UPDATE: Reviews section refreshed, redesigned, searchable: Go take a look
I was recently swindled by files-editor.com. So I thought I would mention it on STW
I needed to edit a pdf file as part of an onboarding process for a new job.
Couldn't find a free one so opted for 7 days for £1.50.
I did not read the small print and after 7 days, unless you cancel they move you to £46 per month subscription.
It was billed as free, then when you edit the pdf and go to down load it, the pay wall comes up.
This was my third attempt so I thought sod it, I will pay the £1.50.
Lesson learned!!!
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PS - is there any free pdf editors out there?
Maybe, but a lot of them were also the delivery mechanism for a malware campaign
Hmmm ok. I have a Chromebook so maybe a factory reset/power wash is called for.
I needed to edit a pdf file as part of an onboarding process for a new job.
I'm a bit surprised that if this was a requirement arising from the company they didn't give you the tools to do it.
i find pdfs a bit pot luck, some times you can edit them directly, other times not at all.
From your description, was it some sort of form you had to complete? I've done that using the native tools in Google Chrome/Docs.
I use Foxit as a PDF reader. It's free and good. The editor version is a paid-for product, I expect most are that aren't scams. Foxit has a free online editor, but I don't know offhand whether it's limited use. (Doesn't Word do it these days?)
I find it highly unlikely that a PDF editor would be something you'd just be expected to have. You don't need an editor if it's just a form to fill in.
I use PDF24 it does what I need.
MS word will often open PDF so you can edit and then re-save as PDF. Not perfect, it can mess the form around at times, but it does work.
Any work asking you to edit a PDF but not giving you the tools needs a slap.
I use Ilovepdf
We use it to convert to word or excel, merge and split pdfs
Like folks said, a lot of word processors will open PDFs and make them editable to some degree.
MacOS’s Preview does a fair job of making PDFs fillable.
depends on what you mean by ‘editing’. If I had to do more than Preview or Libre Office can do then I’d get a couple of weeks of Acrobat.
part of an onboarding process for a new job
‘onboarding’ - and yet they provide no tools? 🤷🏻♂️
Same here, I got done by PDFe.com
I needed to mark up some architects drawings and wasn't on my own PC.
I even went through the process with a dummy document and sent screenshot proving that at no point in the process was it advertised that I'd be paying £50. It was buried in the T&C's on a separate page.
A series of (barely)polite but firm demands they
a) refund my money
b) cancel whatever subscription I had
c) delete any and all data they held on me and my "account"
Mentioned small claims / letter before action, and made it abundantly clear that if a refund wasn't in my account by close of business then I was going to be an absolute pain in their arse and it was going to probable cost them far more (well, possibly slightly more depending on how organized they were about things like data, and a lot of inconvenience).
The more I think about this, the more I think scotroutes was on the money. The OP doesn't need a PDF editor at all, it's just a form to fill in.
I've seen plenty of these which aren't presented as interactive forms. The expectation is that you print it out, fill it in with a pen and scan it back in again. Because it's still 20 years ago. The onus is on the company to create the forms properly and normally I'd say "they're obviously shit" but it's so common that not doing this would be exceptional.
Far too many Word documents do it even, they'll have fields like "NAME: ......................." and you've to delete all the bloody dots to type in your name.
Agree, they should have an online form to fill in but essentially they have just recreated a paper process, digitally.
I raised a dispute with my bank and got a refund which also cancelled the subscription at the sellers end. I have since checked with the company and my account is indeed cancelled.
uploading PDFs from your bank or anywhere else which contain private information to some random online site is massively dodgy, subscription ripoff aside
It's the way of the world these days, our legal department is currently arguing with bluebeam because bluebeam have a clause along the lines of "everything will go on the cloud and the cloud is ours".
Which is a really strange stance for a company who's products must be fairly routinely used to generate/modify fairly sensitive IP.
