List of PDF Software
List of PDF Software
This is a list of links to articles on software used to manage Portable Document Format (PDF) documents. The distinction between the various functions is not entirely
clear-cut; for example, some viewers allow adding of annotations, signatures, etc. Some software allows redaction, removing content irreversibly for security. Extracting
embedded text is a common feature, but other applications perform optical character recognition (OCR) to convert imaged text to machine-readable form, sometimes by
using an external OCR module.
Contents
Terminology
Multi-platform
Development libraries
Creators
Viewers
AmigaOS
Converters
Viewers
Linux and Unix
macOS
Converters
Editors
Creators
Viewers
Microsoft Windows
Converters
Creators
Editors
Viewers
Mobile
Web-based
Converters
Editors
Viewers
References
External links
Terminology
Converters: These allow users to convert PDF files to other formats.
Creators: Software to convert other formats to PDF.
Editors: These allow users to modify an existing PDF file.
Multi-platform
Platforms Converts
Edits
PDF to
Name License existing Description
other
Linux Mac Windows Other PDF
format
Converts PostScript to
pstoedit GNU GPL Yes Yes Unix Yes (other) vector graphics file
format
Structural, content-
QPDF Apache License 2.0 Yes Yes Yes preserving transformations
from PDF to PDF
Supports merging,
splitting, and extracting
pages from PDFs. Also
rotating, deleting and
Smallpdf Desktop Proprietary Yes Yes Yes Yes
reordering pages.
Converts PDF to Word,
Excel, PowerPoint, raster
images.
PDF Studio Proprietary Yes Yes Yes Yes Full feature PDF editor
Development libraries
These are used by software developers to add and create PDF features.
Adobe PDF Library Proprietary C++, .NET, Java API with support for PDF editing, viewing, printing and text extractions
PDFBox Apache License Java developer library for creating, view, extract, print PDF files.
Formatting Objects Open-source print formatter driven by XSL Formatting Objects and an output independent formatter; main
Apache License
Processor output target is PDF
iText Proprietary/AGPL Library to create and manipulate PDF, RTF, HTML files in Java, C#, and other .NET languages
Open-source Java reporting tool that can write to screen, printer, or into PDF, HTML, Microsoft Excel, RTF,
JasperReports GNU LGPL
ODT, comma-separated values and XML files
JPedal Proprietary/GNU LGPL Java developer library for viewing, extracting, and printing PDF files.
.NET, C/C++, Java, and HTML5 developer library for reading, writing, viewing, annotating, and extracting
LEADTOOLS Proprietary
text from PDF files.
Open source library to create and manipulate PDF files in Java. Fork of an older version of iText, but with
OpenPDF GNU LGPLv3 / MPLv2.0
the original LGPL / MPL license.
C, C++, C# .NET, JAVA, Objective-C, Python, Ruby and PHP library for creating, editing, annotating,
PDFTron Systems Proprietary
optimizing and viewing PDF files.
podofo GNU LGPL Open-source C++ library to read and write the PDF files
Poppler GNU GPL Open-source multi-backend C++ library derived from Xpdf; no bundled viewer; incl. pdftohtml converter
XEP Proprietary XSL-FO layout engine written in Java; output formats: PDF
Creators
These create files in their native formats, but then allow users to export them to PDF formats.
Name License Platforms Description
Illustrator can save as PDF, and can recognize and edit text and
Adobe Illustrator Proprietary Windows, MacOS X
graphics
FineReader Proprietary ? OCR tool; can save as PDF, and recognize text from PDF
All Microsoft Office products from 2007 version allow users to Save
Microsoft Office Proprietary Windows, Mac OS X
as PDF
Prince Proprietary Linux, Mac, Windows, Solaris, Converts HTML, XML, SVG, and MathML to PDF by way of CSS
LaTeX Project Public Mark-up language and tools to write technical reports, books,
LaTeX, TeX ?
License, Permissive magazines, almost any publication type
LuaTeX GNU GPL ? TeX typesetting system that creates PDF documents
pdfTeX GNU GPL ? TeX typesetting system that creates PDF documents
Viewers
These allow users to view (not edit or modify) any existing PDF file.
DigiSigner Proprietary, freeware PDF viewer with added function to digitally sign PDF documents
PDF Viewer / Reader for Desktop computer and Mobile Devices. Allows users to add many elements to
Foxit Reader Proprietary, adware
PDFs (e.g. arrowed comment boxes, text boxes, links, bookmarks, and images).
MuPDF GNU AGPL Aims to be small and fast with high quality anti-aliased graphics.
A JavaScript library to convert PDF files into HTML5, usable as a web-based viewer that can be included
PDF.js Apache License 2.0
in web browsers.
Qiqqa Proprietary, freeware View PDFs in a variety of zoom layouts, annotate, tag, search, cross-reference.
Sumatra PDF GNU GPL v3 A simple, small and fast pdf reader. Uses the MuPDF library.
Semantic scientific PDF reader (optimised for life sciences and medicine), allows public comments on
Utopia Documents GNU GPL v3
PDFs, generates on-the-fly link-outs to scientific databases and resources when used while online
Xpdf GNU GPL/Proprietary Multi-platform viewer; source and binaries available for Windows, Linux and Macintosh
AmigaOS
Converters
Antiword: A free Microsoft Office Word reader for various operating systems; converts binary files from Word 2, 6, 7, 97, 2000, 2002 and 2003 to plain text or
PostScript; available for AmigaOS 4, MorphOS, AROS x86
dvipdfm: a DVI to PDF translator with zlib support
Viewers
Xpdf: a multi-platform viewer for PDF files, Amiga version uses X11 engine Cygnix.
ps2pdf GNU AGPL Yes Part of Ghostscript; converts a PostScript file to a PDF.
Scribus GNU GPL Yes Open source program for page layout.
PDF
Proprietary Yes Yes Software for viewing and editing PDF documents
Studio
Adobe Proprietary Extant versions are obsolete, Adobe has stopped support for
Yes
Reader freeware Linux.
Google Proprietary
Yes Includes a PDF viewer
Chrome freeware
macOS
Converters
deskUNPDF for Mac: proprietary application from Docudesk to convert PDF files to Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org, image, and data file formats
Editors
Adobe Acrobat: Proprietary PDF authoring suite
PDF_Expert_(software): Proprietary PDF viewer and editor.
PDF Studio: Proprietary software to view and edit PDF documents.
PDF Signer: Proprietary; fills forms and embeds image signatures in PDF documents
Creators
macOS: Creates PDF documents natively via print dialog
Viewers
Safari: This bundled web browser has built-in support for reading PDF documents.
Firefox: Includes a PDF viewer
Google Chrome: Includes a PDF viewer
Preview: macOS's default PDF viewer (in Mac OS X v10.5 and later, it also can rotate, reorder, annotate, insert, and delete pages. It can also merge files, create new
files from existing files, and move pages between files.)
Adobe Reader: Adobe Systems's reader which is also available for Macintosh; Safari plug-in available
Skim, an open source (BSD licence) PDF reader and note-taker for Mac OS X
Foxit Reader: Proprietary, freeware. Allows users to add elements to PDFs (e.g. arrowed comment boxes, text boxes, links, bookmarks, and images)
Microsoft Windows
Converters
Adobe Acrobat: Can convert files into PDF or convert PDF files into other formats
ABBYY FineReader: Commercial PDF converter which converts PDF into Word (.doc), Excel (.xls), PowerPoint (ppt), and more
deskUNPDF: PDF converter to convert PDFs to Word (.doc, docx), Excel (.xls), (.csv), (.txt), more
GSview: File:Convert menu item converts any sequence of PDF pages to a sequence of images in many formats from bit to tiffpack with resolutions from 72 to
204 × 98 (open source software)
Google Chrome: convert HTML to PDF using Print > Save as PDF.
gDoc Fusion: Proprietary, shareware; PDF views, edits, converts documents into PDF, XPS or Microsoft Word document; after 30 days a watermark is placed on
documents in shareware version
OmniPage: Converts to and from PDF and other formats with many options.
Nitro PDF Reader: (Freeware) Extracts Images in original resolution.
PDF-XChange: PDF Tools and PDF-XChange print driver allow conversion from many formats to PDF. A "lite" version of the print driver is free for non-commercial
(home and academic) but places a watermark on documents
Qiqqa: Converts Microsoft Word document and Web Pages to PDF.
SaveasPDFandXPS: Freeware add-in for Microsoft Office 2007; converts documents in standard Microsoft Office formats, e.g. Word, Excel, Powerpoint, into PDF
format.
SWFTools: 'pdf2swf component converts PDF to SWF – command line with GUI wrapper
poppler-utils a collection of tools builds on poppler to convert PDF contents to everything
Creators
Freeware
Name License Description
version
Bullzip PDF Printer Proprietary Yes Virtual printer, requires Ghostscript and PDFPowerTool.
Virtual Printer. Creates a PDF with embedded Creative Commons license from any software.
CC PDF Converter GNU GPL —
Bundled with optional proprietary Razoss adware and browser tools.
Virtual printer, also with proprietary PDF editor. Attempts to install the Ask Toolbar as well as
CutePDF Proprietary Yes Hotspot Shield. Can be avoided by using the /no3d command-line switch. Includes OpenCandy
adware.
doPDF Proprietary Yes Virtual printer. It doesn't use Ghostscript. Includes adware.
Foxit Reader PDF Printer Proprietary Yes Virtual printer that comes with Foxit Reader.
Proprietary, Enterprise-level creator to create, review, edit, share or archive PDF and XPS documents. After 30
gDoc Creator No
shareware days shareware version places a watermark on documents.
HelpNDoc Proprietary Yes Manual and documentation authoring tool with native PDF export. Free for personal use.
As with Adobe Acrobat, Nitro PDF Pro's reader is free; but unlike Adobe's free reader, Nitro's free
reader allows PDF creation (via a virtual printer driver, or by specifying a filename in the reader's
Nitro PDF Reader Proprietary Yes
interface, or by drag-'n-drop of a file to Nitro PDF Reader's Windows desktop icon); Ghostscript not
needed.
PagePlus Proprietary No Desktop publishing suite with PDF viewing, editing and creation features
PaperPort Proprietary No Desktop publishing suite with PDF viewing, editing and creation features
GNU Virtual printer for Windows using a custom license called FairPlay. Used Ghostscript GPL until
PDFCreator Yes
GPL/Proprietary v1.7.3. Now uses .NET Framework 4. Includes adware.
PDF Tools allows creation of PDFs from many types of source input (images, scans, etc.). The PDF-
PDF-XChange Proprietary Yes XChange print driver allows printing directly to a PDF. A "lite" version of the print driver is free for
non-commercial (home and academic) use.
Virtual printer, for Microsoft .NET Framework and uses Ghostscript and RedMon. Connects with
PrimoPDF Proprietary Yes
www.primopdf.com. Includes Open Candy adware.
Universal Document
Proprietary No Virtual printer. It doesn't use Ghostscript.
Converter
Editors
Name License Description
Adobe Acrobat Proprietary Adobe Systems's proprietary desktop PDF authoring suite.
Adobe
Proprietary Adobe Systems's Graphic Design software and image editor.
Photoshop
Bluebeam
Proprietary A commercial PDF editor, markup and collaboration product aimed at engineering and architectural markets.
Revu
Foxit Reader Freeware Highlight text, draw lines, measure distances of PDF documents.
desktop product to create, review, edit, share or archive PDF and XPS documents. After 30 days a watermark is placed
gDoc Fusion Proprietary/Shareware
on documents in shareware version.
Microsoft
Proprietary Desktop software. The 2013 edition of Office allows PDF files to be converted into a format that can be edited.
Word 2013
Nitro PDF
Freeware Text highlighting, draw lines and measure distances in PDF files.
Reader
a proprietary commercial PDF creator/editor with an interface styled after Microsoft Office; replicates most or all features
Nitro PDF Pro Proprietary of the Adobe Acrobat full commercial version; offers a separate freeware reader (which also supports PDF creation,
annotation, collaboration and signing); Ghostscript not additionally needed.
PDF Studio Proprietary Proprietary software for viewing and editing PDF documents.
pdftk Free (GPL) command-line tools to manipulate, edit and convert documents; supports filling of PDF forms with FDF/XFDF data.
PDF-XChange Freeware PDF reader, tagger, editor (simple editions) and converter (free for non commercial uses). Allows edit of text,
Freeware
Viewer draw lines, highlighting of Text, measuring distance.
Solid PDF
Proprietary Convert PDFs into editable documents and create PDFs from a variety of file sources.
Tools
Viewers
Adobe Reader: Adobe's PDF reader is free for personal use.
Evince: a free (GPL), open source PDF reader. Part of the GNOME desktop environment. Windows port available since version 2.28.
Foxit Reader: Proprietary/freeware PDF reader, supports FDF import/export, saving filled forms; other extended functionality available via purchasable plugins.
gDoc Fusion: Proprietary/shareware to view PDF, XPS, Microsoft Word document, Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, Microsoft PowerPoint presentation or image files,
included in the evaluation version of the product. Shareware version places a watermark on documents after 30 day eval.
Google Chrome: Includes a PDF viewer.
GSview: Open source software and Ghostscript's viewer for Windows.
Javelin PDF Reader: A full functionality PDF reader with support for DRM using encoded and encrypted PDF files in Drumlin's DRMX and DRMZ formats.
Microsoft Edge: Includes a PDF viewer.
Microsoft Reader: A dedicated PDF viewer that is free to download from Windows store.
Mozilla Firefox: Includes a PDF viewer.
MuPDF: Free lightweight document viewer.
Nitro PDF Reader: Freeware (though proprietary) PDF reader and creator. Supports three methods (specifying the file within the reader's interface, or dragging-'n-
dropping a file onto the reader's Windows desktop icon, or "printing" to a virtual printer driver) of PDF creation (Ghostscript not additionally needed), saving filled forms
(AcroForms), text typewriter, markup/collaboration, and stamp signature (document signing).
PDF-XChange Viewer: Freeware viewer with free OCR, supports FDF/XFDF import/export, saving filled forms, extended markup and export to image capabilities.
Qiqqa: Freeware PDF reader, indexer, tagger and annotator. Supports OCR and export of PDF text and images.
Sumatra PDF: A free (GPL), open source PDF reader based on MuPDF. It also supports DjVu, XPS, CHM, Comic Book (CBR, CBT, CBZ and CB7Z) and eBook
(EPUB, FB2, FB2Z, PBD, MOBI, PBR, TCR & ZFB2) , TXT and image file formats (.tga, .gif, .jpg, .j2k, .png, .webp, .tiff). Supports automatic .pdfsync & .synctex
reloading of PDF files so is well favoured as a LaTeX / pdfTeX viewer with forward - inverse synchronization. Using Ghost script it supports PostScript (.ps, .eps)
files.[1]
STDU Viewer: A freeware for non-commercial usage PDF reader. It also supports DjVu, Comic Book Archive (CBR or CBZ), XPS, TIFF, TXT and image file formats.
Mobile
Platform Functions
Name License Description
Android iOS Other View Annotate
BlackBerry OS
Amazon Kindle app Freeware Yes Yes webOS Yes ?
Windows Phone
Converters
Cometdocs: Online PDF conversion
Zamzar: Online file converter
Smallpdf: Offers free Online PDF conversion (PDF to other formats and vice versa)
Editors
PDFescape: an advertising and fee supported web service to view, create forms, fill out forms, and edit PDF documents from a web browser (requires JavaScript to be
enabled)
PDFVue: a free web application that allows the user to view PDF's, comment and fill PDF forms from a web browser. Generates a watermark.
Smallpdf: Free web-based PDF software for editing, signing, compressing, merging, splitting, rotating, unlocking and protecting PDF files. No registration needed.
Viewers
A.nnotate: a web service which views PDF documents as HTML in the browser, with annotation features.
DigiSigner: free online PDF viewer java applet with additional function to digitally sign PDF documents.
Docstoc: a web service which allows viewing PDF documents online
Issuu: a web service which allows viewing PDF documents online
Google Docs: a web service which views PDF documents as PNG images in the browser
Scribd: a web service which renders PDF documents as HTML5 in the browser
PDF.js: A Javascript-based library, with viewer, and browser plugin.
PDFTron Systems: WebViewer. A free JavaScript viewer and annotator for self-hosting of web optimized PDFs.
References
1. https://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/docs/Supported-document-formats.html
External links
PDF (https://curlie.org/Computers/Data_Formats/Document/Publishing/PDF) at Curlie
PDF software (https://curlie.org/Computers/Data_Formats/Document/Publishing/PDF/Software/) at Curlie
Windows Tools and Drivers (https://curlie.org/Computers/Data_Formats/Document/Publishing/PDF/Software/Windows_Tools_and_Drivers) at Curlie
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