pdfMachine

pdfMachine is a multifeatured program that allows users to convert documents into PDF files with a variety of extra options. Unfortunately, although the actual conversion is quick and easy, we found the rest of the features quite unintuitive.

We tried several times to review this program and kept putting it aside, thinking that it wasn't making sense because we were tired or distracted or otherwise mentally unprepared to deal with it. We finally came to the conclusion that the problem wasn't with us. The program's interface looks nice enough, with a sleek design and attractive graphical buttons. We found it easy to create PDF files by printing directly to the program's virtual printer, but editing PDF files was another matter entirely. We found ourselves searching through menus trying to find the options we were looking for, and in many cases not having much luck at all. Some of the features, like the drawing tools and sticky notes, seemed like they would be quite useful, but we never were able to locate them within the program. The program's built-in Help file describes its features, but doesn't actually offer instructions for finding and using them. We spent a lot of time searching and being frustrated, and not much time editing our PDF. Although pdfMachine has the potential to be really useful, in the end it's just too difficult to use.

pdfMachine is free to try, but the trial version puts a watermark on the program's output. The program comes as a ZIP file but installs and uninstalls without issues. We do not recommend this program; there are many similar programs that are much easier to use.