Alternatives to Adobe Acrobat Pro

Alternatives to Adobe Acrobat Pro

There are many tasks with PDF’s that can be performed without Adobe Acrobat Pro. Some of the most common tasks are:

Edit a PDF using Microsoft Word
Create a PDF from a Microsoft Office application
Saving an email as a PDF
Sign a PDF
Split or break up a PDF
Combine multiple PDFs
Create a PDF from a web page using Google Chrome
Use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in Microsoft OneNote

 

How to edit a PDF with Microsoft Word

Windows 10

Word includes the ability to convert a PDF to a Word document, allowing you to then edit the content:

1) start Word

2) click File, click Open, navigate and find the PDF you wish to edit, click Open

Open PDF Word 2013

 

3) a message will appear letting you know the converted-and-editable-document may not look perfectly like the original, but, you will be able to use and edit the original content

Open PDF Word 2013 Message

This works best with files that are mostly text. There are some elements that do not convert well.

More information about editing PDF’s in Word can be found at these websites:

Edit PDF content in Word
Unlock PDFs with Word 2013
Why does my PDF look different in Word?

 

How to create a PDF using a Microsoft Office application

Although the following instructions are specific to Word, they work for other Office applications like Excel, Visio, etc.

1) create the document in a Microsoft Office application

2) click File, click Save As, click the “Save as type:” drop-down, select PDF (*.pdf), click Save

Save As PDF

 

How to save an email as a PDF

Outlook does not include a way to save an email directly to PDF. You must first copy the contents of the email to a Word document, then save the document as a PDF.

1) open the message in Outlook

a. (optional) if you want to include the subject and “To” and “From” email address information: click Reply (you will not actually need to reply to the email)

2) on your keyboard, press CTRL and A to select all message content

3) on your keyboard, press CTRL and C to copy selected message content

4) start Word and create a new document

5) on your keyboard, press CTRL and V to paste selected message content

6) click File, click Save As, click the “Save as type:” drop-down, select PDF (*.pdf), click Save

Save As PDF

 

How to sign a PDF using Adobe Acrobat Reader (free application)

1) open the document you need to sign with Adobe Acrobat Reader

2) click Fill & Sign

Adobe Reader Fill Sign Button

 

3) click Sign, click Add Signature

Adobe Reader Add Signature

 

4) select the option of typing or drawing your signature, enter your signature, select the option of saving your signature for later use, click Apply

Adobe Reader Apply Signature

 

5) position the signature, click File, click Save to save the document with your signature

Adobe Reader Position Signature

 

How to split or break up a PDF

There are a few ways to split or break up a PDF:

Split a PDF using Microsoft Word
Split a PDF using the Google Chrome web browser

How to split or break up a PDF using Word

1) open the PDF in Word

2) copy whatever content you need, paste content into a new Word document

3) save the new document as a PDF

 

How to split or break up a PDF using the Google Chrome web browser

1) start the Google Chrome application

2) find the PDF in a Windows Explorer folder, click and drag the PDF into Google Chrome to open it

Open PDF in Google Chrome

 

3) bring your mouse to the bottom of the screen to bring up the menu buttons, click the Print button

Menu Google Chrome

 

4) click Change… (destination), click Save as PDF

Save As PDF Google Chrome 01

 

5) enter the specific pages or range of pages you need, click Save

Save As PDF Google Chrome 02

 

How to combine PDFs

1) open the PDFs in Word

2) copy and paste the contents of each PDF into a new Word document

3) save the new document as a PDF

 

How to create a PDF from a web page using Google Chrome

1) use Google Chrome to navigate to the web page you intend to create a PDF of

2) click the top-right Chrome menu button, click Print…

Save Web Page As PDF Google Chrome 01

 

3) for Destination click Change…, select Save as PDF, click Save

Save As PDF Google Chrome 01

 

How to use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in Microsoft OneNote, Windows Version

Microsoft OneNote, Windows version, has the ability to extract text from scanned images.

1) Scan the document you intend to use as a TIFF/JPEG image. On iSchool Ricoh scanners, this option can be set in the Scanner menu -> Send File Type / Name… -> Single Page -> TIFF / JPEG

Ricoh Scan To TIFF/JPEG

 

2) start Microsoft OneNote in Windows, create a new notebook

OneNote, Windows, Create Notebook

 

3) click the plus sign to create a new section

OneNote, Windows, Create Section

 

4) click Insert, click Pictures, find and select the image you scanned in step 1

OneNote, Windows, Insert Picture

 

5) right-click the document, select Make Text in Image Searchable, select the language

OneNote, Windows, Make Image Text Searchable

 

6) right-click the document, click Copy Text from Picture

OneNote, Windows, Copy Image Text

 

7) start Word, paste the text into a document, whatever text was able-to-be-copied from the image will be available in the document

Paste Image-Text Into Word Document

 

Note: This method strips all formatting leaving you with only editable text.

Activation Required Prompts and Microsoft Software

iSchool owned Windows computers are set up to periodically check-in with a license server on campus to verify the activation of Windows (the operating system itself).

If your computer has been off campus for quite some time and your computer has not connected to the Husky OnNet VPN for quite some time (at least once every 180 days), you can expect to see a prompt or message telling you that you are required to activate Microsoft Windows or your license will expire soon.

If you see a message about needing to activate Windows, connect to the Husky OnNet VPN, then wait. You may continue working. Your computer will automatically “check in” with the on-campus license server, activate Microsoft Windows, the “activation required” message will disappear, and you can disconnect or exit the Husky OnNet VPN application.

More about how activating Microsoft products works at the UW, can be found on UW-IT’s website:

https://itconnect.uw.edu/wares/msinf/software/activating-microsoft-products/