Working with PDFs Comparison Table
This article applies to: Software Licensing
Many people will find that they can work with PDFs using only free tools, although some advanced features can only be found in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
- Acrobat Reader is a free download from Adobe. There are also free third-party readers available.
- Apple Preview is part of macOS.
- Microsoft Word is available to all faculty and staff at no charge as part of our Microsoft Office site license.
- Microsoft Word is available to students at no charge as part of our Office 365 ProPlus license.
- Adobe Acrobat Pro is available to faculty and staff at no charge, but only with a demonstrated business need, as there is a limit to the number of active licenses.
| I Need To... | Acrobat Reader | Apple Preview | Microsoft Word | Acrobat Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open/read PDF documents | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Add comments and markups to PDFs | yes [1] | yes [1] | yes [2] | yes |
| Fill in PDF forms | yes | yes | yes | |
| Electronically sign PDFs | yes | yes | yes | |
|
Unlock encrypted PDFs |
yes | yes | yes | |
| Combine multiple PDFs into a single PDF | yes | yes [2] | yes | |
| Create PDFs | yes | yes | ||
| Convert Microsoft Word documents to PDF format | yes | yes | ||
| Convert PDF documents to Microsoft Word format | yes [3] | yes | ||
| Edit text/layout of a PDF without converting it to another format | yes | |||
| Create fillable PDF forms | yes | |||
| Create PDF documents for others to sign digitally | yes [4] | |||
| Use built-in OCR to convert scanned text to editable text | yes | |||
| Encrypt or password-protect a PDF | yes | |||
| Use Adobe's online collaboration tools with PDFs | yes |
Table Notes
1 - The person creating the PDF must enable commenting.
2 - Requires converting the PDF to MS Word format, then back to PDF when finished editing.
3 - This works well with simple documents, but complex formatting and layout elements may not convert accurately.
4 - Requires separate Adobe Sign license.
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