Applelinks Review: AnyBizSoft PDF Converter And PDF to Word for Mac

7526 One of Mac OS X's coolest and most useful features is its ability to convert almost any type of fixed-layout 2D document or image to a PDF (Portable Document Format) file using the Print dialog. Formerly a proprietary format, PDF was originally an Adobe proprietary format, but was officially released as an open standard on July 1, 2008, and published by the International Organization for Standardization as ISO/IEC 32000-1:2008, meaning that anyone can now create applications that can read and write PDF files without having to pay royalties to Adobe Systems.

ISO describes PDF thusly: "ISO 32000-1:2008 specifies a digital form for representing electronic documents to enable users to exchange and view electronic documents independent of the environment in which they were created or the environment in which they are viewed or printed. It is intended for the developer of software that creates PDF files (conforming writers), software that reads existing PDF files and interprets their contents for display and interaction (conforming readers) and PDF products that read and/or write PDF files for a variety of other purposes (conforming products)."

Or less turgidly explained, PDF files contain a complete description of the subject data including text, fonts, images, and vector graphics, and as its name suggests, is an incredibly useful format for transferring data, especially across platforms and regardless of application software, hardware, and operating system — at least as long as it does not need to be edited at its destination. Editing PDFs is possible with the right software, but most users don't have that capability, which constitutes a major downside to storing data as PDF.

AnyBizSoft, a brand of Wondershare Software Co., Ltd. of Shenzhen, China offers a family of application solutions that help work around PDF editing limitations, two of which are PDF to Word for Mac which converts PDF documents to Microsoft Word (.doc) files, and the more powerful and versatile integrated 6-in-1 PDF Converter for Mac that converts PDF files to any of six supported editable document formats: Word documents (.doc), Excel spreadsheets (.xls), PowerPoint presentations (.pptx), HTML Web pages (.html), Text files (.txt). and Electronic Publication (EPUB) eBooks (.epub).

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Converting from PDF format using these programs is a way to Read PDF eBooks on mobile devices, such as iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, letting you extract the text, images, graphics, tables and hyperlinks for user in iOS compatible applications. By converting PDF files to epub ebooks; the converted file will be openable by iBooks and Adobe Digital Editions. You can also easily convert a PDF file to one of the supported formats, edit it, and then convert it back to PDF format using Mac OS X's print command dialog, obviating the need to buy Adobe's much-more-expensive Acrobat software or online Cloud service (https://www.acrobat.com/) in order to edit PDF files.

For this review, AnyBiz provided copies of the 6-in-One and Word applications, which work similarly, although if one has the newer $69.95 PDF Converter for Mac, it pretty much renders the earlier released Word-only program redundant. On the other hand, if you anticipate needing only the capability to convert PDFs to Word format, the $39.95 PDF to Word for Mac is thirty bucks cheaper than the do-all 6-in-1 software, and AnyBizSoft is kindly offering a 20% discount off the retail price PDF Converter for Mac for Applelinks readers. See the discount purchase link at the end of this review. There are also standalone $49.95 PDF to Excel and PDF to PowerPoint for Mac applications that I did not test for this review (see product page links at the end of the article).

AnyBizSoft had been making PDF conversion solutions for Windows users for several years time before releasing its first Mac product PDF to Word for Mac has completed conversion of its PDF solutions for both Windows and Mac. Wondershare CEO Tobee Wu says his AnyBizSoft R&D team of has accumulated a great deal of precious experience by developing PDF solutions for Mac, noting that "There are a growing number of Mac users who are in need of PDF tools. We hope these newly released products will meet the needs of Mac users."

I think they will.

In a nutshell:

PDF to Word for Mac sells for $39.95, and is designed to convert Adobe PDF files to well-formatted Microsoft Word documents so you can freely edit and reuse PDF contents after conversion. You don't need Microdoft Word installed in order to use this tool. Original text, layouts, images, tables and hyperlinks can be exactly retained in the generated Word documents, and three conversion modes are supported: Batch, Partial, and right-click conversion.

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PDF Converter for Mac sells for $69.95 and is a comprehensive PDF tool to help Mac users convert PDF files to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, EPUB, Text and HTML. Mac users can choose any formats they need to convert and all the conversion can be done with only one program, which offers offers good preservation of the original document's characteristocs, supports encrypted PDF files conversion, and much more.

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Using either of these applications is simplicity itself. Just drag the PDF file or files you wnat to convert into the application's user interface window and click the "Convert" button. With the multi-format app, an application icon (eg: the blue Word "W") appears in the file's information pane in the PDF Converter for Mac window to let you know the destination format you're choosing, along with a pull-down menu toggle for switching formats. The Word icon appears in PDF to Word for Mac's window as well, but obviously there is no pull down menu.


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The PDF Converter for Mac program preferences allow you to configure a variety of document characteristics options for Excel, HTML, and EPUB destination files such as designating the output folder for exported documents an output format for the converted file, to select certain pages from a PDF file to convert, and to customize the format for exported Excel, HTML or EPUB documents.

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When you activate the file conversion, a progress bar appears to monitor the process, which is usually pretty quick for single documents on my 2.0 GHz C2D MacBook, but of course depends on the length and content of the document.

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You can import as many as 50 PDF files simultaneously for one batch conversion, which will take proportionately longer. The Convert button becomes a Cancel button during the conversion, allowing you to terminate the routine by clicking it at any time. After the conversion is executes, you can click the document icon in the program window to check it.

In summary, these AnyBizSoft PDF converter applications worked well in our tests and offer the following advantages:
• Good Preservation
• Elements in original PDF files are preserved well
• Two Conversion Modes
• Batch and partial conversion modes
• Decryption
• Convert encrypted PDF files easily
• Advanced options to customize the output files
• Print restricted PDF files
• Resize images of PDF files
• Edit PDF files in Microsoft Office
• Change contents in existing PDF files
• Modify typos and misspellings in PDF files
• Calculate and edit data in Microsoft Excel

That's a lot of practical functionality, and while the price may be a bit steep for occasional or casual use, for anyone with a frequent need to edit PDF documents it's a bargain compared with Acrobat, the Standard version of which starts at $299.00, and as noted, AnyBizSoft is offering Applelinks readers a 20% off discount of PDF Converter for Mac. Here is the discount purchase link:
https://usd.swreg.org/cgi-bin/s.cgi?s=46640&p=46640-ABPCM01&q=1&v=11&d=0

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All of these AnybizSoft PDF Converter applications are offered as trialware, so you can check them out before you commit.

AnyBizSoft PDF Converter Apple App Store link:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pdf-converter/id414200948?mt=12&ls=1

AnyBizSoft PDF Converter for Mac:

AnyBizSoft PDF to Word for Mac:

AnyBizSoft PDF to Excel for Mac:

AnyBizSoft PDF to PowerPoint for Mac:

For more information, visit:



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Charles W. Moore



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