Several products for working with PDFs are available, but as with many categories of technology, different companies’ products are not identical and a product good for one firm is not necessarily the best for another. 
The author describes the highlights and drawbacks of four PDF products – Acrobat, Nitro Pro 8, PDF Converter Enterprise 8, and pdfDOCS – that have many law firm-appropriate features. A detailed chart lists and compares the features of each product reviewed.
The author’s choice? Nuance PDF Converter Enterprise 8, because its feature set strikes a good balance between functionality and price. Your preference will depend on your particular needs.
|   | 
Acrobat  | 
Nitro Pro 8  | 
PDF Converter Enterprise 8  | 
pdfDOCS  | 
Creating PDFs  | 
Word - Printer  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Word - Tool Bar Add-on  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Excel - Printer  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Excel - Tool Bar Add-on  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
PowerPoint - Printer  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
PowerPoint - Tool Bar Add-on  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
WordPerfect - Printer  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
WordPerfect - Tool Bar Add-on   | 
N  | 
N  | 
Y1  | 
N  | 
From Scanner  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Drag and Drop to Open Program  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Drag and Drop to Desktop Icon  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Watched Folder  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
Toolbar Add-on  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Right Click Context Menu  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Combine Multiple Files in Single PDF  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Binders/Portfolio  | 
Y  | 
N2  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
PDF/A-1a  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
PDF/A-1b  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Outlook Ribbon Integration  | 
Archive Outlook Message/Folder  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Searchable Archive  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Attachments in Native Format  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Convert non-PDF Attachments to PDF  | 
N  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Append to Existing PDF  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
N  | 
N  | 
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)  | 
Native to Program  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y3  | 
Make Searchable  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Convert to Word  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Convert to Excel  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Convert to PowerPoint  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Convert to WordPerfect  | 
N  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Convert to RTF  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
N  | 
Convert to TXT  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Convert to Image  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Editing Documents  | 
Editing Text  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Add New Text  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Replace Text  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Text Reflow  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Strikethrough  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Underline  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Subscript Text  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Superscript Text  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Highlight  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Comments/Notes  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Callouts  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Stamps  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Bookmarks  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Links  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Native Compare Capability  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Compare 2 PDF Documents  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Compare PDF Document to Word  | 
N  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Compare Any Doc Type to Any Doc  | 
N  | 
N  | 
N  | 
Y4  | 
Working with Pages in PDFs  | 
Auto-rotate  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Rotate  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Extract  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Delete  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Split  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Insert  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Insert from File  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Insert from Scanner  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Insert from Clipboard  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Insert Header/Footer  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Bates Numbering  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Working with Forms  | 
Add Form Fields  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Form Wizard  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Typewriter Tool  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Applying Security to PDFs  | 
Redaction  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Metadata Removal  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y5  | 
Digital Signature & Certificate  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Create Self-signed Digital Certificate  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Restrict User Actions to Change,  
Print, Edit, etc.  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Document Encryption  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Password Protect Documents  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Connectors  | 
Worldox  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Other Document-Management Software  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Evernote  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Dropbox  | 
N  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Box.com  | 
N  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
Google Drive  | 
N  | 
N  | 
Y  | 
N  | 
SharePoint  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Share PDFs from within Program  | 
Email  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Y  | 
Ease of Use (Rating scale: 1 (low) to 10 (high)  | 
8  | 
10  | 
8  | 
8  | 
Feature Set  | 
9  | 
8  | 
10  | 
6  | 
Value for Cost  | 
8  | 
9  | 
10  | 
7  | 
Manual/Help/Online Resources  | 
9  | 
8  | 
7  | 
8  | 
|   | 
34  | 
35  | 
35  | 
31  | 
|   | 
   | 
   | 
   | 
   | 
Cost  | 
$449/$1996  | 
$119.99  | 
$149.99/$125  | 
$2507  | 
Notes
1 Installs PDF Converter Assistant to Open PDF/XPS command in File Menu.
2 Nitro Pro 8 will not create portfolios but can open individual PDFs inside a portfolio using the attachments panel. Documents will open using the associated program, that is, Word for a Word document, Excel for Excel worksheets.
3 OCR module is now included as part of pdfDOCS base package.
4 Requires optional CompareDocs.
5 Metadata that can be removed is limited compared to the other products reviewed.
6 CompareDocs adds $400 per user to this price.
7 Upgrade from Acrobat 7 Standard or Pro or newer for $199.