AbleWord
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AbleWord is a very capable word processing application that can read and write most popular document formats including PDF's.
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POX added AbleWord as alternative to WebkitWord
berkaygediz added AbleWord as alternative to SolidWriting- TBayAreaPat reviewed AbleWord
I will keep it for the rave reviews on PDF capabilities since I don't want to test that now, but as far as being word processor or being an alternative to WordPad, it keeps crashing on pasting of formatted text. It's engine seems weak.
BarnMTB added AbleWord as alternative to Ivirius Text Editor
POX added AbleWord as alternative to Docs in Proton Drive
Comments and Reviews
I will keep it for the rave reviews on PDF capabilities since I don't want to test that now, but as far as being word processor or being an alternative to WordPad, it keeps crashing on pasting of formatted text. It's engine seems weak.
The only free software possible to edit PDF as text
This is one of the "easiest" BUT:
there atleast 4 others: tomahawk (limited), TIA PDF Edit (full), Softmaker FreeOffice, and using free PDF to Word + Free PDF Editor (can only make pfd's, not edit solo)
Very impressed. Easy to install, worked like a charm to edit text and save as PDF. It's just like typing in a word processing document. Nice!
After looking at lots of reviews, 2nd choice would have been PDFedit.cz (also free, open source), but haven't tried it yet.
Commercially, I'd go for Nuance PDF Converter Pro, or Bluebeam. Nuance is easier for average users, but very capable and good after sales support. Bluebeam is a little pricier, but has some CAD tools for those that need them. PDFXchange gets a lot of positive mentions too (haven't tried it but know people who have) - free version puts a watermark; paid version is cheaper than Nuance.)
99% of features most people actually need to use are in any of these. Adobe is pricey and not needed.
To create/print and manipulate pages, PDF Redirect and PDFSAM work great and are free.
Cons: None found so far (first use only).
[Edited by bodwyn, May 10]
Having now re-edited the PDF I saved, AbleWord seems to have confused what areas to allow me to type in - a bit of a shame - it was doing so well. Easy enough to "insert text frame", but a shame it can't carry on seeing the frames that were in the original.