atw: Re: Converting PDF to Word

Hi Michael
 
Have you checked out HYPERLINK "http://www.abbyy.com/"www.abbyy.com  against
Nuance?  Nuance does not have a free trial so I was not able to test it, and
Abbyy only allowed 50 pages for each test (save and convert back).  It did a
nice job but I only tested a relatively simple (thought graphics heavy)
document.
 
The others were not happening.  My summary...

*       HYPERLINK
"http://www.smartpdfconverter.com/"http://www.smartpdfconverter.com/   Trial
copy only lets you convert the first three pages, so it is hard to test over
a range of complexities.  Full price US$39.90 

*       

        HYPERLINK
"http://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/PDF/PDF-to-Word-Converter.shtml"h
ttp://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/PDF/PDF-to-Word-Converter.shtml
Full price US$39.95  Trial copy allows 1 test even though it says 100 and
only five pages
*       

        HYPERLINK "http://www.zamzar.com/"www.zamzar.com   Free online
facility - send PDF file in, get download Word file back.  Not sure of the
security of doing something like this. No choice of conversion options. Was
returned in several hours and had converted text into text boxes.  Worst
option.
*       Nuance ScanSoft PDF Converter 4  HYPERLINK
"http://www.digitalriver.com/v2.0-img/operations/scansoau/pdfconverter4/stan
dard/pdfc4-standard_au_index.html"http://www.digitalriver.com/v2.0-img/opera
tions/scansoau/pdfconverter4/standard/pdfc4-standard_au_index.html  No trial
version  Price AU$105. 
*       

        HYPERLINK "http://www.abbyy.com/"www.abbyy.com  Full price US$99.99
for converting both ways.   Large file, slow download for trial version.
Allows 50 pages, and allows selection of which 50 pages, so reasonable test.
Nice looking product.  Conversion from PDF relatively clean (better than the
scan I already had of the same document and much better than zamzar)  Also
tested conversion to PDF - did a totally clean conversion although there
were no complexities in my test document to check.  As this is the only one
that allowed me to do a decent test, I will probably have to pay the price.
*       

        Acrobat - too expensive

Christine


   _____  

From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Michael Granat
Sent: Wednesday, 6 December 2006 3:18 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Converting PDF to Word


Rather, I suggest and personally most highly recommend PDF Converter
Professional 4 for Windows, from ScanSoft / Nuance (who brought us
Dragon Dictate).

IMHO and personal experience, this software leaves Acrobat Pro 6&7 for
dead for PDF creation, editing and MS Office suite interchange.

I have had the most marvellous results with its PDF to Word / RTF
conversions too, with tables and reviewer comment tags restoring
correctly. (It comes with a suite of conversion tools that visually
indicate the progress of the conversion process as you go.)

Also, its Word macros work beautifully and you can "open" PDFs
from within MS Office applications at a click of a button, as it
converts them into the native format for that application.

In my extensive experience with PDF Creator Professional 3 on XP Home
(at my home office) and with PDF Converter Professional 4 (which I recently
installed on XP Pro at a client site, this software is around three or four
times
faster at generating large PDFs and almost instantaneous when creating
small ones than Acrobat Pro.

Nuance versions 3&4 are widely Windows compliant and, in my experience,
are far more stable and system / resource-friendly than Acrobat Pro 7.

They are also a cinch to install and work right out of the box without the
need to install numerous "updates" patches, to fix all the ways that
Acrobat Pro can crash MS Office applications.

Plus, RRP for Acrobat 8? Around $800 bucks!
Price for Nuance V4?  Around $165 bucks!

I haven't tried Acrobat 8 yet but, quite frankly, I can't be bothered.

Why pay extra for slow and cumbersome Adobe bloatware, when you
can have far more competent and better performing commercial software
for a fraction of the price?

Don't mess around with shareware and freeware.

Get a solid, supported commercial product that, for once, isn't by Adobe
and works far better in either direction.

For more information on the Nuance tools, please check out: 
<HYPERLINK "http://www.nuance.com/pdfconverter/professional/";
http://www.nuance.com/pdfconverter/professional/> 

…and the associated What's New page at: 
<HYPERLINK "http://www.nuance.com/pdfconverter/professional/whatsnew.asp";
http://www.nuance.com/pdfconverter/professional/whatsnew.asp > 

Then for local pricing, see: 
<HYPERLINK
"http://www.citysoftware.com.au/Browse/80d6a7b610204e3ab09bf7d8871eebb3001It
emDetail.aspx"
http://www.citysoftware.com.au/Browse/80d6a7b610204e3ab09bf7d8871eebb3001Ite
mDetail.aspx > 

Hope that helps. 

Regards, 

Michael Granat
Write Ideas
HYPERLINK "http://www.writeideas.com.au/"www.writeideas.com.au




--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.15.9/573 - Release Date: 5/12/2006
4:07 PM



-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.15.9/573 - Release Date: 5/12/2006
4:07 PM

Other related posts: