PDF editing can be very important to businesses, and a limited PDF editor will stifle productivity and get in the way of efficient workflows.
Foxit's PDF editor (Opens in a new tab) prevents all this and more, making it easy to edit an existing document. No more going back to the software where the file was originally created, making the changes, exporting it to PDF, only to discover another problem and start the whole process all over again.
Foxit PDF Editor: prices
- Flexible pricing with free trials, monthly and annual subscription, and perpetual licenses
- Foxit PDF Editor on Foxit for €159 (Opens in a new tab)
Foxit PDF editing software is available in three different editions: PDF Editor, PDF Editor Pro, and PDF Editor Pro+.
The basic software, PDF Editor, is cross-platform and works on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android.
- Monthly subscription: €15 / €15
- Annual subscription: €79 / €78
- Perpetual license: €159 / €156
PDF Editor Pro is for Windows only and offers more advanced features with better editing, collaboration and security tools.
- Monthly subscription: €17 / €17
- Annual subscription: €99 / €98
- Perpetual license: €179 / €176
PDF Editor Pro+ is Foxit's PDF editor for Windows and Mac, and includes eSign software and a cloud and mobile PDF editor.
- Annual subscription only: €149 / €147.
For the purposes of this review, we tested Foxit PDF Editor 12 Base.
Foxit PDF Editor: interface and experience
- A clean and easy to understand interface.
The interface is fairly simple, with a row of controls at the top, representing different aspects of the work you want to do, such as 'Edit', 'Convert', 'Protect' and 'Share'.
Click one and the row of icons below it will change to give you the tools you need to perform the action you want. The interface is well organized and shows you only the tools you need when you need them.
If you've just opened the app, you'll also see "tool wizards" in the middle of the interface (where the PDF file would normally be displayed), allowing you to quickly access
- Interface and experience: 5/5
Foxit PDF Editor: Edit
- Almost as easy as using a normal word processor
If you need to make changes to an existing PDF, you need to go to the "Edit" section, which is actually automatically selected once you open a document.
You will find that your PDF is divided into text boxes, which can be selected, moved and resized at will. The text contained in one of them will automatically reflow when its size changes. This also happens when the content of these boxes changes.
You may notice that the main body of the document will likely be broken up into several such text boxes, making editing a bit tricky as words won't flow from one box to another automatically. However, Foxit solved this problem with its "Link and join text" function.
Select it, then click (in order) on the boxes you want to connect. Once that's done, go back to your edit and you should be able to type into the boxes without a problem.
When it comes to text tools, it has the basics you'd expect from any word processor. You can change the font, its size, color and alignment. Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, etc. are also available, as are options to change character, line, and paragraph spacing and character scaling.
Foxit PDF Editor pretty much covers most, if not all, of the features you would need to make the necessary changes. There's even a built-in spell checker.
Foxit PDF Editor: Conversions
- Convert data from one file format to another
Foxit PDF Editor can also help you convert documents to other file formats, such as Office documents like PDF to Word, PDF to PowerPoint, and PDF to Excel. You can also convert RTF, plain text, HTML, and even various image formats. This level of flexibility is great if you need to extract content from the PDF to create something new from it.
This conversion process also works in the opposite direction, allowing you to convert files like Word to PDF. You have options to convert from an existing file, from your scanner, based on copied data stored on your computer's clipboard, or even convert a web page to PDF.
The latter seemed interesting, but it seems to only work for individual pages: we tried to convert TechRadar.com and only got page after page of our "We value your privacy" popup.
As for the scanner option, it's great that Foxit PDF Editor can connect directly to your device. You can even choose to have the software perform an OCR pass automatically, allowing you to edit as soon as the process is complete.
This OCR software feature is not limited to the scanning process, which means you can use it to convert any scanned PDF you have. You have two main options: convert the scanned image to a searchable image (meaning you can use the search field to search only for specific text), or convert the file so that the text is editable.
We found the results quite good.
Foxit PDF Editor: Online collaboration
- Work as a team, thanks to a long list of annotation tools
Since Foxit PDF Editor is aimed at businesses, it stands to reason that you'll find collaboration tools online. These are found in the "Comment" section.
From here, you and your team can highlight text (with a choice of 4 colors), link that highlight to a note, add a free-floating note, cross out, replace or insert text, draw shapes, and more. .
There are plenty of options here to make sure other members of your team know exactly what changes need to happen.
- Online collaboration: 4/5
Foxit PDF Editor: Redactions
- Keep confidential information away from prying eyes
Companies need to protect their information. In some industries, complying with global data laws is absolutely imperative, with the threat of operational, financial, and reputational damage hanging over any business that doesn't take data security seriously.
There are easy ways to remove information, usually by putting a black box over sensitive data, but if it's not done correctly, you can always select, copy and paste what was supposed to be restricted.
Foxit PDF Editor does not work like this.
The tools for this job reside in the "Protect" section. Of the. You can use 'Delete', for example. It's simple: click and drag the section you want to remove and it will be permanently removed from the document. You can't even undo that. It's also not possible to see if there was any information there in the first place.
Another option is the "Mark for Redaction" tool. This allows you to select the text to darken. It has more control than the Whiteout tool, although it doesn't seem to have the ability to change your selection (although it is possible to undo its action). Once you're ready, click "Apply Redaction", and after confirming this, the chosen content can no longer be selected or edited (or cancelled).
It's a powerful tool that also allows you to perform search and redaction options, automatically scan the document for a specific word, for example, or have Foxit PDF Editor remove all phone numbers or emails in the file.
(*12*)Foxit PDF Editor: dashboard AttributesRatingsScorePricingMonthly and annual subscriptions and perpetual licenses available (depending on software)4Interface and experienceA clean and simple UI to find what you need5EditingIncredibly simple with a few smart touches5ConversionsLots of conversion tools and OCR features4Online collaborationGood remote collaboration integration4RedactionsGreat way to delete data confidential in documents5I should buy?
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