As the world continues to go paperless, it’s more crucial than ever that you have access to a software program that can handle the most common file type used to share statements, contracts, and other documents: PDF. While you can always use Adobe Acrobat from the company that created PDFs, you might find that the price tag is a little too high or that the software is a little too complicated.

Enter PDFelement , now in its seventh release, which provides you with every PDF tool you could possibly want at a much more reasonable price, and with an interface that will have even novices creating, changing, and marking up PDFs like pros in no time.

PDFelement 7: Create, edit and manipulate PDFs the easy, affordable way

Edit all aspects of a PDF

One of the most frustrating parts of working with PDFs has been the inability to edit them; PDFelement 7 eliminates this concern. The software basically turns a PDF into a word processing document. You’re able to move text around and alter its font, color and more; permanently hide text or images using the “redact” feature; add text and images; add signatures; and, turn any part of the document into a hyperlink.

Once your document is edited, you can use the extensive PDF protection tools to secure it. Applying password encryption, redacting confidential data, restricting print, edit, and other permissions are quite simple and have its own section in the File menu (Mac version) or in the top toolbar in the Protect tab (Windows version).

Create PDF from or Convert PDF to a range of sources

PDFelement 7 not only lets you fully manipulate existing PDFs, but it allows you to convert other document types to create PDFs, as well as letting you start completely from scratch. To do this, you can start with a blank document, or the software can create a PDF from a screen capture, a window capture, or a selection capture, as well as from any image file, Microsoft Office file, scans, a connected scanner (scan to PDF) or HTML code.

The Convert PDF function in PDFelement 7 is a powerful tool for communication because not everyone has a premium PDF editor. Some stakeholders in a particular process may require the information in a different format, such as Excel or a plain text file. In such cases, the improved conversion engine makes sure that the output file preserves the integrity of the source PDF. The output and input file options are extensive in PDFelement 7, including Excel, Word, PPT, HTML, EPUB, Text, and other file formats, making it a holistic document management software.

Simplified, intuitive navigation

Working with PDFelement 7 is impressively easy. When you begin moving around images, altering text and marking up the file using a range of tools including sticky notes, text callouts, highlights and much more, you’ll view PDF files in an entirely new light. And the software is also quite intuitive.

A toolbar on the left lets you decide how you want to annotate PDFs: Markup, Text, Image, Link, Form, Redact, and Tool. Once you select the appropriate one, an additional formatting toolbar on the top of the screen lets you fine-tune your work. Down the right side, you’ll find simple document-navigation tools.

Create forms, change backgrounds and more

As if all of those features weren’t enough, PDFelement 7 has a few other tricks up its sleeve that allow you to truly transform PDFs from being one of the most clunky file types to work with to one of the easiest. First among those is the ability to create or add forms to any document. The software allows you to insert fillable text fields, selectable drop-down windows and radio buttons, and a field requesting a digital signature that is legally binding.

You can also convert non-interactive content into fillable PDFs, have the software automatically recognize form fields, extract data and images, and a lot more.

Additionally, under the “Tools” section, you’ll find a range of extra goodies, including the ability to add a watermark or change the background, add a header or footer, and combine multiple PDFs into one file. But the standout feature in this section is the OCR scan function, which makes all the text in a PDF searchable or editable, per the conversion setting you choose. The OCR functionality works across 29 languages.

In PDFelement 7 Pro, you also have several Batch Process options for conversion , encryption, watermarking, OCR, merging PDFs, and so on. These allow you to handle large workflows containing hundreds of documents and process them in an automated queue instead of doing it manually, one by one.

Besides the macOS system, PDFelement is also available on these OS platforms: Windows, Android, and iOS. Plus, you can get the PDFelement for iOS and Android for free.

Extensive Product Support

Wondershare, the creator of PDFelement, offers full backup for its key PDF productivity product. This includes video tutorials, online help tools, an extensive knowledge base, user guides, and a live chat service in case you need immediate help, it will be more helpful to find the solutions.

Save up to $60 on PDFelement Pro

PDFelement allows you to download a free version of the software that lets you use nearly all of the program’s functionality. The only caveats are that files are saved with a watermark and there are some conversion caps/limits. Nevertheless, every basic PDF function is free to use.

For $79 per year (a savings of $40), you can upgrade to a Pro version, which includes complete functionality – or for $69 per year, you can snag the Standard version, which eliminates the OCR function, the ability to turn scanned PDFs into editable PDFs, the ability to add and edit form fields and digital signatures, and several other features. In our opinion, the upgrade to Pro is well worth the extra $10. Furthermore, you can also opt for a lifetime license so you don’t have to remember to renew your subscription every year or every month.

PDFelement 7: Create, edit and manipulate PDFs the easy, affordable way