PDF Software - Feature Comparisons and Alternatives

Description of Adobe PDF editing software features, along with outlining the features of potential alternatives that team members may be able to use for working with PDFs in lieu of purchasing an Acrobat Pro license.

Adobe PDF Editing Software and Conversion Tools:

• Adobe Acrobat Pro DC
  • Primary Use:
    • Required for creating, editing or organizing fillable or complex PDFs.
  • Cost:
    • About $238 annually (license renewed each June, purchased on an individual basis as needed, billed to your unit)
      • If purchased mid-year, the price will be prorated until the next renewal (See MSU Tech Store for more info on pricing).
  • Key Features:
    • Edit text and images in PDFs
    • Create and edit PDF forms
    • Combine and reorganize multiple page PDFs into one document
    • Convert PDFs to other formats, such as a Word document or PowerPoint presentation
    • Enhanced security features such as password protection, encryption, redaction, and watermarks
    • Compare different versions of a PDF
    • Add media (photos & video) to a PDF
    • OCR to convert scanned text to plain text format
  • Access: If Acrobat Pro is essential to your role, you can work with your unit manager to have a software request ticket submitted to Digital Strategies and Services (DSS). Before doing this, be fiscally responsible and see if some of the alternatives in this article might work instead.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
  • Primary Use:
    • View, print, and sign PDFs
  • Cost:
    • Free software, no license necessary.
  • Key Features:
    • Open, read, and print PDF files
    • Sign PDFs with your signature
    • Add text to fillable PDF forms
    • Add comments
  • Unavailable Features:
    • Cannot edit PDF text or images
    • Cannot create fillable PDFs
    • Cannot convert PDFs to other formats such as Word documents
    • Cannot password protect PDFs
    • Cannot perform OCR (extract plain text from scanned text)
• Adobe Free PDF Conversion Tools
  • Converting PDFs to Excel (adobe.com/acrobat/online/pdf-to-excel).
  • Converting Excel documents to PDFs (adobe.com/acrobat/online/excel-to-pdf).
  • These options should not be used for sensitive or confidential data.

Alternative Free Software Solutions for Working with PDFs:

• Microsoft Word
  • Primary Use:
    • Viable free alternative for PDF tasks, depending on features needed.
  • Key Features:
    • Create or save documents as PDFs
    • Password protect and encrypt PDFs
    • Open PDFs and do basic editing:
      • To open a PDF, first, open Word.
      • Select File, then Open.
      • Navigate to where you have saved the PDF to select and open it. 
      • Edit the content as you would any Word document.
      • When saving the document (File, then Save), you can select a file type of Word or PDF.
• Canva
  • Primary Use:
    • Viable free alternative for PDF tasks, depending on features needed.
  • Key Features:
    • Allows for advanced editing, creation, merging, organization of pages, translation and marking up PDFs (300 page limit).
    • This free program has been security reviewed and is approved for use by the university.
    • For more information about Canva, visit canva.com/pdf-editor.
    • This option should not be used for sensitive or confidential data.