, and the winning image was taken with a popular pro Canon camera

Amazon UK has launched a big end-of-year sale, featuring some Black Friday-level price cuts on lots of top tech, home essentials, and last-minute gift ideas.

Want more pessimistic predictions of future component pricing? We're not short of those right now, sadly.

Editor's note

• Original review date: November 2024
• Issues with editing PDF content and line-spacing now fixed
• Prices have risen

Update - November 2025: In re-reviewing Nitro PDF, the latest version addresses one of the biggest issues we had with this software.

Originally, we were underwhelmed by the software's ability to seamlessly edit the content on an original PDF document. We even made a point of mentioning the issue with line spacing when altering the text. We're happy to report that's now been fixed (and we've removed it from the list of Cons above). Editing PDFs now feels much more consistent and intuitive.

Elsewhere, the feature-set and workflow remain the same. But there is one more big change: the price. And it's not an insignificant increase, either. Bumping the monthly cost from $11.24 to $15 is a hefty hike (jumping from $135 a year to a whopping $180), which sends this software to the top end of its market. Ouch.

Original review follows.

Nitro PDF Pro - now there’s a name that packs a powerful punch. The PDF editor is positioned as an essential tool for small businesses and individuals, and includes a mass of must-have features, like PDF conversions, eSignatures, OCR. Ideal, then, for improving workflow efficiencies and productivity within a single tool.

Available for Windows and Mac, there’s also a version of the PDF editor app for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. But how does the latest version measure up to the best PDF editor software we've used? We put it to the test.

Nitro PDF Pro 14: Pricing & plans

Nitro PDF offers both a one-off purchase or a subscription service (Image credit: Nitro)

• One-time purchase with volume licensing available

There’s been a few changes since the release of version 14 of Nitro PDF Pro, not least of which is its pricing structure. Don’t worry: if you’re not a fan of subscription services (you know you’re in trouble when car manufacturers are starting to get in on the act), and that aversion is driving you to find the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives: this multi-platform PDF editor can still be purchased outright for the one-off fee of $180.

Yes, that’s not cheap, and you have to pay for every device you want to use this software on. Whether you need a PDF editor for Mac or Windows, the price per licence is the same. It's a far cry from the best free PDF editors available, for sure.

However, you now also have the option of subscribing to the service for $11.24 per user, per month. This ends up being roughly $135 for the year for each person.

Whichever path you wish to take, you’re offered a 14-day free trial, no credit card required (although you do need to set up a free account and give Nitro a valid email address, which has been pretty much de rigueur for most online services for a while now). So hop on over to www.gonitro.com, and let’s check it out.

• Pricing: 4/5

Nitro PDF Pro 14: Interface & experience

Nitro PDF Pro’s interface is clean and simple, only taking up space on the edges of the interface, letting you focus on your document (Image credit: Nitro)

• Clean and doesn’t get in the way

Launch the software, open up an existing PDF, and Nitro PDF Pro’s interface is revealed to you.

The layout is quite clear and simple: all the tools you need are at the top, in a row of large icons showcasing the main tools, with a toolbar underneath, displaying additional ones (which are grayed out if the selected main tool doesn’t support that feature).

There’s a sidebar on the left hand side, which displays by default thumbnails of all your PDFs’ pages, but you can change that to show other useful information, such as your annotations, or any included attachments, among others.

• Interface & experience: 4/5

Nitro PDF Pro 14: Tools

You can edit the actual content of an existing PDF, but keep an eye on the formatting if you rewrite too much (Image credit: Nitro)

• Pretty much everything you need to annotate and alter a PDF

The purpose of Nitro PDF Pro is to allow you to make alterations to PDF documents, and it comes with all the tools you might expect.

Take online collaboration, for instance. You have at your disposal many ways to leave notes on pages. There’s a highlight tool which allows you to mark text in a variety of colors. You’ll find four default shades, with the ability to create three custom ones should you so wish. You’re also able to underline, strikethrough, or add a squiggle under any part of the PDF you’re working on.

All of this is most useful, but it can be hard to convey exactly what changes you want to see with a bit of a highlighter and some lines over the text. That’s where the Annotate tools come in.

Here, various text boxes reside, from just a plain box, to a comment, a thought bubble, a note (think of it as a collapsible post-it note), and a few others. More than enough for you to populate a PDF with as many comments as you need in order to convey what you need changed to other team members.

Editing the content of an existing PDF is also possible, of course, using the ‘Correct Text’ tool. Select a word, a sentence, or multiple paragraphs, and that tool will transform your selection into a changeable text box.

We did encounter an issue with the PDFs we experimented with: turning a section into editable text affected the line spacing, often making the paragraph overlap the following one. We tried with multiple PDFs. We encountered the same problem with each of them.

Although there are many tools available to modify text, like changing its color, italicizing it, changing its alignment, etc, we couldn’t find one that altered the line spacing. There are other competing software that do a better job at preserving the look of a document, like EaseUS PDF Editor.

• Tools: 4/5

Nitro PDF Pro 14: Document creation

Converting a PDF to another format offers you numerous options (Image credit: Nitro)

• Start from scratch and convert into other formats

Altering PDFs is one thing, but like so many others, Nitro PDF Pro lets you create documents from scratch, using all the tools mentioned above, and more besides. This even includes form building, something Adobe Acrobat can struggle to present. This is a useful addition as it allows you to stay within a single app when working on all things PDF.

But people don’t always work within one PDF editor app, and that’s where Nitro’s format conversion comes into its own.

Like similar PDF editing software - think Foxit PDF Editor or Readdle PDF Expert - Nitro PDF Pro can convert PDFs into other formats, and vice versa.

However, it doesn’t do this via a dedicated ‘Convert’ command. Instead, the process is a lot more intuitive: need to convert Word to PDF? Go to File > Open, locate it, and Nitro will convert it automatically for you as it opens up in the software.

Nitro PDF Pro is compatible with a wide variety of file formats, including images. When it encounters a file with no selectable text within it, it will offer to initiate the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) process. Select the language the document is in, and Nitro will get to work. We found the results very acceptable, and of course, they are editable.

Should you need to convert a PDF into a different format, just go to File > Export. You have a few options at your disposal, such as Microsoft Office files - Nitro is a easily one of the best PDF to Excel converters and PDF to PowerPoint converters on the market. There’s also RTF, TXT, a handful of image formats, and PDF/A - which is used for archival purposes.

This is not all you can do with Nitro PDF Pro of course: there are other features, which include being able to merge PDFs together from emails to text files to spreadsheets, condensing them into a single, searchable PDF), digitally eSign documents, and create tables of content.

• Document creation: 4/5

Nitro PDF Pro 14: Scorecard

Pricing

No subscriptions - just a one-off perpetual license

4/5

Interface & experience

Clean, modern, and simple to use

4/5

Tools

Has just about everything you need to edit and annotate documents

4/5

PDF creation

Excellent creation and conversion tools

4/5

Should I buy Nitro PDF Pro 14?

(Image credit: Nitro)Buy it if...

You need a feature-rich PDF editor
Nitro PDF Pro offers you many tools you would need to edit, annotate or even create a PDF document from scratch. You can bring in documents straight from your scanner, and its OCR capabilities are excellent. If you or your business often need to alter and annotate PDF documents, it might be worth downloading the free trial version and check it out.

Don't buy it if...

You're a casual user or your needs are simple
If your needs are simpler, and you only want to browse through a PDF, then Nitro PDF Pro risks being overkill. It might also not be ideal with you like to edit the content of a PDF without altering its formatting, especially the line spacing.

Alternatives

Adobe Acrobat Standard
The original remains, in our opinion, the top choice for best PDF editor out there. It's rich with features and tools for editing, converting, and organizing all your PDF documents. The workflow and user experience is sublime once you get past the initially overwhelming interface. In our review, we couldn't help but not that "sometimes, the best solution on the market has its reputation for a reason."View Deal

Foxit PDF Editor
"Manipulate PDFs in style with a great multi-platform PDF editor" was how we kicked off our review of Foxit's excellent PDF editor. It's packed full of powerful tools, including an outstanding data redaction tool. Ultimately, we found it to be "a great app for businesses who need to manipulate, edit, redact and otherwise alter PDFs on a regular basis."View Deal

EaseUS PDF Editor
EaseUS PDF Editor offers much of what Nitro does, although you have the choice of a perpetual license or taking out a subscription. When we tested the product, we found "a powerful, PC-only PDF editing software tool that allows you to manipulate and alter documents with relative ease. It also comes with more standard features, such as a converter, and has good OCR capabilities."View Deal

For additional PDF editing software, we reviewed the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives you can download right now.

Editor's note

• Original review date: November 2024
• No major changes to features and workflow
• Still not multi-platform
• Prices the same as last year

Update - November 2025: When re-reviewing the EaseUS package, we were hoping it would see the error of its ways and make the PDF software multi-platform, like so many other apps in their portfolio. But no: it’s still PC only.

That's ok, though. It’s still as good as it was - even if it’s just for Windows users. And there have been no noticeable changes since the last time we reviewed EaseUS PDF Editor.

What was surprising was that inflation doesn’t appear to be something EaseUs believe in: the prices it charged last year are the same this year, putting the competition to shame: $50 for the year, or $19.50 on a month-by-month basis. Even the lifetime one-off cost option is the same at $80. That’s something to be congratulated.

Original review follows.

EaseUS provides a vast array of tools for both Macs and PCs from backups and data recovery to multimedia capabilities like its video editor and screen recorder. Each tool to roll out has reviewed exceptionally well on TechRadar Pro, thanks to exceptional utility and a relaxed, intuitive user experience. But how does the firm’s fare compared to the best PDF editor software available for download? We re-reviewed the latest version to find out.

EaseUS PDF Editor: Pricing and plans

• Free but limited, monthly subscriptions, and one-off lifetime purchase available

EaseUS PDF editor offers plenty to to work with, and this obviously comes at a price. But there are actually a few options available to you on that front.

You could choose to pay nothing, but you’ll only gain access to some basic tools in what might otherwise be one of the best free PDF editors, and your exported files will be watermarked. Still it’s a great way to get a feel of the software and see if it’s right for you.

Then, you’ve got a couple of subscription options: pay monthly ($20) or yearly ($50). Both unlock all features, including unlimited file conversion, 24/7 technical support, free upgrades (as long as you keep on paying), and no watermark.

It’s obvious that paying for a year is a lot cheaper, but if you plan on using this PDF editing software regularly for the foreseeable future, then the one-off price of $80 for the ‘Lifetime’ option is incredibly attractive. It’s cheaper than 2 years on subscription (4 months if you pay monthly), and the impressive cherry on top is: you also get free upgrades for life. What’s not to like?

You can check out EaseUS by clicking here.

• Score: 4/5

EaseUS PDF Editor: Getting started

Open a PDF to be taken instantly to the ‘Read’ section, but editing options are merely a top menu away (Image credit: EaseUS)

• Simple interface for easily navigating to editing features

Launch the PDF editor app for the first time and you’ll be graced with a very sparse interface. Most of it is empty, save for a row of icons offering you various options at the top, along with a sidebar on the right. Click on the ‘Tools’ button there to have the currently empty homepage replaced with rows upon rows of icons showcasing the app’s multiple functionalities.

As it stands, the interface does exactly what you expect it to do: offer you what you need, when you need it, while getting out of the way as you work on your document.

Open an existing PDF and you’ll be brought instantly into the ‘Read’ mode, but check the top of the interface to activate any functionality you’re after, from ‘Comment’, ‘Edit’, ‘Protect’, ‘Convert’, and more. Click on any of them for a secondary menu to appear just beneath the first, giving you all the toolset for your selected action.

Take ‘Edit’ mode, for instance: click on any paragraph for it to be entirely selected. This bounding box mechanism works for any object currently on the page. You’re able to resize these boxes, move them around, and even delete them. With an entire paragraph selected by default, it’s incredibly easy to make changes to a PDF’s existing text. When you consider that many of the competition restrict your editing to a line by line basis, EaseUS PDF’s approach is much more flexible and user friendly.

You can insert and modify links into the body of your text, and even include headers and footers (a great place to add page numbers for instance). All in all, we found EaseUS PDF Editor’s interface to be surprisingly competent.

• Score: 4/5

EaseUS PDF Editor: Editing

EaseUS’s PDF editing features are powerful and more versatile than most of its competition (Image credit: EaseUS)

• Good selection of tools to convert formats or turn images into editable text

Editing PDFs might be this software’s bread and butter, but you can do so much more with it. For one thing, you’re able to convert PDFs to Excel, PDF to Word, and PDF to PowerPoint. There are even options to convert various image formats.

In the ‘Protect’ section, you’ll find various options to secure your PDF document, such as setting up a password for it, or redacting information you’d rather not divulge, but this is also where you can set up signatures, making it easy to fill in forms and sign documents digitally.

One tool we quite liked is its OCR functionality (we reviewed the best OCR software before), although we were disappointed to see that in order for it to work, you still need to convert an image to a PDF. It’s not a difficult process and EaseUS PDF Editor does allow you to convert images, like JPG or PNG to PDF, but it feels like a totally unnecessary step.

Still, once that’s done, you’ll be offered a long list of languages to choose from (English is selected by default in our version), along with a chosen format to save the output as (Word is your default option, but you can also choose TXT, Excel, Powerpoint, and PDF). Click on ‘Recognise’ and EaseUS PDF will get to work. The process doesn’t take too long - but that would obviously depend on the length of the document and your computer’s processing power.

• Score: 5/5

EaseUS PDF Editor: Tools

The OCR tool works well, although you must convert your image to PDF for it to work (Image credit: EaseUS)

• Need to trim a PDF? Expect plenty of the usual tools for that

You’ll also find the usual features here that you typically see in PDF editing software, such as PDF merger tools to combine multiple documents into one, or split a PDF, turning it into several different ones. Deleting a page is also a handful of clicks away. This is actually pretty standard fare.

One of these we enjoyed using was the crop feature, which was very well implemented. Click on the ‘Page’ menu, and select ‘Crop’ from the available list of tools. You then click and drag on the document to create a marquee selection. If you’d rather type in values, you have ‘Top’, ‘Bottom’, ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ fields for that. You also have options to crop only the selected page, a range of pages, or the whole document. Click on the ‘Crop’ button, and you’re done. This is a great way to remove unwanted sidebars for instance, letting you focus on, and keep just the essentials.

• Score: 5/5

EaseUS PDF Editor: Note-taking

• Various tools for when you need to work with others on a particular document

Online collaboration is important when working with a team, and EaseUS PDF Editor has you covered on that front, by allowing you to annotate your PDFs.

It’s also easy to add comments, including boxes, arrows and lines to bring attention to a particular section of the document. You’re even able to send a copy of the PDF to other team members using email.

• Score: 4/5

EaseUS PDF editor scorecard

Pricing

Flexible range of buying options

4

Easy start

A simple interface, an occasionally convoluted experience

4

Editing tools

Impressive selection of tools for editing PDFs

5

Formatting tools

Equally impressive toolkit for formatting PDFs

5

Note-taking

Easy to add notes, comments, and annotations

4

Should I Buy?

The crop tool is simple, intuitive, and effective (Image credit: EaseUS)Buy it if...

You need to regularly edit and manipulate PDF files in lots of different ways

EaseUS PDF Editor is packed full of tools allowing you total control of PDF documents, whether you're working on your own or as part of a team.

Don't buy it if...

You only need to view PDF files

EaseUS is a full PDF editor, and if you only need to view them, a PDF reader will hit the mark instead. There are many on the market - some, like Adobe Acrobat Reader DC and Apple Preview, even have minor editing capabilities, such as merging and splitting.

Also consider...

Adobe Acrobat Standard is our top choice PDF editor overall. Full of tools, features, and everything you'll ever need to manage, organize, create, and edit documents and files. But then, Adobe did create the PDF filetype. View Deal

Apple Preview is our favorite free PDF reader for Mac, and packs in a handful of editing functions for manipulating files. Best of all, it comes pre-installed on Mac computers. Earning 4 stars in our review, we said it "should be able to cater to all but the most demanding PDF road warriors."View Deal

pdfFiller is an excellent PDF editor for online collaboration, and a great choice if remote teamwork is essential. We recently re-reviewed this software, and it's still as good as it's always been. View Deal

For more PDF apps, we reviewed the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives you can get right now.

The New York mayor-elect's victory has energized the European left, with politicians casting themselves as their country's version of Mamdani, and strategists eager to study how he won.

(Image credit: Angelina Katsanis)

Editor's note

• Original review date: November 2024
• No major changes
• Prices remain a sticking point compared to rivals

Update - November 2025: Any PDF editor, such as pdfFiller, which relies on the web for its functionality, will benefit from improvements to the network, so if you have a good ISP, and a steady and generous bandwidth, you’ll find pdfFiller to be as good as it’s always been: fast and responsive to the point you easily forget you’re working in a browser window.

In terms of features, there's not been any real changes - your workflow is pretty much the same as it was when we last reviewed the software last year.

Pricing remains a sticking point though. Its month-by-month subscriptions are very high, ranging from $20, $30 and $40 for ‘Basic’, ‘Plus’ and ‘Premium’ respectively. Thankfully, its yearly contracts are more in line with the competition (if on the high side for the top end), dropping the cost to the equivalent of $8, $12, and $15 per month.

Original review follows.

pdfFiller is designed to help businesses deal with PDFs documents, from the basics such as splitting or merging files, to converting files to and from that format, editing PDFs, signing them, password protecting them, and more.

pdfFiller is made by airSlate Inc, an American software company. airSlate maintains its headquarters in the city of Brookline, Massachusetts. This service is part of the airSlate Business Cloud, a software suite for enterprises to create and manage documents. We put the latest version to the test, to see how it compares to the best PDF editor software out there. 

pdfFiller: Plans and pricing

You can check out the wares by selecting a subscription plan as this grants you 30 days to explore before the first payment kicks in (Image credit: airSlate)

• Various options are open to you, all dependent on price, and the more you pay, the more features you get. No free plan though, but a free 30-day trial should help mitigate that

Since pdfFiller is an online service, you get to access its wares via a subscription. There are no free tiers available, but any plan you choose comes with a free 30-day trial, which should give you enough time to kick her tires and see how she runs.

For $8 a month (on a yearly contract), or $20 on a month-by-month basis, ‘Basic’ gives you, well, the basics: you can edit documents, such as erasing sections, highlighting others, merging files, and converting PDFs to Word; you’re able to access your documents online, or through a desktop app (for Mac and Windows), and have the support staff get back to you in a day.

‘Plus’ take it up a notch for $12 a month for a year, or $30 each month. Its additional features include being able to create templates, insert fillable fields, password protect documents, get access to an iOS and Android app, and have customer support get back to you within 30 minutes.

And finally there’s ‘Premium’ which adds the ability to sign docs and get others to sign them as well, offers a library of US legal forms, manage users and permissions, collect payments, set up custom branding, and gets you instant support, all for $15 a month for a year, or $40 each month.

As mentioned above you can explore these features without giving the company your payment details, but rest assured no money will be taken for the first 30 days.

You can check out pdfFiller from airSlate by clicking here.

• Score: 4/5

pdfFiller: Interface

The interface may not be original, but it’s clear and simple to understand (Image credit: airSlate)

• A busy, yet easy to navigate interface that makes it easy for you to upload your documents, templates and contacts, and have access to them wherever you are, whether through a web browser, a desktop app or through your iPhone or Android device (as long as you’ve chosen the plan that includes those, of course)

Having logged in, you’ll be able to access pdfFiller either online, or by downloading an app. The concept is pretty much the same, as whichever option you use, your documents will be uploaded to pdfFiller’s servers, enabling you to work on them wherever you have access to a computer or web browser.

Upload a document and you’ll be able to interact with it within seconds. In that respect it makes for a great and easy interface: no matter where you are, as long as your documents are with pdfFiller, you’ll be able to get access to them, online or via a dedicated app.

The sidebar on the left lets you see your documents, templates, contacts and more, while the rest of the interface is dedicated to whichever menu you’ve selected in the sidebar. It’s all pretty simple and straightforward. 

You’re able to import your contacts from Google or add them manually, and your documents can be uploaded to pdfFiller as mentioned above, or accessed from one of four online storage solutions: Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, or OneDrive. It shouldn’t take you any time at all to understand your way around.

• Score: 4/5

pdfFiller: Tools

You have full editing access to a PDF - you can highlight text, redact paragraphs, edit the original content (one line at a time), and so on (Image credit: airSlate)

• All the tools are available in one place, which is great for efficiency and eases workflow. They’re all easy to use, and do their job as expected. A great interface, with good, powerful tools

What we really appreciated is the fact that once you’ve opened a document, you can do pretty much everything you need to directly from there. When you consider the fact that many of pdfFiller’s competitors require you to access specific tools one at a time, having to close the document first, and reopen it in that new tool to continue working, being able to do it all in one go sure feels like a breath of fresh air. It feels like the interface is working for you, rather than you having to work against it.

All the tools you’re looking for are there: you can re-order pages, and delete others straight from the thumbnail sidebar on the left. Should you need additional options, select ‘more’ from any of these thumbnails to reveal the ‘rearrange pages’ popup window from which you can also add and duplicate pages, along with what you could already do in the sidebar.

The rest of the tools can all be found at the top of the page, in a row. You can add text boxes, images, ticks and crosses, draw on the page, and more. It’s all very simple: select the tool, and apply it wherever you wish.

And as with true premium PDF services, you’re able to alter a PDF’s existing content, one line as a time. It’s not ideal as we’d prefer services that allow you to select entire paragraphs instead, but it works fine to change the odd word, or fix a typo here and there. Problems can occur should your alterations need to be more extensive.

Signatures are a simple matter of selecting the ‘sign’ tool, and placing it wherever it needs to be on the page. You can even resize it at will.

When it comes to redaction, you have an ‘Erase’ and a ‘Blackout’ tool. They both do the same thing: block out a portion of the text, either in white or black, preventing a reader from seeing those sections, and more importantly, preventing them from selecting the text that is now redacted.

Even better, your modifications are saved automatically which means that you can make changes on one device, and when you check on the other, those alterations are already reflected there. It makes for a seamless experience.

• Score: 4.5/5

Should I buy pdfFiller?

Reordering or deleting pages can be done straight from the thumbnail sidebar or via the ‘Rearrange Pages’ section (Image credit: airSlate)

Buy it if...

You’re looking for a powerful and well implemented PDF editing service which you can access online, via a desktop app, or through your iPhone and Android device.

Don't buy it if...

You don’t need so much control over your PDFs, and you certainly don’t want to be saddled with yet another subscription package.

For more PDF recommendations, we tested the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives.

YouTube has confirmed it will comply with Australia's strict new age verification laws, following the likes of Meta and X. Yet, critics are raising alarms over privacy and data security.

Editor's note

• Original review date: November 2024
• No major changes
• Prices have slightly risen

Update - November 2025: Every time we go back to Foxit PDF Editor, we're reminded just how good it is, especially when it comes to editing a PDF’s existing text. Being able to link text boxes together so your writing flows from one to the other as you write brings PDF editing as close to working with a word processor as you can get. It's so good, it's worth repeating and praising here once more.

After a re-review, we haven’t noticed any major changes. The app remains smooth and responsive, and is still one of the best out there.

As for its cost, well, inflation affects everything, and you can now subscribe to PDF Editor for $130 a year ($10.83 a month), or Editor+ for $160 ($13.33 a month).

Original review follows.

Editing PDFs can be very important for businesses - and a limited PDF editor will stifle productivity and slam the brakes on otherwise efficient workflows. 

Foxit’s PDF Editor sidesteps all of that, and more besides, making it easier to tweak an existing document. No more going back to the software where the file was originally created, performing the changes, exporting it as a PDF, only to discover another problem and go through the whole process again.  

We took the latest version of this software out for testing, to see how it compares to the best PDF editors we've reviewed.

Foxit PDF Editor: Pricing

You can choose from two subscription services - ‘+’ is aimed more at businesses (Image credit: Foxit)

• Flexible pricing with free trials, monthly & annual subscription, and perpetual licenses

Foxit’s PDF editing software comes in two editions: PDF Editor, and PDF Editor+. 

PDF Editor is the cheapest option. It’s designed to work on the web and on Desktop computers (be they Mac or Windows), includes an AI assistant, advanced editing capabilities, the ability to  convert PDFs to Microsoft formats, it can scans files and OCR them, it can compare two versions of a document to review all differences, and offers the ability to password protect PDFs. You can have this for $110 a year, or $11 when billed monthly.

PDF Editor+ is aimed more at professionals and businesses and as such includes more advanced features, including the ability to sign documents (which includes legally binding signatures), request signatures, and track responses in real time, allows you to redact sensitive information, and grants you access to Foxit on your iOS or Android device. This will cost you $140 a year or $14 a month.

There are no free versions of Foxit PDF Editor, although you can try Editor+ free for 14 days. For alternatives, we reviewed the best free PDF editors. 

You can check out Foxit PDF editor by clicking here. 

• Pricing: 4/5

Foxit PDF Editor: Interface & experience

The interface is easy to understand, only revealing the tools you need as you require them (Image credit: Foxit)

• A clean, easy to understand interface

The interface is quite simple, with a row of commands at the top, representing different aspects of the work you wish to carry out, such as ‘Edit’, ‘Convert’, ‘Protect’ and ‘Share’. 

Click on any of them and the row of icons beneath it changes to display the tools suited for the selected action. The interface is well organized, only showing you the tools you need when you require them. If you're looking for a less overwhelming alternative to Adobe's Acrobat software, Foxit may serve you very well. 

If you just opened the app, you’ll also see some ‘Tool Wizards’ in the middle of the interface, which allow you to quickly access frequently performed actions, namely ‘Edit PDF’ and ‘Merge PDF’.

• Interface & experience: 5/5

Foxit PDF Editor: Editing

Connect the various text boxes together to create a seamless flow when editing their content (Image credit: Foxit)

• Almost as easy as using a regular word processor

Should you need to make changes to an existing PDF, you need to take a trip to the ‘Edit’ section - which is actually automatically selected once you open a document.

You’ll find your PDF is divided into text boxes, which can be selected, moved around and resized at will. The text contained within one will automatically reflow as you alter its size. This also happens when you alter the content of these boxes.

You might notice that the main body of the document will likely be split up into multiple such text boxes, making editing a bit of a pain, as words won’t automatically flow from one box to another. However, Foxit has solved that problem with its ‘Link & Join Text’ feature.

Select it, then click (in order) the boxes you wish to connect together. Once done, go back to your editing, and you’ll be able to write seamlessly through the boxes.

When it comes to text tools, you have the basics you’d expect from any word processor. You’re able to change the font, its size, color and alignment. Bold, italics, underline, strikethrough, and so on, are also available, as are options to alter character, line and paragraph spacing, and character scale.

Foxit PDF editor pretty much covers most, if not all, the functions you’d need to make your necessary changes. There’s even a built-in spellchecker. It is the most versatile, flexible and extensive PDF editor we’ve yet come across. 

• Editing: 5/5

Foxit PDF Editor: Conversions

The conversion process from a webpage to PDF sounds great, but it failed for complex webpages (Image credit: Foxit)

• Convert data from one file format to another

Foxit PDF Editor can also help you convert documents into other file formats, such as Office docs like PDF to Word, PDF to PowerPoint, and PDF to Excel. You can also convert RTF, plain text, HTML and even various image formats. This level of flexibility is great should you need to extract the content of the PDF to create something new based on it.

This conversion process works in the opposite direction too, allowing you to convert files like Word to PDF. You have options to convert from an existing file, from your scanner, based on copied data stored in your computer’s clipboard, or even convert HTML to PDF.

The latter sounded interesting but we encountered some problems: we tried converting www.techradar.com, www.apple.com, and even www.microsoft.com, but we only got various errors for our troubles. It seems it might only work for less complex, less animation heavy, less processing-in-the-background pages.

Regarding the scanner option, it’s great that Foxit PDF Editor can connect directly to your device. You can even choose for the software to automatically perform an OCR pass automatically, enabling you to edit as soon as the process is done.

This OCR software functionality isn’t restricted to the scanning process, meaning that you can use it to convert any scanned PDF in your possession. You’re given two main options: turn the scanned image into a searchable one (meaning you can use the search field to find specific text only), or convert the file to make the text editable. We found the results to be pretty good.

• Conversions: 4/5

Foxit PDF Editor: Online collaboration

Foxit PDF Editor has many useful annotation tools for collaborative work (Image credit: Foxit)

• Work as a team, thanks to a long list of annotating tools

As Foxit PDF Editor is aimed at businesses, it stands to reason that you’ll find online collaboration tools. These are located in the ‘Comment’ section. 

From there, you and your team are able to highlight text (with multiple colour choices), link said highlighted section to a note, add a free floating note, strikeout, replace, or insert text, draw shapes, and more. There are many options here to make sure other members of your team know exactly which changes need to happen.

• Online collaboration: 4/5

Foxit PDF Editor: Data redaction

Foxit PDF Editor comes with many powerful redacting tools (Image credit: Foxit)

• Keep sensitive information away from prying eyes

Businesses need to protect their information. In certain industries, it’s absolutely imperative to stay compliant with global data laws - with the threat of operational, financial, and reputational damage hanging over any firm that doesn’t treat data security seriously. 

There are basic ways to redact information, usually by placing a black box over sensitive data, but if it’s not done right, you can still select, copy and paste what was supposed to be restricted. 

Foxit PDF Editor doesn’t work like that. 

The tools for this job reside in the ‘Protect’ section. From there. You could use ‘Whiteout’, for instance. This is a simple one: click and drag the section you wish to delete, and it’s permanently removed from the document. You can’t even undo this. It’s also not possible to see if any info was there in the first place.

Another option is the ‘Mark for Redaction’ tool. This allows you to select text to be blacked out. You have more control than the Whiteout tool, although you don’t appear to have the ability to edit your selection (undoing your action is possible though). Once you’re ready, click on ‘Apply Redaction’, and after confirming this, the chosen content is no longer selectable or editable (or undoable).

It’s a powerful tool which also allows you to perform search and redact options, automatically looking through the document for a specific word for instance, or instructing Foxit PDF Editor to redact all phone numbers or emails in the file.

• Redactions: 5/5

Foxit PDF Editor: AI

Is Foxit’s AI genie an ideal addition to your workflow, or just another gimmick? (Image credit: Foxit)

• AI is one of those features you need to try to see if it’ll work for you… or if it’ll be as useful as a MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar

It seems software isn’t software these days without some kind of AI creeping into the code, and Foxit PDF Editor is no exception. The latest version comes with an AI-Assistant, which can help you in various ways, such as being able to summarise a document, rewrite it, translate it into over 30 languages, and if you’re not sure how to do something, ask it a question, and it will come up with instructions on how to perform the action you’re struggling to perform. 

However, interestingly enough, when we tried that feature, the AI replied to us in French, even though we asked it in English and the document in question was written in English. This glitch only happened once, mind. Maybe the AI got confused by the reviewer’s surname! 

• AI: 3/5

Foxit PDF Editor: Scorecard

Pricing

Monthly & annual subscriptions and perpetual licenses available (software dependent)

4

Interface & experience

Clean UI, simple to find what you need

5

Editing

Incredibly simple with some clever touches

5

Conversions

Plenty of conversion tools and OCR functionality

4

Online collaboration

Good remote collaboration integration

4

Redactions

Excellent way to remove sensitive data in documents

5

Should I Buy?Buy it if...

You need to regularly and quickly edit PDFs
Foxit PDF editor is a great tool for businesses, with flexible and fair prices - especially the perpetual license, where available, when you need to modify or edit PDFs on a regular basis. The PDF editing software even comes with a outstanding OCR capability, and being multi-platform is just icing on the cake.

Don't buy it if...

You’re a casual user
Foxit PDF Editor might be overkill though. Most people don’t need to edit the content of a PDF. And combining or splitting PDFs are functions that many traditional PDF readers even include, so shouldn’t be considered ‘Pro’ features.

Alternatives

Adobe Acrobat Standard is our top recommendation PDF editor for most people - though Foxit PDF Editor certainly gives it a run for its money, in our experience. View Deal

Apple Preview is a free PDF reader and manipulator for Macs. Coming preinstalled on Apple machines, in our review we hailed its powerful editing tools.View Deal

EaseUS PDF Editor is an impressively powerful PDF editor with plenty of tools up its sleeves. We recently re-reviewed this outstanding tool and it's still just as good as it's been for a long time. View Deal

For additional PDF editing tools, we tested out the best alternatives to Adobe Acrobat you can get right now. 

Editor's note

• Original review date: March 2024
• No major changes to features and workflow

Update - November 2025: The family of Acrobat products has changed a little since we last reviewed this product, beyond the addition of ‘Studio’ at the top end of the portfolio. However, that hasn’t affected Adobe Acrobat Standard.

We've looked again at what's on offer in the current version. You can still edit text and images, password protect your documents, and apply digital signatures, among others. As part of the more advanced features Adobe are introducing with ’Studio’, are more AI tools.

Price-wise, you can subscribe to Adobe Standard for $13 a month, but if you already have a Creative Cloud Pro plan (for $70 a month), you’ll have Acrobat Pro included in that subscription.

In short, no major changes - it remains an excellent choice for business use, although larger firms and PDF power-users may get more out of Adobe Acrobat Pro.

Original review follows.

Adobe Acrobat - the original PDF reader and editor - today comes in three distinct versions for a variety of different use-cases. But Acrobat Standard with the broadest appeal for document management. 

In our Acrobat Reader review, we explored Adobe’s basic PDF viewer, while our Adobe Acrobat Pro review looked at the best-for-business option. Adobe Acrobat Standard sits in the middle of this line-up, as PDF creation and editing software capable of delivering most tools for most users, in both casual and professional settings. 

We’ve long-rated Acrobat as the best PDF editor - but how does it compare to the competition? We put Adobe’s top tool to the test.  

Adobe Acrobat Standard: Price & plans

• Subscription-based software that's pricier than some of the competition

As with most Adobe products, you'll need a subscription to get the most from Acrobat. But it's not like the the Reader and Pro versions. 

As mentioned in our Adobe Acrobat Reader review, Adobe's basic PDF viewer is free, while Acrobat Pro offers you a free trial. To get to grips with Adobe Acrobat Standard, however, you have to subscribe. There is no free trial, no free anything. Thankfully, you can request a refund after 14 days, but that still requires effort on the subscriber’s part to remember to cancel in time when trying an app out.

Alternatively, you can opt to get Pro’s free trial to get a sense of the Standard offering. Aside from a handful of features such as bulk e-signature requests, and admin tools to manage teams, the toolset is virtually identical. 

If you decide Adobe Acrobat Standard is for you, you have a choice from the usual Adobe subscription plans: annual paid monthly, monthly, and annual plans are available (and, as you’d expect, paying upfront for the year is the cheapest option). 

The price is quite a lot more expensive than some of its competition, such as Easeus PDF Editor, FoxIt PDF Editor, or ILovePDF, but you get a good amount for your money if you’re a PDF power-user. 

• Pricing & plans: 3.5/5

Adobe Acrobat Standard: Interface

Adobe Acrobat Standard’s interface is clean and simple to use, and unlike ‘Reader’, most of its tools actually work (Image credit: Adobe )

• Simple, and easy to find the tools you’re after, while offering you a soupçon of customization

If you’re familiar with Adobe Acrobat Reader, you’ll feel right at home in Adobe Acrobat Standard, and the same will be true should you ever jump to Adobe Acrobat Pro. But unlike Acrobat Reader, all the tools on display actually work - rather than a bid to entice you to upgrade. It might be the one of the best free PDF readers for now, but for any real document management, Acrobat Standard or Pro are all but essential. 

Acrobat’s sidebar on the left gives you quick access to your files, those you’ve recently worked on or read, those that reside in your online Adobe Cloud Storage, any Agreements you’ve signed or requested a signature for, and files stored on your computer, some support for some of the best cloud storage services, such as Box, Dropbox, GoogleDrive, OneDrive and SharePoint.

Click on ‘Recent’ to see a handful of available tools, like ‘Edit PDF’, ‘Create PDF’, and ‘Combine Files’, but if you want to see all available options, click on the ‘Tools’ tab, to the right of the ‘Home’ tab, top left of the interface. If you’re already in the ‘Recent’ section, you also have an ‘See All Tools’ button to the right which does the same thing.

These tools are listed by category, depending on what you need to do, and their titles are self explanatory: ‘Edit & Create’, ‘Forms & Signature’, ‘Share & Review’, etc. To the right you’ll find a sidebar with another list or commonly used tools. That sidebar is totally customizable: reorder the list by dragging items up or down, remove tools you don’t need, and add some not currently displayed by selecting them from the main list. This helps you focus on the main tools you find yourself using all the time.

• Interface: 4/5

Adobe Acrobat Standard: Tools

The tool sidebar (on the right) is populated with common functions, but you are free to totally customize it to suit your exact needs (Image credit: Adobe )

• An example of good design - a wealth of tools are well-organized, versatile, and easy to use, coupled with a flexible interface designed to work the way you do

You may think that Adobe Acrobat Standard only lets you work on one particular function at a time, but this would be to misunderstand the underlying elegance of the software. Sure, each tool has its own icon, and you can customize the sidebar to the right as discussed above, but that doesn’t mean the functionalities are segregated.

Take the ‘Combine Files’ tool for instance. As its name implies, this is where you import multiple PDFs and merge them into one. But what if you’d like to remove some pages, or reorder others? Do you have to click on another icon for that? Well, no. Once you’re in the editing section, you are actually free to do pretty much whatever you like with your PDF. So you can reorder and delete pages from the ‘Combine Files’ section. You can also annotate, or even edit the existing text and images, without having to select another tool. All your editing options are available via the toolbar at the top.

Some tools will reveal another toolbar, like the ‘Edit Text & Images’ icon, but you can do everything you need to do without having to interact with the right sidebar… unless you want to of course.

Access a tool like ‘Combine’, and notice you can use others right from its interface, offering you great flexibility in the way you work (Image credit: Adobe )

It’s this kind of flexibility of working that we love in a well designed app: you’re offered multiple ways of performing the same action, and it’s up to you to decide which one fits your workflow best, without that being forced upon you by a developer.

So, Adobe Acrobat Standard is an incredibly well-designed and flexible software, which aims to help you manipulate, annotate, and edit PDFs. You’re able to do the simplest things, from transforming a PDF into a variety of other formats, such as Word, Excel, JPG, HTML and a few others, to creating a file from scratch, and everything in between, including filing in and signing PDFs. The list is pretty extensive and what’s best is how easy and intuitive the tools are to use. 

Considering Adobe created the format, it’s little surprise they’d design a best-in-class application to manipulate it - even in the face of some of the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives. It’s obviously far better than Acrobat Reader which mostly felt to us like an advert for this software. This is Acrobat as you expect it to be, with a wide array of tools to help you work in the PDF format and achieve what you need to achieve - mostly.

There are a few limitations, most of which are covered by the ‘Pro’ version, such as converting files into the PDF format, redacting information, and comparing two versions of a PDF. Such functions are deemed by Adobe to be higher end, and should not be needed by the vast majority of its target audience, unless of course they do, which is where Acrobat Pro comes in. 

• Tools: 4.5/5

Adobe Acrobat Standard: Scorecard

Pricing & plans

Subscription-based, no free trial

3.5

Interface

Simple, well-designed interface for productivity boost

4

Tools

Loads of tools, intuitively placed and flawless in use

4.5

Should I buy?

You can transform a PDF file into a wide number of other formats, from Microsoft, to HTML, to images and more besides (Image credit: Adobe )Buy it if...

You need a well designed piece of software that allows you to work with a PDF file, from basic management, to filing in and signing documents, to creating some from scratch.

Don't buy it if...

You'd rather save money with the best free PDF editors, or your document modifications are more modest - Acrobat is full of features, and you may not need them all. 

Adobe Acrobat Standard: Alternatives

We've tested a range of Acrobat substitutes - and our top-rated apps include:

pdfFiller, a surprisingly feature-rich web-based editing tool.
EaseUS PDF Editor, which offers a low-cost annual subscription compared to PDF24 Creator, which is our favorite, feature-filled PDF tool you can use completely free. 

We tested the best PDF readers for Windows - and here's our top picks

Microsoft says it hasn’t lowered AI sales targets, and Azure revenue is up 40% year-over-year.

Listening Age divided music fans during Spotify Wrapped 2025 - this is how Spotify actually measures it

Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced that it will produce and publish Bad Robot Games' next working title as part of a new partnership.

book, Color Pattern Texture: The Foundation to Make Your Home Your Own.'/>

In the digital age, it's easy to curate the look of your home with the help of artificial intelligence and social media. But designer Vern Yip would like you to take a more hands-on, tactile approach.

(Image credit: Kameron Jennings)