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DeskPDF Studio X

By Docudesk Free to try Editors' Rating

Editors' Review

Download.com Staff Aug 22, 2013

Billed as "the ultimate paperless solution," Docudesk's deskPDF Studio X is aimed squarely at Adobe Acrobat. Studio X can create PDFs from any application, edit the text and images in any PDF, and convert PDFs to Word, Excel, HTML, and other document types. It can sign, stamp, and add freehand and freetext markup as well as letterheads, watermarks, and other custom touches to your documents. Features like PDFzen integration allows one-click Cloud storage and easy publishing and sharing of documents online via social media, e-mail, and fax, while 256-bit encryption, digital IDs, and other strong security measures keep you and your data safe. Studio X is free to try for 10 days and retails for a nickel less than $60 -- much less than a new copy of Acrobat. Studio X v5.0 works in Windows XP to 8 and features a newly-redesigned interface among other additions and improvements.

Installing deskPDF Studio X involves several options, including making it your default PDF viewer and installing deskPDF MSOffice Integration. The program's redesigned user interface resembles the look of the latest Office apps, including an attractive take on Office's Ribbon toolbar. This efficient arrangement opens a full-length toolbar of specialized tools and options whenever you click one of Studio X's 11 tabs (including the Help menu and Activate Trial button). Studio X also follows Office's lead with File and Home tabs for opening and editing documents. Studio X handled every task with ease in our tests, though we really only scratched the surface of this powerful toolkit's capabilities. Some notables: The Compact PDF tool lets you shrink documents to optimal size with wizard-like efficiency, OCR scanning is easy, and PDFzen really does upload documents with a single click.

We've used Acrobat as well as every kind of PDF freeware, and deskPDF Studio X impressed us with two facts: 1) While free tools can do a lot, there's no substitute for a competent, full-featured PDF solution; and 2) Software that meets these criteria doesn't have to be expensive. While Studio X probably can't replace Acrobat in every situation or environment, it belongs on top of the short list of affordable alternatives.

Editors' note: This is a review of the trial version of deskPDF Studio X 5.0.

Full Specifications

What's new in version 5.1

General:
  • Redesigned, easy to use interface
  • In-line text & image editing
  • Improved performance
Markup:
  • Easy Sign signature tool
  • Stamps & Watermarks
  • Page numbering & bates stamping
  • Insert Shapes
  • Highlight, cross out & underline text
  • Improved freetext & freehand drawing
PDF Assembly:
  • Simplified PDF creation from over 300 file types and conversion of PDF to .doc, .xls, html, .txt, .xml, .jpg, .tiff & .png
  • Page Extraction
  • Insert & import pages / simplified document merging
  • Compact PDF (reduce file size)
  • Page cropping
  • Adjust page size on the fly
  • Batch PDF creation from images
Security:
  • Digital Shredder w/ 7 pass DOD compliant wipe
  • Digital IDs & Trusted Contacts
  • Up to 256 bit banking grade encryption
  • Digital Certificate Security
Collaboration:
  • Form editing - create fillable form fields
  • File attachments
  • Improved tools for bookmarking & hyperlinks
  • Comments view for collaboration with other users
Paperless:
  • Scanning Integration
  • Search OCR - search text in scanned documents
  • Integration w/ PDFzen: publish PDFs online & share w/ others for free

General

Release March 12, 2015
Date Added March 12, 2015
Version 5.1

Operating Systems

Operating Systems Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows, Windows 7, Windows XP
Additional Requirements None

Popularity

Total Downloads 158,847
Downloads Last Week 9
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User Reviews

3.8/5
53 User Votes
5 Star
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Developer's Description

deskPDF Studio X is a suite of professional PDF tools to edit, create, convert, sign & share PDFs. All new for 2013, Studio X combines advanced PDF editing tools & turbo-charged performance in a re-designed, modern interface. With the pro PDF tools in Studio X you can directly edit the existing text & images in a PDF, add markup, create PDFs from any application, & convert PDFs to Word, Excel, HTML, & other popular file types. A fully featured Adobe Acrobat alternative, Studio X is the ultimate paperless solution. With Easy Sign, you can sign documents with a single click of the mouse. In-line text & image editing make it easy to change existing text & images. Add text or edit existing text - change fonts or colors, highlight, underline, & cross out text. Markup tools include freetext & freehand drawing, shapes, sticky notes. Add bookmarks & hyperlinks, stamps, watermarks & letterhead to give your documents a professional polish. Studio X includes ready to use pre-made stamps, & with bates stamping it's easy to add page numbers & custom headers & footers.

A powerful PDF converter & creator, Studio X can create PDFs from over 300 file types, batch convert images to PDF, & convert PDFs to Word, Excel, HTML, & other formats. Merge PDFs, insert pages from another PDF, re-arrange pages, or extract pages into a new PDF. Pages can be rotated, cropped, or deleted, and page sizes can be adjusted on the fly. Studio X provides many security features, including a Digital File Shredder with DoD compliant 7 pass wipe, up to 256 bit banking grade encryption & password protection, digital IDs, trusted contacts & certificate security. Collaboration: PDFs are made for sharing & Studio X makes collaboration easy with file attachments & commenting options, and tools to create fillable PDF forms which can be filled in electronically. Publish your PDFs to the web with 1 click. Integrating with the always free PDFzen.com means with 1 click you can put your documents in the cloud and share the link by email, social media, or fax. With deskPDF Studio X + PDFzen its never been easier to share & collaborate on your PDFs.

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