List of PDF software
This list of PDF software includes links to articles on computer software used to manage Portable Document Format (PDF) documents.
Multi-platform
Converters
These allow you to convert pdf files to other formats.
| Name |
License |
Platforms |
Description |
| deskUNPDF |
Proprietary |
Mac, Windows |
Converts PDFs to Word, Excel, Text, HTML |
| GIMP |
GNU GPL |
Linux, Mac, Windows |
Converts PDF to raster images |
| LibreOffice |
GNU LGPL |
BSD, Linux, Mac, Windows (Java based) |
Export as PDF, and import from PDF; extension included by default |
| LuaTeX |
GNU GPL |
? |
TeX typesetting system that creates PDF documents |
| OpenOffice.org |
GNU GPL |
Linux, Mac, Windows |
Export as PDF, and import (with restrictions) after installing an extension[1] |
| pdfTeX |
GNU GPL |
? |
TeX typesetting system that creates PDF documents |
| Prince |
Proprietary |
? |
PDF formatter using XML or HTML with CSS and SVG as input |
| pstoedit |
GNU GPL |
? |
PostScript to (other) vector file format converter |
| XeTeX |
MIT |
? |
TeX typesetting system that creates PDF documents |
| SWFTools |
GNU GPL |
Linux, Windows, Mac |
SWF conversion and manipulation suite containing a standalone PDF to SWF converter along with a Python gfx API ( requires Xpdf ) |
| QPDF |
Artistic License 2.0 |
? |
Structural, content-preserving transformations from PDF to PDF |
| pdf-parser |
Public Domain |
? |
Extraction and analysis tool, handles corrupt and malicious PDF documents |
| XEP |
Proprietary |
BSD, Linux, Mac, Windows (Java based) |
Converts XML and XSL-FO to PDF |
| Solid Converter PDF |
Proprietary |
Windows, Mac OS X |
PDF to Word, Excel, HTML and Text; supports passwords, text editing, and batch conversion |
Editors
These allow you to modify an existing pdf file.
| Name |
License |
Description |
| LibreOffice |
GNU LGPL |
native PDF opening and saving |
| OpenOffice.org Draw |
GNU LGPL |
PDF import via OpenOffice.org software, or extensions[1] |
| Inkscape |
GNU GPL |
Open, edit and export documents, but only one page at a time (pages can be later combined using PDF printer); free open source software |
| PDFedit |
GNU GPL |
Software to view or edit the internal structures of PDF documents, and merge them |
| Pdftk |
GNU GPL |
Command-line tools to edit and convert documents; supports filling of PDF forms with FDF/XFDF data |
Development libraries
These are used by software developers to add/create pdf features.
| Name |
License |
Description |
| Formatting Objects Processor |
Apache License |
Open-source print formatter driven by XSL Formatting Objects and an output independent formatter; main output target is PDF |
| GNU PDF |
GNU GPL |
Open-source C library in development; when done, will provide functions to implement all features of PDF 1.7 specification |
| iText |
AGPL[2] |
Open-source 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 |
| libHaru |
ZLIB/LIBPNG[3] |
Open-source, cross-platform C library to generate PDF files |
| Poppler |
GNU GPL[4] |
Open-source multi-backend C++ library derived from Xpdf; no bundled viewer |
| ReportLab |
BSD license |
Open-source, Python-based PDF creation library |
| TCPDF |
GNU LGPL |
Open-source PHP library to create PDF files |
| XEP |
Proprietary |
XSL-FO layout engine written in Java; output formats: PDF |
| Qoppa PDF Libraries |
Proprietary, shareware |
Portable Java libraries to view, print, manipulate PDF files |
| JPedal |
Proprietary, GNU LGPL |
Java developer library for view, extract, print PDF files |
Creators
These create files in their proprietary formats, but then allow you to export them to pdf formats.
| Name |
License |
Description |
| Adobe Acrobat |
Proprietary |
Desktop PDF authoring suite |
| OpenOffice.org |
GNU GPL |
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 |
| Ghostscript |
GNU GPL |
Viewer, creator, converter; supports also PDF/X-3; used by PdfCreator, WinPdf, BullzipPdf, CutePDF freeware version and others |
| LaTeX/TeX |
LaTeX Project Public License/Permissive |
Mark-up language and tools to write technical reports, books, magazines, almost any publication type |
| PageStream |
Proprietary |
Cross-platform desktop publishing application to open, edit, export |
| Scribus |
GNU GPL |
Cross-platform desktop publishing (DTP) application; supports also PDF/X-3 |
| FineReader |
Proprietary |
OCR tool; can save as PDF, and recognize text from PDF |
Viewers
These allow you to view (not edit/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. |
| Foxit Reader |
Proprietary, freeware |
PDF viewer, text conversion limited to easily extracted postscript text, does no optical character recognition |
| Google Chrome |
Proprietary, freeware |
View, search PDF files |
| GSview |
GNU GPL |
A legacy graphical interface for Ghostscript |
| MuPDF |
GNU GPL |
Aims to be small and fast with high quality anti-aliased graphics. Does not support interactive features. |
| Okular |
GNU GPL |
Universal viewer for KDE; replaces KPDF, available on versions of KDE from 4.1 |
| Xpdf |
Free and proprietary versions |
Legacy, a multi-platform viewer; based on Xpdf codebase |
AmigaOS
Converters
Creators
- ClibPDF: PDF Writer Linker-Lib for StormC (68k, PPC)
Viewers
- Xpdf a multi-platform viewer for PDF files, Amiga version uses X11 engine Cygnix
Atari TOS
- Porthos - commercial PDF editor, converter, viewer
Unix / Linux
Annotation functionality
- Okular: Supports a range of annotation types. Annotations are stored separately from the unmodified PDF file.
- Xournal: Allows for complex and customizable annotations by freehand drawing, a shape recognition tool, multiple colours and text fonts. In addition, there is a rule tool for straight lines, highlighting and underlining. Annotations may be copied, pasted and easily moved. Annotations may also be in complex scripts such as Tibetan through SCIM input. Annotations are stored separately from the unmodified PDF file, but the annotated document can be exported to PDF.
Converters
- CUPS: supports exporting to PDF formats
- Pdftk: can merge, split, en-/decrypt, watermark/stamp and manipulate PDF files
- Inkscape: Imports and export PDFs
- SWFTools: 'pdf2swf component converts PDF to SWF
Creators
- OpenOffice.org: an open source office suite with built-in PDF creation.
- Xournal: an open source program that creates PDFs.
- Inkscape Vector drawing program that imports and exports PDF files
Development libraries
- Xpdf: an open source multi-backend library for viewing and manipulating PDF files. Bundled with a viewer with the same name
- Qoppa PDF Libraries: portable Java libraries for viewing, printing and manipulating PDF files.
Editors
- PDFedit: An open source program for viewing or editing the internal structures of PDF documents
- PDF Studio: Proprietary software for viewing and editing PDF documents
Viewers
Mac OS X
Converters
Editors
- Adobe Acrobat: Proprietary PDF authoring suite
- PDF Studio: Proprietary software to view and edit PDF documents
- PDF Signer: Proprietary; fills forms and embeds image signatures in PDF documents.
Creators
- Mac OS X: Creates PDF documents natively via print dialog
Viewers
- Adobe Reader: Adobe Systems's reader which is also available for Macintosh; Safari plug-in available
- Preview: Mac OS X'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.)
- Skim, an open source (BSD licence) PDF reader and note-taker for Mac OS X
Microsoft Windows
Converters
- Adobe Acrobat: Can convert files into PDF or convert PDF files into other formats[5]
- 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 204x98 (open source software)
- 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
- SaveasPDFandXPS: Freeware add-in for Microsoft Office 2007; converts documents in standard Microsoft Office formats, e.g. Word, Excel, Powerpoint, into PDF format.
- Print2PDF: Proprietary PDF converter
- SWFTools: 'pdf2swf component converts PDF to SWF - command line with GUI wrapper
Creators
Development libraries
Editors
- Adobe Acrobat: Adobe Systems's proprietary desktop PDF authoring suite
- 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.
- Infix PDF Editor: a proprietary PDF editor with word processor features
- 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
Viewers
- Adobe Reader: Adobe's freeware PDF reader.
- DigiSigner: Freeware PDF viewer with additional function to digitally sign PDF documents.
- Evince: a free (GPL), open source PDF reader. Part of the GNOME desktop environment. Windows port available since version 2.28.
- Foxit Reader: Freeware 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.
- GSview: Open source software and Ghostscript's viewer for Windows
- Nitro PDF Reader: Free, proprietary PDF reader and creator. Supports PDF creation, saving filled forms (AcroForms), text typewriter, markup/collaboration, and stamp signature.
- Nuance PDF Reader: Freeware PDF reader, supports saving filled forms, partial support for XFA forms; enables the capability to convert PDF files to MS Word or Excel files through Nuance website.
- PDF-XChange Viewer: Freeware viewer, 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. Supports automatic reloading of PDF files.
- 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
Web-based
Converters
- Cometdocs: Online PDF conversion
- Software602 Print2PDF 9.0: interactive web conversion from IIS or XML-SOAP web service
- Zamzar: Online file converter
Editors
- PDFescape: a free 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.
- Qoppa PDF Libraries: Java beans for viewing and annotating PDF files to be integrated in an applet.
Viewers
- A.nnotate: a web service which views PDF documents as HTML in the browser, with annotation features.
- Crocodoc: a free web service which allows annotating PDFs and saving them
- 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
- Google Docs: a web service which views PDF documents as JPEG images in the browser
- Scribd: a web service which renders PDF documents as HTML5 in the browser
- vuzit: a web service which views PDF documents (and 40 others) as HTML in the browser via AJAX.
References
External links