New Software To Be Reviewed Review

The program is offered in two versions, standard or professional according to the website. However, I found the reality a little different. Firstly, you do not get a direct download link to the trial software, but instead download a small 359KB downloader. The downloader enables you to download a trial version of the software. I would have personally preferred a direct download link. In this case, I ended up with the downloader for both the standard and professional edition. After I was done downloading the trial software for standard and professional editions, I was left with two identical files of around 20mb each. When I tried both the files, I found that although named differently they were in fact the same file that installed a demo of the professional version. I am not clear about the differences between the standard and professional versions or if there is indeed a standard version available as of current version.

The setup is straightforward and you are given the option to install the Infix Pdf Printer which I elected to do so. The Infix Pdf Printer enables the conversion of any document into a pdf file. While there is a quick start guide that is helpful, the user manual is not included but has be downloaded separately. The program offers to download the help file from the company website. Those behind a firewall, would surely have preferred to have known right in the beginning that the help file had to be separately downloaded. Why not included the manual with the download or alternatively provide a link on the website. In the end, I did not need the manual but if I had know it was not included in the main download, I would have downloaded it separately.

In demo mode, the program saves pdf files with a watermark. Activation of the software allows the permanent removal of watermarks. The demo version that I downloaded from the website does not allow the activation of the software off-line and only allows online activation. Only after purchasing the software, the emailed purchase receipt would contain the download link for the paid version that can then be activated off-line. Off-line activation involves emailing a computer specific key to the company that in turn replies with a code to activate the program. I thought this whole process to be a bit convoluted for a pdf editing program but I guess the company is keen to prevent software piracy as much as possible and as such any approach is bound to have drawbacks.

First up, a nice feature is that you do not need to install a separate pdf reader to view the help system pdf files such as the quick start guide and the manual after you have downloaded it. The infix pdf editor is fully capable of displaying pdf files in "reader" mode as I discovered when opening the quick start guide from the help menu. I thought "reader mode" pretty capable at rendering pdf files but I did not discover a way to make the editor the default to display other pdf files in "reader" mode.

Essentially, the Infix pdf editor feels like a regular word processor that allows text editing and form filling of pdf documents. I was impressed by the look and feel of the program. In fact, there are numerous options to change the eye candy look of the program to Office 2007, Windows XP among others. A spell checker is included with the program that adds to the feel of a regular word processor.

I thought two advanced features that I had not encountered before in other programs are the ability to make OCR corrections and support for translation software. The ability to make OCR corrections enables the editing of the hidden text layer generated by a OCR program in the pdf file being edited. The program also offers translation support for Trados and Accross TM platforms. I am not sure how many regular uses would need such support but undoubtedly those few that do would probably think of the inclusion as a big plus. I am not familiar with either the Trados and Accross TM as they are mainly used by professional translators and so am unclear with regard to the benefits to supporting such translation software and how it would all work.

The program allows opening of either pdf files with a .pdf extension or pdf templates with a .pdt extension. However, the program does not offer to save templates to a .pdt file. This means one would need another program to generate pdf template files. I can see the benefits to being able to use templates but it is not clear to me how to go about using this feature. Unless the idea is that the pdf files meant as templates are to be saved with a .pdf extension and then manually renamed to a .pdt extension.

The program allows the export of pdf files to formats such as html, rtf, multi-page tiff and jpg. Any file that can be opened by a software program installed on the users computer can be printed to pdf files using the included Pdf printer, enabling the easy conversion to pdf format.

While using the pdf editor, one can either choose to backup while saving or alternatively enable auto-back after a set time. Further, it is possible to use the "flightcheck" option to check the edited pdf file for errors.

When saving the edited pdf file with the demo version, one is presented with three options. First, one can save a pdf file with a watermark. The second option is an innovative "Pay and Save" option. With the "Pay and Save" feature, it is possible to connect to their website to order a code on a pay per use basis without paying to permanently activate the software. Thirdly, one can purchase a full licence that enables the permanent removal of watermarks after activation.

As I began using the program, I came to appreciate the functionality provided and found the ease of use of the program to be similar to using a regular word processor. I did not really need the pdf manual as I found the program straightforward and clear. Clearly a lot of thought has been given to enhancing the functionality of this piece of software to make it as feature rich as possible. After using the program for a short while, I became convinced enough of its functionality to decide to make a purchase decision as I thought this software allowed me to do a better job of editing my pdf files when compared to my current program.