Recommend a non-Adobe PDF program

In My Humble Opinion
1

Here’s what I use it for: OCR, editing PDF files (adding pages, removing pages), changing an occasional word in a PDF file (but really I can usually go back to the source to make changes; this would be a small change, but sometimes it’s more convenient), converting PDF to various other formats–the ones I convert to are Word files or HTML but the program I’m using now would do others, if it worked.

The catch: My work computer is not connected to the internet, and I prefer that it is never connected to the internet.

What this means is that I cannot use the new Adobe programs, where apparently your computer has to be in communication with Adobe at all times.

Since losing my nice old computer and all associated software I have not been able to use the full Adobe PDF suite, as it won’t work with the new Windows programs, and it’s frustrating.

I was using something called Wondershare PDFelement, but it has issues for me. It locks up and I can’t do anything. The help desk said to start the program and then go to the help icon and get updates…but I can’t do that, because it immediately locks up. So I really need something else.

Now what I really like are programs that I can buy, and have a license, and get it on a CD or some other media so I can install it on my non-internet computer. I’m open to things that I can download though, as long as I can get it on my work computer. (Obviously my laptop is connected to the internet.) And it has to do all the things I need it to do, see first paragraph. If I have to get more than one program that’s not out of the question.

Oh, good customer service would also be nice, but I know you can’t have everything. (By good customer service I mean you can actually get hold of somebody if you need to, and they can actually help. For instance Wondershare can’t find my registration key for the software but they can find the key for the OCR, which was an addition, even though I bought them both at the same time. And then, they recommend a fix that I can’t do and their conclusion seems to be, “Buy the newest version,” only it’s a new buy not an upgrade because they can’t find the registration key.)

I’m looking for recommendations or possibly, some site to go to to get recommendations. Its scary the way so many “review” sites seem to be the kind of places where you can get great reviews if you pay.

2

I’ve used PDFFill for years as an alternative to Acrobat. There’s a free verison, but the Pro version is only $20 and I believe can do most of what you want.

3

Thanks! I had not encountered that one. Will check it out.

Also correcting my last sentence, “it’s scary” not “its scary” darn it. Both my comma and my apostrophe are sticking on this laptop. In my defense.

4

Does offline activation not work on Acrobat Pro any more? Even if not, your old versions like Acrobat XI should continue to work.

5

For a reader I like Sumatra PDF. It’s much faster than Acrobat at opening files, but pretty barebones as far as features. A big plus and the reason I found/use it, is it opens .epub (ebook files) and .cbr, .cbz (e-comics) files. Again much quicker than a dedicated viewer.

6

I have used Foxit Reader for quite some time now. Fairly happy with it.

Not sure about the off-line usage but it doesn’t generally have a bunch of “must”'s attached.

7

I think even if it’s activated, all versions after Acrobat X will hound you update every time you boot up. At least that’s what I’ve seen on various work computers I’ve used.

8

If you edit the Preferences, you can select “Do not download or install updates automatically”. Which it would not anyway, since the OP’s computer is offline.

9

I also use Foxit and it’s great. Ymmv.

10

Foxit people: Do you use Foxit just to open and read PDFs, or to create and manipulate them?

Also, is this the same outfit that brought out the Foxfire browser? Because that one didn’t work out for me at all, so I would be suspicious.

11

Back in the day, I used Illustrator to edit PDFs, before it required an online connection. I bet a free vector editor like Inkscape could do it as well.

12

I use Foxit Phantom to edit PDFs. We had to purchase new software when we switched to Windows 10 and it was much cheaper than Adobe. I have found that I much prefer it’s functionality as well. It’s quite user friendly.

13

I have no recommendation but since I use Acrobat for many things, an inquiry. Have you thought about purchasing and installing a older version? I still use Acrobat 9 (9.5.5). No on-line or connectivity hassles. Yes, it’s 8 years old but does everything I need.

If considered, be aware that I still use Windows 7.

14

I would do that if I could. I still have the older version (from maybe 2005) that I ran on Windows XP. Unfortunately it doesn’t work on Windows 10 which is what I have on my new computer. It gets to a certain point when I try to install it and refuses to go further.

15

Thanks, this is helpful!

16

Youknow, I thought about this for awhile. I decided to see if I could find Acrobat 9, because I’ll bet that would work. And you can’t buy it. Or, that is, apparently you can ONLY buy it from some sites that look really questionable to me. Do you get the license? Is it pre-owned software that maybe somebody didn’t deactive (because this used to be a thing with Adobe). Every place that said it was available from them looked kind of sleazy. If they had FAQs, they didn’t answer those two I just asked, and those are important.

Do you know of a legit place to get it?

Oh, PS, somebody IRL recommended Nitro Pro and that, let me tell you, was a disaster. Quick to install. Quick not to work. Four hours to try various things to get it to work, and then another couple of hours to uninstall it, because even its uninstall wizard wouldn’t work.

17

SumatraPDF is basically a reader only. But it has one tremendous advantage over the Adobe reader: It continually checks if you have modified the source and displays the new version. Adobe locks the source and permits no modification. You have to exit the reader, make your changes, reload, and then try to find your place again. Since I often make one minor change in the source, SumatraPDF is just what I need. (I am using TeX with pdf output, if it matters, but recompiling the .tex file generally takes under a second for my usual papers, although a 550 page book needs 20 seconds.)