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Author Topic: Bluebeam (AWESOME pdf editor, Acrobat alternative)  (Read 9900 times)

superboyac

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Bluebeam (AWESOME pdf editor, Acrobat alternative)
« on: April 16, 2009, 11:09 AM »
http://www.bluebeam.com/

I've been using this as my preferred PDF editor for years now.  I've always been surprised by how little I hear around the web about this program.  So, yesterday, while talking to a support staff member, I asked why so little is heard about it.  Basically, they don't do any advertising and rely on word of mouth.  And they do fine like that, so they're happy.  Also, he said the application initially was geared towards the architectural industry needs (CAD drawings, designs, etc.).  However, that was a long time ago.  I think the program is fantastic for any kind of serious editing of pdf's.

I've tried many Acrobat Pro alternatives, but Bluebeam is the best by far.  First of all, it's on version 7 now, and it's VERY polished.  They're really ironed out any rough edges over the years.  It's not that it can do anything than Acrobat can't, it's just that it does it far easier, and everything is accessible a lot more intuitively.  I'm in love with this program.

But it is kind of expensive, like Acrobat.  So a lot of individual users would find it out of their price range.  I'm very thankful my company continues to upgrade the licensing...I actually think it gets charged automatically without them knowing because i think I'm the only one using it!  Everyone is using Acrobat 9 here now.  But I'm not saying anything because i don't want them thinking they're spending a lot of money on two redundant applications.  Then i'd have to convince them to keep Bluebeam, but I'd be the only one, blah blah.

Anyway, for anybody that spends a lot of time editing pdfs, importing/exporting, creating pdfs, it's really the best application I've seen for that.
Below is my screenshot of it:
Screenshot_20090416-090712.pngBluebeam (AWESOME pdf editor, Acrobat alternative)

Darwin

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Re: Bluebeam (AWESOME pdf editor, Acrobat alternative)
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2009, 12:36 AM »
Looks interesting, superboyac. I wouldn't call it all that expensive, though. It compares favourably in price to the other non-Adobe packages - Nitro, Jaws, Nuance, etc.

I'm happy with Nuance for now, but will bookmark Bluebeam for future reference  :Thmbsup:

superboyac

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Re: Bluebeam (AWESOME pdf editor, Acrobat alternative)
« Reply #2 on: May 29, 2009, 01:05 AM »
Nuance looks cool, also.  never heard of it either!  Nice one.

superboyac

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Re: Bluebeam (AWESOME pdf editor, Acrobat alternative)
« Reply #3 on: May 29, 2009, 02:31 AM »
Nuance is cool.  Very fast.  Bluebeam is not as fast as Nuance.  Overall, Nuance is fairly similar in layout and feel to Acrobat.  The great thing about it is that the controls, buttons, panels, etc. are a lot better laid out than Acrobat, which sucks at all of that.  So everything is very accessible and easy to use.  Like I said, it's FAST.

Where Bluebeam has the edge relative to every other PDF editor is the additional features that are simply not available anywhere else.  Nuance is like Acrobat, only better.  Bluebeam is not like Acrobat.  The dialogs, properties, layout is totally different.  There are some overlapping features between Nuance and Bluebeam, such as the ability to use panels along the edges, which I love.

There's a lot to Bluebeam.  I should do a full review of it on my website here.  In my opinion, Bluebeam is the most ambitious of all the Acrobat alternatives that I've seen.  I might also lean towards it because it is geared for the CAD industry, although I think anyone who ventures beyond simple pdf creation and commenting, etc., should seriously consider Bluebeam.

urlwolf

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Re: Bluebeam (AWESOME pdf editor, Acrobat alternative)
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2009, 04:14 PM »
And no equivalent app for linux :(
pdf display/editing on linux is really not very good.

superboyac

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Re: Bluebeam (AWESOME pdf editor, Acrobat alternative)
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2009, 05:00 PM »
And no equivalent app for linux :(
pdf display/editing on linux is really not very good.
That's a shame.  That's one of the things that always keeps me from moving to Linux.  I am in love with a lot of Windows software, and I can't let them go!