eXPert PDF

eXPert PDF is a suite of applications intended to create, manipulate, convert, and protect PDF documents.

Thus, it is composed of PDF Creator, PDF Batch Creator, PDF to Word Converter, PDF Settings Editor, and Folder Watcher. The package also comes with a virtual printer, which allows creating a PDF file from any application that supports printing. Although various of these tools can be accessed through desktop shortcuts and the Start menu, it would have been nice to have a sort of application launcher as well.

There are various ways to create a new PDF and using the virtual printer is certainly the easiest. Just for Microsoft Office tools, there is also a new tab, called Expert PDF, with direct access to such operations as creating, previewing, and emailing a PDF. Moreover, it gives you access to some settings, including document information, security, watermarks, and images. PDF creating jobs are managed with the help of Expert PDF Creator, which also lets you make the desired adjustment before actually saving the new file. Luckily, it supports processing batches of jobs in a single session. Just as eXPert PDF lets you convert many file types to PDF, it also allows the reverse process in the case of Word documents.

PDF Batch creator, another tool in the package, is intended to convert various files into PDF. This converter supports multiple types of files and, fortunately, you can import a folder or even download a file from Internet. Likewise, you can set the page range you want to convert from each of the source files.

In my opinion, the real star in the suite is Expert PDF Editor. This tool has some of the features already mentioned and some more. It can be used to create (even in batches), view, edit, and annotate a document as well as add protection. This tool also supports using optical character recognition to make the text of a scanned document easier to copy and search. However, I must say that this feature did not work properly when I tested it. Another limitation of this tool is that it cannot import any document type except PDF and PJ (Expert PDF Printer Job).

All in all, eXPert PDF is definitely a very handy and versatile product as to operations involving PDF files. However, it does not have as many features as the leading products in this field. You should also know that some of the tools included in the suite are sold separately as well.