You may have heard about the pdf.js project. It basically an HTML5 based pdf renderer that can be used to display pdf documents directly in the browser without the use of plugins.

One of the core benefits of building a pdf renderer using HTML5 and JavaScript is that the user experience will be identical on all support browsers and machines. How users access pdf documents nowadays depends largely on the browser and plugin they use, and the sheer number of solutions decrease the user experience and even compatibility due to differences in support features.

The developers plans to implement pdf.js in Firefox to render pdf documents natively in the browser. They are currently working on adding features and optimizing the performance of the technology to make it ready for a prime time release. For now, it has been made available as a Firefox extension that can be downloaded from this link. The restartless add-on will from that moment on render all pdf documents directly in the Firefox web browser.

A click on a pdf loads the pdf document directly in Firefox. A control bar is displayed at the top. Here it is possible to go to the next, previous or a specific page, change the zoom level of the pdf file, print or download it, or load a pdf from the local computer to read it in the web browser.

The feature that is missing most right now is a search option to find text in the document fast.

Firefox users can read more about pdf.js on the developer site. (via)

This tutorial is going to show you how to extract images or text from a pdf document with as little effort as possible. For this, I’m using the free pdf reader Nitro PDF which is available at the developer website. The software is only available for the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Nitro PDF Reader is a solid alternative to Adobe Reader. Many users would probably go as far as to call it a better PDF Reader thanks to faster startup times and an impressive set of features.

One of the great things that you can do with Nitro PDF is to extract text or images from any pdf document that is currently loaded in the program.

Just load the pdf file after installation into the reader (either with a double-click if you have made it the default pdf viewer on the system, or by opening the reader via the Start Menu).

You will notice several options under Create/Convert in the main toolbar of the program.

A click on Extract Images opens a dialog where you can specify the output folder. A click on the Extract button saves all images of the pdf document into that folder. This may take some time depending on the number of images that are embedded in the pdf document.

I suggest you select a new folder for the images as all images of a pdf document are saved in the process which includes smaller images.

A very similar menu is displayed when you click on the Extract Text button. You can again select the output folder and click Convert to turn the pdf document into a plain text document. Nitro PDF Reader opens the text document automatically at the end of the conversion.

Nitro PDF Reader is a great program to work with pdf documents on a computer. It is little features like this that make a difference in day to day work.

Download the application: http://www.lotapps.com/free-pdf-to-text-converter.html

Now load PDF files and select documents from which to extract text. When loaded and selected, click “Convert PDF to Text for Free”.

After the conversion, a folder window will open containing the text file. Double-click on the file to view the text. It will look something like the screenshot below. All formatting will be gone and the text will span the entire screen.

In the next part of this article, we are going to take this a step further. This will explain batch file conversion to Docx, Doc, Rtf, Html, Txt, and PDF formats. What is interesting about this is that you can take the extracted text from the protected PDF documents as described above and convert those text documents back into unprotected PDF documents. It is an easy second step to restore the PDF formatting. This is not intended for illegal purposes. Please respect copyright laws.

Doxillion Document Converter

Free software that enables you to convert various formats of document files is a bonus. Doxillion Document Converter is efficient and easy to use. It can actually execute conversion operations outside of the user interface by integrating Windows’ right-click context menu feature. Files can be added to the user interface by drag and drop or by the Add Files button. Complete folders of documents can be converted as well as individual files and they can be converted interchangeably between formats. Supported formats included are docx, rtf, html, doc, txt, and PDF.

Download Doxillion Document Converter: http://www.nchsoftware.com/documentconvert/index.html

The download is fast and easy to set up. The program opens immediately. Drag and drop a document into the conversion field in the interface, select the format to convert the document to, highlight the document and click Convert.

This conversion was successful. Even though this was extracted text from a protected PDF file, it was converted to a complete PDF from a .txt file. The end result is that the original protected PDF is now unprotected and open. There are many things you can do with document conversion. Use these convenient tools and become a document ninja!

The HTML format offers an alternative. While it is often not that pretty to look at it provides better controls to read and work with the text of a document. Tools like Calibre can convert pdf documents into various formats. Their disadvantage is that they often do not get it completely right, so that header, footer and other textual information are added that are not really needed to read the text.

Enter PDF Masher. The Open Source software turns pdf documents into HTML pages. Instead of relying on guesswork or an algorithm to extract text from the pdf document, it asks the user to identify and select the text that should be available in the next document.

You can load a pdf document via the Open File button at the top of the interface. PDF Masher scans the document and displays all the text that it found in a table like structure.

Displayed in the sortable table are the font size, x and y position, text length and the text itself among other data. This makes identification of text that you want included in the resulting document relatively easy. A click on a row display that row’s text in the lower half of the screen. Here it is possible to add, edit or delete text directly. That’s helpful if the automatic text detection created some mistakes that need to be corrected.

It is furthermore possible to ignore single or multiple text ids automatically so that they do not turn up in the new document.

Lines can also be set as footnotes and titles. Footnotes are for instance automatically added to the last page of the document, so that they do not appear in the document.

The developer has created a small video that demonstrates the programs functionality.

PDF Masher is a handy program for users who want better control and readability on their mobile devices. The manual conversion options may take longer than automatic conversions, but they ensure that the accessibility of the document is improved.

Users who want to convert multiple documents at once need to look at other programs for the job. If it is just one document, then PDF Masher is one the best options, provided that you are fine with the resulting HTML format.

PDF Masher is available for Mac OXS, Linux and windows operating systems. It can be downloaded from the developer website.

Nitro PDF Reader has received lots of praise in the past for its pdf viewing and creating capabilities. The developers today have released version 2 final of the program. A lot has changed compared to the previous version. Among the new features are browser plugins for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer, a new thumbnail handler for Windows Explorer (32-bit) to generate better pdf previews and support for layers and rendering transparency in pdf fles.

The Nitro Reader features include abilities to fill out and save PDF forms, stamp a signature on a PDF, extract text and images, comment, highlight or strikeout text, and more. New enhancements to 2.0 include:

· QuickSign – import a scanned image of your handwritten signature to sign documents electronically in just seconds

· Microsoft Office Interface – Unlike other PDF Readers, the Nitro PDF Reader uses the same interface as Microsoft Office products, so users know exactly where to find things

· It’s faster – files open instantly, PDFs are created 4x times faster

· It’s lighter – using much less RAM in its runtime, even with multiple PDFs open

· Files are lighter – now the PDFs you send are half the size

· Browser integration – you can open and save PDF in popular browsers like IE 9.0 and Firefox 4.0 without having to switch back and forth between software programs

According to its developers, Nitro PDF Software is now creating pdf documents up to four times faster than its predecessor. It also lighter on computer memory and creates pdf documents that are lighter in size. A short test opening some pdf documents showed that Nitro PDF Reader 2 is about as fast as the lightweight pdf reader Sumatra when it comes to opening pdf documents. Keep in mind that the program offers additional functionality for viewing and creating pdf documents, that Sumatra does not offer.

Several issues have been resolved in the new version, including a memory leak that increased the memory usage during usage and a issue where multiple Nitro processed remained running on the system.

You can access the release notes of the new version here, provided in a pdf document.

Nitro PDF Reader 2 is available for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows client and server systems. The developers recommend one Gigabyte of ram and at least 300 Megabytes of available hard drive space.

You can download the latest version of Nitro PDF Reader 2 from the developer website. It is offered as a 32-bit and 64-bit version.

Roman printed a webpage to pdf document that included text and some images. I decided to investigate the issue further, and came to similar conclusions.

The following pdf printers were used in the test:

• Bullzip PDF printer
• DoPDF 7
• PDF Creator
• PrimoPDF

You can check out additional pdf printers over at the overview at Freeware Genius’s blog.

I have tested two different documents, first a Word document from SEOMoz, and second the forum page containing Roman’s forum post.

The results

Word document, original file size 439 Kilobytes

Bullzip PDF Printer: 350 Kilobytes
DoPDF 7: 317 Kilobytes
PDF Creator: 348 Kilobytes
Primo PDF: 512 Kilobytes

Web page, original file size 450 Kilobytes

Bullzip PDF Printer: 256 Kilobytes
DoPDF 7: 212 Kilobytes
PDF Creator: 240 Kilobytes
Primo PDF: 172 Kilobytes

The differences are not nearly as wide in range as Roman’s findings, but they may still be considerable. Especially the Word document differences are noteworthy. While Bullzip PDF Printer, DoPDF 7 and PDF Creator remain between 317 and 350 Kilobytes, Primo PDF breaks out resulting in a file size increase of 150 to 200 Kilobytes.

It is rather surprising that the pdf printer with the largest file size managed to create the lowest file size converting the web page. The three other printers are again close to each other, with DoPDF a little bit better than the other two.

Some pdf printers may come with options to reduce the file size of the resulting pdf documents, for instance by compressing images. All tests have been conducted with the default settings.

This test concentrates on file size, and there may be other factors playing a role for users, pdf quality a top one. A difference of a few hundred Kilobytes makes no big difference if the documents are stored on a desktop PC, they can however have an impact if the pdf documents are stored and accessed on mobile devices like ebook readers or smartphones with limited space and processing capabilities.

My suggestion would be to install at least two different pdf printers on the system for best results. Ideally two different printers, for instance one that utilizes Ghostscript (which many pdf printers do) and another one that does not use Ghostscript.

Have you been working with pdf printers? If you did, tell us about your experience in the comments.

Foxit Reader will check for updates by querying a company server. All available updates are then displayed with options to add them to the update process. Users need to make sure to add at least the Foxit Reader 5.0.1.0523 Upgrade to the list of selected updates.

Manual update checks will pick up the new version of Foxit Reader eventually but this may take up to a week as Foxit Reader will only perform update checks once a week by default.

The Press Release lists the improvements of the new release.

Security. Version 5.0 is equipped to open documents created by Foxit’s PhantomPDF™ and protected by Microsoft’s Active Directory® Rights Management Service (AD RMS). This feature improves information security and helps companies meet compliance requirements.

XFA Form Filling. XFA form filling allows users to fill in and complete existing XFA forms electronically.

Productivity Features. Reader 5.0 provides users with productivity enhancements, including previews of PDF attachments in Microsoft Outlook and thumbnails of PDF files in Internet Explorer®. The Fit Visible feature fits the contents of a PDF page to the width of the user’s screen. The Split View capability divides the document pane into two or four panes to make content more easily accessible.

Enhanced User Interface. Version 5.0 incorporates the ribbon user interface technology to make finding menu items quick and easy. Users can choose the newer ribbon mode or the traditional, familiar pull-down menus of previous releases.

Enhanced Customization. With Reader 5.0 users can customize their own shortcut keys and can use skins to customize the look of the reader. Users can also use a new advanced-search tool to easily find bookmarks and commented text.

Foxit Reader 5 appears to cater to two groups of users. First to corporate users with the new security features, and then to users who want more customization and productivity options in the pdf reader.

The interface design has changed noticeably.

Interested users can download the Foxit Reader 5 release from the official homepage.

Update:

Foxit Reader 5 will install a toolbar called Foxit Creator Toolbar with no option to disable the feature during installation. You need to go to the control panel and uninstall the Creator Toolbar there to get rid of it. The new release takes up more than twice the amount of space than version 4 of the reader.

Update 2:

You actually have to select decline during installation after you have unselected the toolbar to not install it. If you unselect and click on Accept it will be installed nevertheless.

Govert’s Simple Imposition Tool is a free standalone software that can reformat pdf documents before printing. It is not only useful for users whose pdf readers cannot print multiple pages though, as it offers more than just that.

When you open the program for the first time, you notice a one-page layout where everything is configured. You load a pdf document at the top. The properties of the document are shown below, including the document’s size, pages and rotation.

Four formatting options and five optional settings are available under the Impose for section. You have the following formatting options:

• Booklet printing – Orders the pages automatically so that you get a booklet when you print and fold the printout. Optional foldmark can be added, which can be read by automatic folding machines.
• 2-up printing – Odd and even pages are printed side by side on one sheet of paper. Page Separation lines can be optionally added.
• Duplicate side-by-side – Print the same page twice on one sheet of paper. Cutmarks can be added to define where the document should be cut in half.
• 2x 1/2n – Places first half of multipage document side by side with second half. Duplex printing and cutmarks optional.

A click on the Action button launches a file save window where you can enter a name for the new pdf document. And that’s basically it.

If you compare the options to Adobe Reader, you notice that some are supported by Adobe’s product as well. You can use Adobe Reader to print multiple pages on one sheet and in booklet format. What’s not supported is the ability to print the same page multiple times on a sheet, and the option to place the first half of the document side by side with the second half.

The Simple Imposition Tool is available for Windows PCs. It requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0. The program was tested under a 64-bit edition of Windows 7 Professional. It worked without flaws.

Unfortunately though, customer address data and email addresses were stolen by the hackers. Billing information, like credit card numbers or banking information have not been stolen according to Ashampoo who have put up a page with information about the issue on their official website.

Here is the official Ashampoo email:

Dear Ashampoo customer,

We are writing to you concerning an important issue. We regret to tell you that we also detected an unauthorized access to one of our server systems. We assume that the attackers were able to purloin data of customers. Sensitive data such as billing information etc. is not affected by this, because Ashampoo does not store this data.

We summarized all pieces of information concerning this incident for you and would like you to read the following website: http://www.ashampoo.com/datatheft

Yours sincerely,

The Ashampoo-Team

Emails are currently send out by hackers to Ashampoo customers that contain attached pdf documents. These pdf documents use a recently discovered security vulnerability in Adobe Flash to load malicious code on the system as soon as the pdf is opened on an unprotected system.

Ashampoo asks users to keep those emails unopened to avoid executing malicious code on the user system.

Hackers often follow the pattern that they make people insecure e.g. with a confirmation of an order whose attachment is then opened or rather executed. Generally it is always important that you stay suspicious of unknown senders and that you do not respond to requests that tell you to open attachments.

If you for example receive a confirmation of an order from PurelyGadgets or another company without having made an appropriate purchase there, please do not open the attachment and delete the e-mail immediately.

It is not clear which security issue is being exploited by the hackers. It is however likely that it is a recent vulnerability in Adobe Flash which has been patched by Adobe. An Adobe Reader and Acrobat update was released yesterday that addresses the vulnerability. Users who have not installed the patches yet should do so to protect their system from the exploit.

Ashampoo has scanned several pdfs that the hackers have send out at Virustotal; The result was that half of the applications detect the malicious code.

To sum it up: Do not open emails that are related to or appear to be from Ashampoo if those contain an attached pdf document. If you have to open it download it to the computer first and open it in an online pdf viewer such as Google Docs. That way you stay safe and the malicious code cannot execute. (thanks Danny for the tip).

I like several aspects of the program, from its online library that offers free downloads of ebooks and magazines over the paper like navigation of pages to the comfortable handling with the mouse and hotkeys.

Lets start at the beginning. Martview is a free ebook reader for the Windows operating system. It supports both the pdf document format and its own mart format. Format support is one of the aspects of the application that the developers need to improve, to add support for widely used ebook formats like epub, comic book archive files or even plain text documents and Microsoft Word documents.

For now, you can only load mart and pdf documents. There is an option to create ebooks in the mart format from images, archives or comic book files but that’s not a suitable solution. It may work for single files but if you have hundreds of ebooks in different formats then you surely do not want to convert all of them into a different format just to be able to read them in the ebook reader.

Martview is on the other hand excellent if your ebook collection is available in pdf format, or if you want to download and read the available online magazines and ebooks that have been uploaded by other Martview users.

Lets take a closer look at the controls and handling first, before we take a look at the online library and other features.

A help document explaining the handling and navigational elements of the ebook reader is displayed when you start the program for the first time. You can flip the pages with a click of the mouse on the left or right page and a flick of the mouse in the opposite direction, just as you would do with a normal book or magazine.

You can alternatively use the cursor keys for navigation, the mouse wheel or switch the controls to touch mode if you have touch capable hardware.

You can zoom in and out if you press the left and right mouse button at the same time, or if you hold down the right mouse button and use the scroll wheel.

The hotkey Ctrt-l displays all pages of the ebook as thumbnails for easy navigation, while the horizontal or vertical slide mode offers to move faster through a document by sliding it horizontally or vertically.

The reading options are versatile and helpful. The different browsing modes and the mouse and keyboard shortcuts make the experience as comfortable as possible.

The online library of ebooks and magazines alone justifies the installation of the reader. A total of 13000 different documents are available, all uploaded by users of the service. Ebooks and magazines are sorted in categories like computers and tech, lifestyle, repairing manuals or comics and manga. Some offer subcategories. The comics and mange section for instance has more than a dozen subcategories for popular series such as Detective Conan, Bleach, Hunter X Hunter or Full Metal Alchemist.

All magazines and books that are displayed in the library can be downloaded to the local computer system. Martview’s policy is that users need to be the owner of the document to upload it to the public library. Several of the magazines raise legality questions, but that is something that this review cannot sufficiently address. All online documents are provided in mart format with no option to convert the files once they have been downloaded, at least not from within the ebook reading software.

Martview’s online library is a feature that not many ebook readers offer at this moment. It adds lots of value to the program. That, and the excellent controls make it one of the best ebook readers on Windows. The developers need to add support for additional formats including conversions between formats to make it the best ebook reader there is.

Interested Windows users can download the latest version of Martview from the developer website.

You can initiate a standard search by pressing Ctrl-f, or
selecting the Edit > Search option from the menu. Advanced Search on the other hand is triggered with the shortcut Shift-Ctrl-f or via the Edit > Advanced Search menu.

Adobe Reader is not the only pdf reader that can find text in multiple pdf documents. Foxit Reader, a free pdf reading alternative, offers similar options. Foxit Reader users can use the shortcut Ctrl-Shift-f or select Tools > Search to open the search form of the program in a sidebar.

Adobe Reader opens the advanced search options in a new window. Here it is possible to switch from searching the current document to searching all pdfs in a folder on the hard drive. The folder is freely selectable, with My Documents being suggested by default.

A word or phrase needs to be entered into the search configuration form window. Expert users click on the Show More Options link at the bottom to display additional search filters and options.

Here it is then possible to include comments, attachments and bookmarks in the search, or search for whole words or case sensitive words only.

The more options page can be used to add additional search criteria, for instance to only search documents that have been created before or after a certain date, that have been written by a specific author or that contain object data or images.

It may take a while to scan the contents of all pdf documents that match the criteria. Adobe Reader displays the results in the same window. Results are sorted by document, and every instance of the word or phrase is shown on a separate line. A click on a line opens the containing page in the main Adobe Reader window.

Foxit Reader’s multi-pdf search options are limited in comparison. Here it is only possible to enter a search word or phrase, a directory that contains the pdf documents and a whole word and case sensitive filter.

Search results are displayed in a sidebar in the application window, a click puts the focus on the containing page. The search terms are highlighted by both applications on the pdf page.

Both programs are capable of finding text in multiple pdf documents. Users who need the additional filtering options find Adobe Reader’s pdf search more suitable as it offers more advanced options.

Are you using a different program or service to search for contents in multiple pdf documents? Let me know in the comments.

This guide looks at three tools for the job. The desktop applications Foxit Reader and Adobe Reader as well as the online service PDF Escape. Both the online service and the desktop applications have their distinct advantages, and disadvantages.

Foxit Reader

Foxit Reader is a free fast pdf reader for Windows that offers several extras over the more common Adobe Reader. The free software is faster than Adobe Reader in all regards, which is most noticeable when pdf documents are opened on the computer.

Windows users who want to edit documents need to load them into Foxit Reader to edit the document forms. This is done with a simple click on the form field and the use of the keyboard.

Documents that have been filled out can be saved to the local computer system or send directly to the printer or an email recipient. This is all done via the File menu in the menu bar of the application.

Windows users can download the latest version of Foxit Reader from the official program website. The pdf reader is compatible with all 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

PDF Escape

PDF Escape is a free online service that offers pdf form filling. Users can upload individual pdf documents that are then parsed and displayed on the service’s website. The online tool scans the document for form fields to highlight them automatically when the individual page is loaded.

A click on a form field activates it so that it can be filled out. Once activated it is possible to flip through all fields with the tab key which speeds up the processing noticeably.

A click on Save and Download PDF generated the filled out pdf document and opens the save file as dialog window to save it on the local PC. It is alternatively possible to send the document straight to the printer.

The online service does not require registration, but registered users do get extra features like options to save files online.

Adobe Reader

How do both programs compare to Adobe Reader, the most popular pdf reader? Adobe has improved the performance, especially the time it takes to open a pdf document. The program does not come near the opening speed of Foxit Reader, at least not without tweaks (see Adobe Reader Speed Up for a tweaking tool)

Adobe Reader comes with capabilities to fill out pdf forms, just like Foxit Reader or the online service PDF Escape. PDF documents that have been filled out can be saved or attached to email.

Adobe Reader users do not necessarily have to install Foxit Reader to fill out pdf forms. Foxit Reader on the other hand offers a better pdf loading performance which might make a difference if documents are filled out on a regular basis. The smaller program size is another advantage of Foxit Reader.

The online service attracts a different audience. It is for instance the perfect solution when you work on a computer without pdf reader, or a pdf reader that does not offer form editing and saving.

Which tool or service are you using to fill out pdf documents?

The first three offer the manipulation options, the fourth – console – displays a log of operations and the last contains information about the application and its developer.

A pdf document needs to be loaded in the Document tab before all existing features become available. The program fills out the PDF MetaData automatically. It is now up to the user to make changes to the pdf file.

MetaData information can be changed in the Document tab. Here it is possible to delete, add or edit the author, title, subject, keywords, creator and producer.

It is furthermore possible to select a new or the same pdf document as the target file. The pdf will be overwritten if the same is selected, otherwise it will be created anew.

The signature tab offers options to add certificates to the pdf document. It is optionally possible to create a timestamped signature. Multi-signatures, the process of signing documents multiple times, is available as well under the Signature tab.

Encryption finally can be used to add protections to the document. This includes password protecting the pdf but also options to disable pdf specific features like printing, making modifications or copying.

A click on the Process button applies the changes to the selected document. It is for instance possible to password protect pdf documents so that they can only be accessed if the correct password is entered in the pdf reader.

ISafePDf is a handy portable software program for users who want to password protect, sign or timestamp pdf documents. A batch operating mode would be a good addition in future releases, as it is currently only possible to process single pdf documents.

The pdf software can be downloaded from the developer website. The program is compatible with the Microsoft Windows operating system and available as a portable version and source code.

PDF is the most popular format for digital archiving in the world. Normally PDF files are created by virtual printer; however it is not easy to create PDF documents from multiple scanned images. JPG To PDF Converter is a windows application that quickly converts multiple images into a single PDF document without virtual printing.

JPG to PDF Converter supports the majority of modern graphic formats, including GIF, BMP, TIF, PNG, JPG, ICO and PSD. Users can control the compression ratio of PDF files for optimal quality/size balance and specify such PDF file properties as title, creation date, subject and keywords.

Many people like to scan in documents such as official personal or business paperwork and household bills.  It’s annoying for people having to store these documents as JPG or other image files.

The pdf software actually does a lot more than what has already been mentioned in the opening paragraph. Lets take a closer look at some of its features. The application can be started right after it has been downloaded and unpacked on the system.

It displays a number of tabs at the top that lead to various functions and options. The input and output tabs are the only mandatory tabs, everything else is option.

PDF documents are added in the input tab. Options are available to process only some pages of a document and not all of them.

The folder the new pdf document is saved to is defined in the output tab. It offers additional options, for instance to use better compression or optimize the pdf size.

The following processing options are available via other tabs:

• Page size: Option to rotate pages and scale ages to another page size, width and height.
• Watermark: Add a watermark to the newly created pdf document.
• Shuffle: Options to reverse the page order, display multiple pages on one resulting page or create a pdf booklet.
• Page numbers: Change the page numbers..
• Bookmarks: Change chapter bookmarks, options to import from PDF or CSV.
• Attachments: Add attachments to the pdf file.
• Interaction. Add page transitions and change viewer preferences (e.g. hide toolbar, menubar, direction or view area.
• Document info: Change document meta information like title, subject, keywords or author and creator.
• Encrypt / Sign: encrypt the pdf document with a password or sign it.

The interface of the application feels old fashioned, but that should not keep users away from the pdf manipulation software. JPDF Tweak offers solutions for many common pdf file editing tasks.

Users who are interested in the application can download it from the Sourceforge project page.

PDF Jumbler is a free software program that offers several tools to work with pdf documents. To be precise, the free software offers to rearrange, delete or merge pages from PDF files.

PDF documents are added via drag and drop or the open document button at the top of the minimalistic program interface. It is then possible to rearrange pages with drag and drop, or to delete pages by selecting them first and selecting the delete button afterwards. The delete key on the keyboard deletes the selected pdf pages as well.

Additional documents can be added to any position of the existing documents. PDf Jumbler can merge multiple documents in one process.

The Save Document button saves the new pdf document to the hard drive. Zoom in and out buttons are available to preview individual pages of the pdf files that have been added to PDF Jumbler.

The portable software program is offered as a Java executable, which means that the operating system needs to support Java.

PDF Jumbler is as easy as it can get when it comes to merging, deleting or rearranging pages of one or multiple pdf documents.

The Open Source application can be downloaded from the project homepage over at SourceForge. (via)

It’s main features include…

Convert PDF to Word
Convert PDF to Word with all text and Graphical data.
Convert PDF to RTF
Convert PDF to Rich Text Files. You can edit all text and graphic by Windows Wordpad.
Convert PDF to TXT
Convert PDF to plain text files. You can edit text by Notepad.
Convert PDF to Images
Convert PDF to BMP, JPG, GIF or TIF files.
Convert PDF to HTML
Convert PDF to HTML files and automatically generate the Index file.
Convert PDF to SWF
Convert PDF to Shockwave Flash Animation files which can be published on websites.
Page Selection
Convert all the pages, or partial pages of PDF file.
Easy to use software
Add a PDF File -> Select the Output File Format -> Click on Start Converting button, then just have a cup of coffee :)

This software is normally $29.95 but is completely free until February 5th 2011.  You can download your copy here where you will also find a product code.  The best thing about all this is that it’s just a simple download and there’s no need to register with the website and give away all your marketing details.

So for free software, this utility to make your PDF files editable again is an absolute must have!  You can download your free copy here.

A pdf document on the other hand includes everything, which makes it easier to transfer it to other devices or send it to work colleagues or friends.

But how do you turn a web page into a pdf document? One of the easiest options is the Joliprint bookmarklet, which is available for all modern web browsers that support bookmarklets.

Bookmarklets, what’s that again? A bookmarklet is basically a bookmark. But instead of pointing to a website, it contains JavaScript code that interacts with the active website on activation.

This bookmarklet turns a web page automatically into a pdf document. The best part about it is that it will do everything automatically. All that you need to do is to click on the bookmarklet and watch the magic happen.

Even better is the fact that it strips the page of unnecessary elements like advertisements or menus so that you end up with the bare article only.

The pdf document keeps the formatting, links and pictures of the article, but turns the article itself into a two column article.

The bookmarklet requires an active Internet connection, as it queries the Joliprint server which handles the converting. The web page is automatically downloaded to the default download location set in the web browser.

The Joliprint bookmarklet requires no installation. Just drag and drop the icon from the Joliprint website to a bookmarks toolbar or folder. (via Lifehacker)

PDF Chain is a graphical front end for the PDF Toolkit which allows you to merge, split, watermark, rotate, add attachments to, and set permissions for existing PDF documents. And, best of all, it’s very easy to use so any level of user can take advantage of PDF Chain’s handy features. In this article I am going to show you how to install and use PDF Chain.

Installation

Naturally, since this is Linux, installation is simple. All you need to do is follow these easy steps:

1. Open up your Add/Remove Software Utility.
2. Search for “pdf chain” (no qutoes).
3. Mark PDF Chain for installation.
4. Accept any dependencies necessary.
5. Click Apply to install.
6. Once the installation is complete, close the Add/Remove Software tool.

You are now ready to start manipulating your PDF documents.

Merging PDFs

Figure 1

Let’s first take a look at how to merge two (or more) PDF documents. To do this first open up PDF Chain by clicking Applications > Office > PDF Chain. When the application opens you will see a simple window with four tabs: Merge, Split, Background/Stamp, Attachaments. The tab you want for merging PDFs is, obviously, Merge (see Figure 1). Click on that to begin the process.

To merge PDF documents all you need to do is click the + button to add the PDF documents you want to merge. Move them up or down using the appropriate arrows. The order in which they appear in the Add window will be the order they are merged into. Once you have added all your PDFs you can select the ID for the merged PDF from the ID drop down. You can create a new ID or get the ID from one of the listed PDF documents.

When you have taken care of all of the set up, click the Save button, give the new document a name, and let the merging begin!

Splitting PDFs

Figure 2

The splitting process is very similar to the merging process. Now, understand what the splitting process does is split a multi-page PDF into single pages. So if you have a 20 page document you will wind up with 20 single page documents. You can then merge some of those together to make smaller documents.

To split a document, follow these steps:

1. Click on the Split tab (see Figure 2).
2. Click the Add button.
3. Navigate to the PDF you want to split.
4. Click the Save button.
5. Select the folder you want to save all of your PDFs to.
6. Click OK.

That’s it. You have now split that single PDF into multiple pages. NOTE: The count digits refer to the numbers for the saved file names. So if you have Sheet as a prefix and 3 counter digits the file names will look like:

• Sheet001.pdf
• Sheet002.pdf
• Sheet003.pdf
• etc.

Background/Stamp

Figure 2

Just like the merging and splitting, the background/stamping is just as easy. Say you want to watermark your name on the pages of a PDF you have created. To do this you have to have a pre-created watermark PDF for the process. Once you have that all you do is click the Background/Stamp tab (see Figure 3) and follow these steps:

1. Click Add to add the PDF you want to watermark.
2. Click add to add the PDF to be used for the watermark
3. Select if this is a background or a stamp.
4. Click Save.
5. Give the resulting PDF a name.
6. Click OK.

If you do create a watermark PDF, make sure the image has a certain level of opacity because PDF Chain does not add any opacity to your stamp.

Final thoughts

PDF Chain is a very handy tool to have around for anyone that has to work with PDF files. With this handy tool you don’t always have to have (or fire up) the tool you used to create the PDFs in order to handle simple actions such as merging or splitting. And don’t forget you can also add attachments to PDFs as well as edit the permissions of PDFs from PDF Chain as well.

Adobe expects to make the updates “available during the week of August 16, 2010″, which does mean that millions of computer systems running either Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat are left vulnerable for the time being.

Adobe is planning to release updates for Adobe Reader 9.3.3 for Windows, Macintosh and UNIX, Adobe Acrobat 9.3.3 for Windows and Macintosh, and Adobe Reader 8.2.3 and Acrobat 8.2.3 for Windows and Macintosh to resolve critical security issues, including CVE-2010-2862 which was discussed at the Black Hat USA 2010 security conference on Wednesday, July 28, 2010. Adobe expects to make these updates available during the week of August 16, 2010

The security advisory does not reveal information about the vulnerabilities, only that one was discussed at last month’s Black Hat USA 2010 security conference, that all platforms are affected, and that Adobe Reader 9.3.3 and earlier, and Adobe Acrobat 9.3.3 and earlier are affected.

The advisory over at Secunia reveals additional details about the vulnerability discussed at the Black Hat conference. The Adobe Reader / Acrobat Font Parsing Integer Overflow Vulnerability has been rated as highly critical, the second highest possible rating.

The vulnerability is caused due to an integer overflow error in CoolType.dll when parsing the “maxCompositePoints” field value in the “maxp” (Maximum Profile) table of a TrueType font. This can be exploited to corrupt memory via a PDF file containing a specially crafted TrueType font.

Successful exploits may allow remote code execution on the targeted system.

Users with Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat installed may want to consider switching to another pdf reader for the time being, to protect their computer system from those vulnerabilities. Alternatives are listed on our pdf reader comparison page.