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List of PDF software

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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.

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

Name License Platforms Converts PDF to other format Edits existing PDF Description
Linux Mac Windows Other
GIMP GNU GPL Yes Yes Yes Yes Converts PDF to raster images
ImageMagick Apache Yes Yes Yes Yes Converts PDF to raster images and vice versa
LibreOffice GNU LGPLv3 / MPLv2.0 Yes Yes Yes Yes Import from PDF (extension included by default), export as PDF including PDF/A.
OpenOffice.org GNU LGPLv3 Yes Yes Yes Yes Import from PDF (with restrictions) (after installing an extension), export as PDF including PDF/A.
PDFBox Apache License Yes Yes Unix Yes Converts PDF to other file format (text, images, html, ...)
Poppler-utils GNU GPL Yes Yes Unix Yes Converts PDF to other file format (text, images, html, ...)
pstoedit GNU GPL Yes Yes Unix Yes Converts PostScript to (other) vector graphics file format
QPDF Apache License 2.0 Yes Yes Yes Structural, content-preserving transformations from PDF to PDF
pdf-parser Public Domain Python script Yes Extraction and analysis tool, handles corrupt and malicious PDF documents
Solid Converter PDF Proprietary Yes Yes Yes PDF to Word, Excel, HTML and Text; supports passwords, text editing, and batch conversion
SWFTools GNU GPL Yes Yes Yes Yes SWF conversion and manipulation suite containing a standalone PDF to SWF converter along with a Python gfx API ( requires Xpdf )
Smallpdf Desktop Proprietary Yes Yes Yes Yes Supports merging, splitting, and extracting pages from PDFs. Also rotating, deleting and reordering pages. Converts PDF to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, raster images.
Nitro PDF Proprietary Yes Yes Yes Converts PDF to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, raster images . Rich UI, allows combining PDFs, converting to other formats, editing (add images, shapes, text, etc.)
Mobipocket Creator Proprietary Yes Yes Import from PDF and create HTML and MOBI output
Inkscape GNU GPL Yes Yes Yes Yes Import-/Export- from PDF to (Vector-)graphics. Export documents only one page at a time (pages can be later combined using PDF printer)
Scribus GNU GPL Yes Yes Yes Unix, GNU/Hurd, Haiku, OS/2 Yes Yes Export PDF and many other formats, multi-pages and multi-layers. Supports JS forms


LibreOffice Draw GNU LGPLv3 / MPLv2.0 Yes Yes Yes Yes PDF viewing and editing. Has many of the features offered by Acrobat.
OpenOffice Draw GNU LGPL Yes Yes Yes Yes PDF import via OpenOffice.org software, or extensions
PDFedit GNU GPL Yes Yes BSD Yes Software to view or edit the internal structures of PDF documents, and merge them
Pdftk GNU GPL Yes Yes Yes FreeBSD, Solaris Yes Command-line tools to edit and convert documents; supports filling of PDF forms with FDF/XFDF data. GUI front-end exists
PDF Studio Proprietary Yes Yes Yes Yes Full feature PDF editor
Karbon GNU GPL/LGPL Yes Yes Yes BSD, Solaris/Illumos Yes Import PDF with multiple pages as layouts, export as a one-page PDF. All standard vector graphics editor features.
Serif PagePlus Proprietary Yes Yes Desktop publishing (DTP) application allows opening and editing of PDF documents; Allows compatible saving as PDF 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 and 1.7 and supports also PDF/X1, PDF/X1a and PDF/X-3
Soda PDF Proprietary Yes Mac OS X Yes Modular PDF software

Development libraries

These are used by software developers to add and create PDF features.

Name License Description
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 Processor Apache License Open-source print formatter driven by XSL Formatting Objects and an output independent formatter; main output target is PDF
iText Proprietary/AGPL Library to create and manipulate PDF, RTF, HTML files in Java, C#, and other .NET languages
JasperReports GNU LGPL Open-source Java reporting tool that can write to screen, printer, or into PDF, HTML, Microsoft Excel, RTF, ODT, comma-separated values and XML files
JPedal Proprietary/GNU LGPL Java developer library for viewing, extracting, and printing PDF files.
LEADTOOLS Proprietary .NET, C/C++, Java, and HTML5 developer library for reading, writing, viewing, annotating, and extracting text from PDF files.
libHaru ZLIB/LIBPNG Open-source, cross-platform C library to generate PDF files
OpenPDF GNU LGPLv3 / MPLv2.0 Open source library to create and manipulate PDF files in Java. Fork of an older version of iText, but with the original LGPL / MPL license.
PDFTron Systems Proprietary C, C++, C# .NET, JAVA, Objective-C, Python, Ruby and PHP library for creating, editing, annotating, 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
TCPDF GNU LGPL Open-source PHP library to create PDF files
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
Adobe Acrobat Proprietary Windows, MacOS X Desktop PDF authoring suite
Adobe Illustrator Proprietary Windows, MacOS X Illustrator can save as PDF, and can recognize and edit text and graphics
FineReader Proprietary ? OCR tool; can save as PDF, and recognize text from PDF
Ghostscript GNU GPL Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, UNIX Viewer, creator, converter; supports also PDF/X-3; used by PdfCreator (until v1.7.3 then .NET Framework 4 since v2.0.0), WinPdf, BullzipPdf, CutePDF freeware version and others
Microsoft Office Proprietary Windows, Mac OS X All Microsoft Office products from 2007 version allow users to Save as PDF
OpenOffice.org GNU LGPL Linux, Windows, Mac All OpenOffice.org applications allow PDF export; supports also PDF/A-1a; since many import formats are supported (e.g., doc, docx, rtf, xls, ppt) conversion is also possible
LibreOffice GNU LGPLv3 / MPLv2.0 Linux, Windows, Mac All LibreOffice applications allow PDF export; supports also PDF/A-1a; since many import formats are supported (e.g., doc, docx, rtf, xls, ppt) conversion is also possible
Serif PagePlus Proprietary Windows Desktop publishing (DTP) application; Allows compatible saving as PDF 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 and 1.7 and supports also PDF/X1, PDF/X1a and PDF/X-3
PageStream Proprietary ? Cross-platform desktop publishing application to open, edit, export
Prince Proprietary Linux, Mac, Windows, Solaris, Converts HTML, XML, SVG, and MathML to PDF by way of CSS
Scribus GNU GPL Linux/UNIX, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4/eComStation and Windows desktops Cross-platform desktop publishing (DTP) application; supports also PDF/X-3
XEP Proprietary BSD, Linux, Mac, Windows (Java based) Converts XML and XSL-FO to PDF
LaTeX, TeX LaTeX Project Public License, Permissive ? Mark-up language and tools to write technical reports, books, 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
XeTeX MIT ? TeX typesetting system that creates PDF documents

Viewers

See also: Comparison of e-book readers

These allow users to view (not edit or modify) any existing PDF file.

Name License Description
Adobe Reader Proprietary, freeware Adobe's PDF reader
DigiSigner Proprietary, freeware PDF viewer with added function to digitally sign PDF documents
Evince GNU GPL Universal viewer for GNOME.
Mozilla Firefox MPL 2.0 JavaScript-based built-in viewer, based on PDF.js.
Foxit Reader Proprietary, adware PDF Viewer / Reader for Desktop computer and Mobile Devices. Allows users to add many elements to PDFs (e.g. arrowed comment boxes, text boxes, links, bookmarks, and images).
Ghostview Aladdin Free Public License A graphical interface for Ghostscript
Google Chrome Proprietary, freeware Browser includes PDF viewer functionality.
MuPDF GNU AGPL Aims to be small and fast with high quality anti-aliased graphics.
PDF.js Apache License 2.0 A JavaScript library to convert PDF files into HTML5, usable as a web-based viewer that can be included 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.
Utopia Documents GNU GPL v3 Semantic scientific PDF reader (optimised for life sciences and medicine), allows public comments on 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

Viewers

  • Xpdf: a multi-platform viewer for PDF files, Amiga version uses X11 engine Cygnix.

Linux and Unix

Name License Functions Description
View Annotate Edit Create Convert Library
Okular GNU GPL Yes Yes KDE desktop environment; replaces KPDF. Supports a range of annotation types. Annotations are stored separately from the unmodified PDF file, or (since version 0.15 with Poppler 0.20) can be saved in the document as standard PDF annotations.
Evince GNU GPL Yes Yes Default PDF and file viewer for GNOME; replaces GPdf. Supports addition and removal (since v3.14), of basic text note annotations.
CUPS Free No No No Yes Printing system can render any document to a PDF file, thus any Linux program with print capability can produce PDF files
Pdftk GPLv2 No Yes Yes Command-line tools to merge, split, en-/decrypt, watermark/stamp and manipulate PDF document files. Front end to an older version of the iText library.
poppler GNU GPL Yes Yes Utility library for rendering Portable Document Format (PDF) documents. poppler-utils includes command-line tools to extract images from a PDF (pdfimages) and convert a PDF to other formats (pdftohtml, pdftotext, pdftoppm).
ps2pdf GNU AGPL Yes Part of Ghostscript; converts a PostScript file to a PDF.
SWFTools GNU GPL Yes pdf2swf component converts PDF to SWF.
Scribus GNU GPL Yes Open source program for page layout.
Xpdf GNU GPL Yes Yes Open source multi-backend library for viewing and manipulating PDF files. Bundled with a viewer with the same name for the X Window System.
PDF Studio Proprietary Yes Yes Software for viewing and editing PDF documents
Inkscape GNU GPL Yes Technically not a PDF editor, but can be used as such page by page
Adobe Reader Proprietary freeware Yes Extant versions are obsolete, Adobe has stopped support for Linux.
Firefox MPL Yes Includes a PDF viewer
Google Chrome Proprietary freeware Yes Includes a PDF viewer
MuPDF GNU AGPL Yes Yes Lightweight document viewer.
Zathura Free Yes Lightweight document viewer with vim-like keybindings.

macOS

Converters

Editors

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

Name License Freeware version Description
Bullzip PDF Printer Proprietary Yes Virtual printer, requires Ghostscript and PDFPowerTool.
CC PDF Converter GNU GPL — Virtual Printer. Creates a PDF with embedded Creative Commons license from any software. Bundled with optional proprietary Razoss adware and browser tools.
CutePDF Proprietary Yes Virtual printer, also with proprietary PDF editor. Attempts to install the Ask Toolbar as well as Hotspot Shield. Can be avoided by using the /no3d command-line switch. Includes OpenCandy adware.
deskPDF Proprietary No Available for both client and terminal servers.
doPDF Proprietary Yes Virtual printer. It doesn't use Ghostscript. Includes adware.
eCopy PaperWorks Proprietary No
Foxit PhantomPDF Proprietary No
Foxit Reader PDF Printer Proprietary Yes Virtual printer that comes with Foxit Reader.
gDoc Creator Proprietary, shareware No Enterprise-level creator to create, review, edit, share or archive PDF and XPS documents. After 30 days shareware version places a watermark on documents.
HelpNDoc Proprietary Yes Manual and documentation authoring tool with native PDF export. Free for personal use.
Nitro PDF Reader Proprietary Yes 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 interface, or by drag-'n-drop of a file to Nitro PDF Reader's Windows desktop icon); Ghostscript not needed.
NovaPDF Proprietary No Virtual printer.
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
PDFCreator GNU GPL/Proprietary Yes Virtual printer for Windows using a custom license called FairPlay. Used Ghostscript GPL until v1.7.3. Now uses .NET Framework 4. Includes adware.
PDF-XChange Proprietary Yes PDF Tools allows creation of PDFs from many types of source input (images, scans, etc.). The PDF-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.
PrimoPDF Proprietary Yes Virtual printer, for Microsoft .NET Framework and uses Ghostscript and RedMon. Connects with www.primopdf.com. Includes Open Candy adware.
SaveasPDFandXPS Proprietary Yes Add-in for Microsoft Office 2007
Solid PDF Creator Proprietary No
Universal Document Converter Proprietary No Virtual printer. It doesn't use Ghostscript.
Xara Photo & Graphic Designer Proprietary No Graphic design software with PDF creation plus import, viewing and limited editing
PDF24 Creator Proprietary Yes A PDF creator for Microsoft Windows.

Editors

  • Adobe Acrobat: Adobe Systems's proprietary desktop PDF authoring suite.
  • Adobe Photoshop: Adobe Systems's Graphic Design software and image editor.
  • Bluebeam Revu: a commercial PDF editor, markup and collaboration product aimed at engineering and architectural markets.
  • Foxit Reader: (Freeware) Highlight text, draw lines, measure distances of PDF documents.
  • gDoc Fusion: proprietary/shareware desktop product to create, review, edit, share or archive PDF and XPS documents. After 30 days a watermark is placed on documents in shareware version.
  • LibreOffice: free (Mozilla Public License) GUI tools to manipulate, split, merge, encrypt and decrypt PDF files.
  • Microsoft Word 2013: Proprietary desktop software. The 2013 edition of Office allows PDF files to be converted into a format that can be edited.
  • Nitro PDF Reader: (Freeware) Text highlighting, draw lines and measure distances in PDF files.
  • Nitro PDF Pro: a proprietary commercial PDF creator/editor with an interface styled after Microsoft Office; replicates most or all features 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 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 Viewer: (Freeware) Freeware PDF reader, tagger, editor (simple editions) and converter (free for non commercial uses). Allows edit of text, draw lines, highlighting of Text, measuring distance.
  • Solid PDF Tools: Convert PDFs into editable documents and create PDFs from a variety of file sources.

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

Name License Platform Functions Description
Android iOS Other View Annotate
Amazon Kindle app Freeware Yes Yes BlackBerry OS
webOS
Windows Phone 		Yes ?
Evince GNU GPL ? ? Maemo Yes ?
Foxit MobilePDF ? Yes ? Yes Yes
Google Drive app Freeware Yes Yes Yes ?
iBooks Proprietary No Yes Yes ?
MuPDF GNU AGPL Yes Yes Yes ? Lightweight document viewer
Qiqqa Proprietary Yes ? Yes Yes

Web-based

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

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