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With its rather basic but intuitive drag-and-drop interface, PDF Merge for Mac successfully combines several PDFs into one file. The program performs only one task, but does it quickly and without any problems.

The free trial version's basic menu lacks any advanced graphics or a user tutorial. Fortunately, the design is intuitive and well thought out. The trial limits the number of PDFs combined to three, but the full version of PDF Merge for Mac with no limits can be purchased for $18.99. A medium-size window has one area where files can be dragged and dropped. Users can … Read more

With so many free PDF converters to choose from, AnvSoft's PDFMate PDF Converter stands out in a crowded field by offering a super-easy, wizard-based conversion process in an easy-to-use layout. PDFMate bundles six conversion tools in one interface: PDF to EPUB, Text, Image, HTML, SWF, and Word Converters, plus a tool for shrinking multipage PDF documents down to a single page. The latest release of PDFMate PDF Converter, Version 1.6.2, is suitable for Windows XP to 8.

PDFMate's immense, colorful, and clearly-labeled icons and buttons and step-by-step process make it a tool that nearly anyone can … Read more

For those users who have the patience to figure out a complicated interface, PDF Split and Merge for Mac offers a number of useful features for altering PDF files. This free application had an unfortunately complicated download process that required navigating several menus on the developer's Web site.

The most notable thing about PDF Split and Merge's interface is how confusing it is. There are almost no graphics and the numerous features are not clearly labeled. A left-hand menu lists the main functions as plug-ins rather than specific options. These include the ability to alternate mixes of files, … Read more

Free PDF to Word Converter's name describes the program: It takes your PDF files and converts them into Word-compatible DOC or Rich Text files. While it's fairly easy to use and does a fairly good job, some awkward controls and other issues dim its appeal. Better tools aren't in short supply, either.

Free PDF to Word Converter's user interface isn't elaborate, and the program explains each feature and each step, though it does make for a busy look. The main controls are listed under General Options, which is a bit confusing, though clicking Files and … Read more

The ability to process multiple document files into a more universal format would be helpful to a number of businesses and individuals. Despite its limited functions and interface, Easy PDF for Mac performs well, and may be helpful to those users.

The installation process of this freeware was seamless, with a quick download that did not require any user interaction. Easy PDF for Mac features a basic, straightforward menu that proved easy to use. The entire program is a small window with one large box where the user can drag and drop files that need to be converted. After the … Read more

Apple's Preview program is the default PDF viewer in OS X, and has a number of options for annotating and otherwise managing PDF files. One of its features is support for Quartz filters, which can be applied to PDFs and image files to convert them, for example into sepia, black-and-white, or gray scale. A Quartz filter can be used to reduce the PDF's file size, but while it's effective at doing so, you may find images in the resulting PDF too grainy to use.

These compression routines are done by adjusting the embedded image quality of the … Read more

PDF files are much easier to send and read than your standard Open Office files. This app claims to convert your Office files into PDFs, but it does the bare minimum to live up to that name. In fact, Open Office to PDF Creator seems much more like a basic file viewer than anything else.

Most of Open Office to PDF Creator's navigation buttons are clouded by ads that take up the top and bottom of the screen. That really doesn't matter, since you can do most of the converting right from your file menu. Converting .odt files … Read more

BeamReader PDF Viewer is a free Android app that opens, displays, and saves PDF files and email attachments. It's compact and has most of the features you expect from a PDF reader, such as zoom, pinch-to-zoom, text wrap, bookmarks, and password protection. It's suitable for Android 2+ devices, but it doesn't seem to support Android 4 releases, and the developer seems to have stopped updating it. With excellent PDF utilities available from Adobe and others, and at the same price as BeamReader (free, as in no money) it's hard to see how it finds a place … Read more

Tools for creating PDF documents tend to fall somewhere between do-it-all packages with big names (and price tags to match) and freeware stripped down to the basics. But simple is good, which is why PDF tools that install themselves as print drivers may be our favorite of all. That's how PDFCreator from Pdforge works, though that's not all it does.

PDFCreator's optional server installation mode can act as a network printer, but we chose the standard installation, which includes some optional downloads such as Images2PDF and PDFArchitect, plus some sample files and our choice of language and … Read more