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A free application for Windows that can open and allow you to read PDF files

A free application for Windows that can open and allow you to read PDF files

Vote: (19 votes)

Program license: Free

Developer: UltimateVideo

Version: 1

Works under: Windows

Vote:

Program license

(19 votes)

Free

Developer

Version

UltimateVideo

1

Works under:

Windows

Pros

  • View and edit PDF documents
  • View and edit most other PDF objects

Cons

  • Can’t create PDF documents
  • Spanish only

OpenPDF is a freeware and open-source tool for viewing and modifying PDF documents and other PDF objects.

OpenPDF is a platform for manipulating PDF documents and other PDF objects. It’s based on some other notable open-source tools for manipulating PDFs, including CryptoApplet, JPedal and iText. The program has a simple but effective user interface, and it runs fast and is quite stable.

OpenPDF doesn’t let you create PDF documents from scratch, but it does support conversion to PDF, scanning to PDF and creation from a PDF template. It does let you view and edit most PDF documents and other object, however. In addition to documents, these objects include forms and barcodes. You can create objects, such as adding a new form to a document you’re editing. In fact, OpenPDF provides full support for the PDF forms 1.6 specification.

OpenPDF lets you edit, save, print and validate. Both save and save as are supported. Printing and validation tools are as robust as most similar PDF suites. You can copy or cut a PDF object from one document and paste it into another. This platform handles data extraction, and it has tools for creating, editing and validating PDF signatures. The tools for managing barcodes are quite robust as well.

AcroJS support is provided and is the Acrobat JavaScript Object Specification. AcroJA enables you to script your PDF documents and objects with JS. This is a powerful tool for sophisticated PDF documents and objects. You can also implement new code with this tool as well as reusing code quickly and simply. OpenPDF has XFA scripting support as well, and XFA stands for XML Forms Architecture. This can be a useful for creating and editing custom forms and form templates that you share across documents.

OpenPDF doesn’t seem to be finicky at all, and no matter what program is created or whether you last edited a PDF document or object, OpenPDF reads it fine. In fact, OpenPDF parses PDF documents quite quickly and is also a very stable tool. It never hands or bogs down, and this is the case even when manipulating complex objects. It doesn’t require a large memory or processing footprint. Furthermore, it doesn’t take up a lot of space on disks, and a portable version would work nicely.

It’s a shame that OpenPDF doesn’t allow creation of PDF documents as it seems like an amazing idea that hasn’t been fully realized yet. However, the developers of OpenPDF are off to a great start. Perhaps the biggest issue with OpenPDF is that the program was developed in Spanish and never translated, although the installer does offer other languages; appearing to be a benefit of the installer tool used. Whatever language you choose, the OpenPDF interface will still be in Spanish, and this may be a deal-breaker for many. This version isn’t just a one-use program and some features are fairly complex.

Pros

  • View and edit PDF documents
  • View and edit most other PDF objects

Cons

  • Can’t create PDF documents
  • Spanish only