adobe acrobat pro dc alternative open source

What caused Adobe to take off and become the de facto format to view and create PDF documents? Adobe made its PDF Reader available for free. However, in the last few years Adobe made the PDF programming code “open source” which gave competing companies the opportunity to develop and sell alternatives to Adobe Acrobat.

It did not help that Adobe made the programs extremely proprietary or closed source, meaning that you had to use Adobe to create and view PDF documents.īeing closed source, competing companies could not develop software alternatives to Adobe’s expensive Acrobat PDF creation software. Back then, it was an obscure format that few people used. Those of you who can talk the computer tech talk at cocktail parties know that “PDF” is an acronym for “portable document format.” Adobe developed the PDF format in 1993, which is ancient history in computers. Current programs allow PDF files to be converted, resized, edited, managed and even made secure (controlling who can view or print PDF files.) As these programs became more sophisticated, PDF creation software contained more and more features. In the old days, PDF creation software didn’t do much beyond converting a document into PDF format. Over time, individuals and businesses needed a program to create and view documents in a standardized format. In addition, I will discuss software programs from A-PDF, software I have tested and determined to be a great alternative to spending $450 for Adobe Acrobat Pro. The purpose of this article is to discuss the critical features that you need in software to create and manage PDF documents. You cannot submit documents in other formats, such as Word or WordPerfect unless the court orders you to do so.

In other words, if you intend to litigate a federal case, all documents submitted to the court, whether a filing or an ex parte letter to the court, must be in PDF format. The ECF program requires that you submit papers, pleadings and communications in Adobe PDF format. In previous articles, I mentioned that in federal courts electronic litigation is now mandatory.

Adobe acrobat pro dc alternative open source