Author Topic: INfix: easy, capable, but expensive WordPad-like PDF editor (Read 49630 times)

Curt · « **Reply #25 on:** May 28, 2009, 09:09 AM »

- then Infix definite is too expensive!

wraith808 · « **Reply #26 on:** May 28, 2009, 09:11 AM »

I am surprised that noone has mentionned OpenOffice
-elpresi (May 12, 2009, 06:29 PM)

- you really shouldn't be surprised, because this thread is about a pdf EDITOR.
-Curt (May 12, 2009, 06:32 PM)

Well, can you import a PDF file, edit it, and export it again and get an edited PDF no muss, no fuss?

steeladept · « **Reply #27 on:** May 28, 2009, 09:41 AM »

Maybe I am missing something, but this doesn't seem too expensive to me for everything it does. Adobe Acrobat costs MUCH more and does less from what I see and hear. If you need Acrobat, this may well be the best thing going...

Just out of curiosity, how does the standard version compare to the Professional? What additional items does Pro offer, or haven't you tested that one?

rjbull · « **Reply #28 on:** May 28, 2009, 10:29 AM »

Yup - PagePlus X3 will search and replace (ctrl-H) within the text of a pdf file (provided the text is not part of an image).
-Darwin (May 28, 2009, 08:48 AM)

That's potentially invaluable. Thanks for the research! PagePlus does so many other things I wasn't sure I'd want to bother with it, even though it's a bit cheaper than InFix.

X3 does offer to open pdf's by default (ie pdfs are listed as PagePlus files in the Open dialogue) but once a pdf is selected to be opened, it is imported as mentioned above. To save as a pdf you have to select "Publish as PDF" from the File menu.

You said import was a little kludgy. That could be a problem, but the PDFs I have to edit are (at least, look) simple in form, mostly text with a few small graphics. Can you print direct from the ppp file? If so, then you could print to any PDF printer.

I found something that claims to do multiple search-and-replace within PDFs: PDF Text Replace Tool but it needs both MS Framework 2.0 and Visual C++ , and costs $49. I was baffled by the Visual C++ requirement, which only appears when you try to install it, it's not obvious on the Web site. Because I don't have Visual C++ and don't know what's involved in it, I didn't proceed any further.

Nuance annoyed me. I live in the UK. I went to their "Buy Now" page, which says the price is US$99.99, about GB£62.5, then changed the country to UK. The price turned into £99.99 - which is over $159

Admittedly that includes tax at (currently) about 15%, making the price more like £85 or $136, but I wasn't going to pay so much over the odds just because I live in the UK. It's a connected world now, and Nuance and other vendors will have to accept that. I bought a license for Able2Extract instead.

Darwin · « **Reply #29 on:** May 28, 2009, 10:42 AM »

Nuance annoyed me. I live in the UK. I went to their "Buy Now" page, which says the price is US$99.99, about GB£62.5, then changed the country to UK. The price turned into £99.99 - which is over $159 Admittedly that includes tax at (currently) about 15%, making the price more like £85 or $136, but I wasn't going to pay so much over the odds just because I live in the UK. It's a connected world now, and Nuance and other vendors will have to accept that. I bought a license for Able2Extract instead.
-rjbull (May 28, 2009, 10:29 AM)

This kind of thing infuriates me as well. It's not too bad if the vendor will allow you to process an order in US dollars, but when a store, such as Nuances (is it Digital River - can't remember) insists on charging you in the currency of the country that the credit card is from it's very irritating.

@steeladept: There's a feature comparison matrix for the different versions of PDF Converter here: http://www.nuance.co...ibility-features.asp. I don't have any experience with the other versions, so don't know if I would miss any of the Pro features if I were using the regular version.

steeladept · « **Reply #30 on:** May 28, 2009, 12:05 PM »

@steeladept: There's a feature comparison matrix for the different versions of PDF Converter here: http://www.nuance.co...ibility-features.asp. I don't have any experience with the other versions, so don't know if I would miss any of the Pro features if I were using the regular version.
-Darwin (May 28, 2009, 10:42 AM)

Sorry, I will try to be more specific.

I was talking about the difference between Standard and Pro versions of INfix. Their website is very general about it and it's comparison matrix does not specify between the two and their competitors.

Curt · « **Reply #31 on:** May 28, 2009, 12:29 PM »

Editing Products

Infix - seamless editing of PDF text, search & replace, plus a host of other facilties
Infix Pro - Search & replace across files plus integration with Infix Server
Infix Server - high-volume PDF editing and imposition for production environments.

They say:

Simply Edit Any PDF

Most PDFs just contain fragments of text - just a few words at a time. Other PDF editors allow you to edit each fragment individually.

Infix is the only PDF editor that intelligently re-creates the original content so that you can edit it in the way you would expect. It uses a set of intelligent algorithms to recreate the original structure of the document. This means you can edit a PDF just like you would a Word document.

Nothing comes close to Infix in the arena of PDF editing! Try it and you will agree!
(- the download link is for the standard version, for Windows.)

- but I haven't yet been able to reproduce such search & replace. Maybe because the file I was using, originally was OCR scanned. I must remember to test this feature more thoroughly. Maybe in the week-end.

Curt · « **Reply #32 on:** May 28, 2009, 12:40 PM »

I found something that claims to do multiple search-and-replace within PDFs: PDF Text Replace Tool but it needs both MS Framework 2.0 and Visual C++ , and costs $49. I was baffled by the Visual C++ requirement, which only appears when you try to install it, it's not obvious on the Web site. Because I don't have Visual C++ and don't know what's involved in it, I didn't proceed any further.
-rjbull (May 28, 2009, 10:29 AM)

The good part is that PDF Text Replace Tool can be integrated with your own application. See http://pdfmagus.com/...40&sid=0&l=1

mwb1100 · « **Reply #33 on:** May 28, 2009, 02:04 PM »

Coming up on BitsDuJour is a PDF editor called e-PDF: http://www.bitsdujou....com/software/e-pdf/

I haven't downloaded or tried this, but if it's half decent, the $10 price might be worthwhile (heck, even at its $20 regular price it might be worthwhile).

tomos · « **Reply #34 on:** May 28, 2009, 03:32 PM »

. . but I wasn't going to pay so much over the odds just because I live in the UK. It's a connected world now, and Nuance and other vendors will have to accept that. I bought a license for Able2Extract instead.
-rjbull (May 28, 2009, 10:29 AM)

you should let them know so they might change their ways . .

[edit] more of the same:
I'm looking at an upgrade to Illustrator - it's 40% more expensive in Europe than in US - and that's not even including tax

(another 20% on top of that waaah)

tomos · « **Reply #35 on:** May 28, 2009, 03:39 PM »

Just out of curiosity, how does the standard version compare to the Professional? What additional items does Pro offer, or haven't you tested that one?
-steeladept (May 28, 2009, 09:41 AM)

I was trying to figure out the same earlier today - the site is very poor in terms of info - for a change it took me an age to find the link to prices/buy

There are two editions of software - Standard and Professional, both offering the same sophisticated text editing but with different levels of additional features such as graphics editing and template generation for Infix Server (our server-based editing solution).

Additional features offered by Infix Pro:
tick    Search & Replace across batches of documents
tick    Advanced, auto-text fitting
tick    Template creation for Infix Server

that's all I found . .

Curt · « **Reply #36 on:** May 28, 2009, 06:35 PM »

Coming up on BitsDuJour is a PDF editor called e-PDF: http://www.bitsdujou....com/software/e-pdf/
-mwb1100 (May 28, 2009, 02:04 PM)

- I don't think it can edit the pdf's original text, only add new text.

superboyac · « **Reply #37 on:** May 28, 2009, 11:00 PM »

I don't want to hijack this thread, but it reminded me of another thread I started (no replies

):
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=17926.0

Anyway, for under $200 you get a full featured PDF editor. It's not as simple and fast as Infix for plain text stuff, but overall, it is probably the greatest PDF editor on earth. If you do a lot of editing on PDF's that is not just text, but a bunch of other things, this is the program to get. I love this program, it is amazing. And nobody EVER talks about it! That's why i'm such a fanboy here for it.

But Infix is pretty cool. Very fast, very simple. And yes, I LOVE the approach it takes for text editing in PDF's. And I've never heard about it before! Man, these PDF editors just come out of nowhere!

rjbull · « **Reply #38 on:** May 29, 2009, 04:26 AM »

. . but I wasn't going to pay so much over the odds just because I live in the UK. It's a connected world now, and Nuance and other vendors will have to accept that. I bought a license for Able2Extract instead.
-rjbull (May 28, 2009, 10:29 AM)

you should let them know so they might change their ways . .
-tomos (May 28, 2009, 03:32 PM)

I e-mailed Nuance. They didn't reply.

tomos · « **Reply #39 on:** May 31, 2009, 02:23 PM »

. . but I wasn't going to pay so much over the odds just because I live in the UK. It's a connected world now, and Nuance and other vendors will have to accept that. I bought a license for Able2Extract instead.
-rjbull (May 28, 2009, 10:29 AM)

you should let them know so they might change their ways . .
-tomos (May 28, 2009, 03:32 PM)
I e-mailed Nuance. They didn't reply.
-rjbull (May 29, 2009, 04:26 AM)

good on you

not so good on them . . and at least you had the choice of a similar product (hopefully equally good or better)

rjbull · « **Reply #40 on:** June 01, 2009, 10:48 AM »

at least you had the choice of a similar product (hopefully equally good or better)
-tomos (May 31, 2009, 02:23 PM)

Not sure it does as much, but what it does, seems OK. Chief drawback I've found so far is with PDFs that are scanned images, where if the font is small, it won't read it, same drawback as Kleptomania.

rjbull · « **Reply #41 on:** June 09, 2009, 10:37 AM »

Nuance PDF Converter Professional 5, on the other hand, will search for text over the entire document but doesn't seem to offer a batch replace feature.
-Darwin (May 28, 2009, 08:57 AM)

PDF Text Replace Tool (PDF TRT) does batch search-and-replace of multiple strings over multiple files, and does it very efficiently, but results aren't always what you expect, and convenience features are rudimentary.

I tried replacing serial numbers with code numbers that were longer; the replaced text was scrunched up, characters overlaid. Checking with pdftotext (part of XPDF) showed that the whole text had been correctly replaced. That seems to mean that the space allocated by the application that made the original PDF wasn't big enough. Not PDF TRT's fault, but yet another problem that can jump out and bite you.
Although multiple search-and-replace strings are supported, there's no provision for saving them! If you want to do the same set again tomorrow, you have to enter them all over again! I've already e-mailed the author about this.

Darwin, how does Nuance fare on PDFs with small fonts? Able2Extract tends to fail, not altogether surprising as PDF seems to handle fonts differently from Windows.

Darwin · « **Reply #42 on:** June 09, 2009, 02:45 PM »

Darwin, how does Nuance fare on PDFs with small fonts? Able2Extract tends to fail, not altogether surprising as PDF seems to handle fonts differently from Windows.
-rjbull (June 09, 2009, 10:37 AM)

I'm not sure I understand the question - do you mean when creating a document or in searching a pdf or...?

rjbull · « **Reply #43 on:** June 10, 2009, 04:43 AM »

Darwin, how does Nuance fare on PDFs with small fonts? Able2Extract tends to fail, not altogether surprising as PDF seems to handle fonts differently from Windows.
-rjbull (June 09, 2009, 10:37 AM)

I'm not sure I understand the question - do you mean when creating a document or in searching a pdf or...?
-Darwin (June 09, 2009, 02:45 PM)

Sorry - I meant when trying to convert a PDF that's an image file (scanned in) to a Word .DOC or any other editable format.

Darwin · « **Reply #44 on:** June 10, 2009, 08:23 AM »

Nuance does very well, as far as I can tell. I had a scanned image from a Casio calculator user's manual on my harddrive and used Nuance to convert it to editable text (Word docx format). I t can't attach the pdf or Word doc, unfortunately. The result is very good. The font in the Word doc is 7.5 in size. I've attached the jpg so that you can see the original size.

INfix: easy, capable, but expensive WordPad-like PDF editor

EDIT: couldn't post with either pdf or docx attachments - rewritten to reflect this.

Darwin · « **Reply #45 on:** June 10, 2009, 08:29 AM »

Hmm... now that I see the jpg "full-size" here, maybe it's not the best test candidate... The font looks big in the jpg. rjbull - do you have an image file that you could post for me to try to convert or is this what you were looking for?

rjbull · « **Reply #46 on:** June 10, 2009, 09:25 AM »

Hmm... now that I see the jpg "full-size" here, maybe it's not the best test candidate... The font looks big in the jpg. rjbull - do you have an image file that you could post for me to try to convert or is this what you were looking for?
-Darwin (June 10, 2009, 08:29 AM)

Well, it certainly looks like small text that's been greatly enlarged, but I agree you can't tell the original size

My problem files are usually patents, which always seem to be scanned in and sometimes have quite small text. I'll try and dig out an offending page and PM you, thanks

Curt · « **Reply #47 on:** June 11, 2009, 12:23 PM »

Coming up on BitsDuJour is a PDF editor called e-PDF: http://www.bitsdujou....com/software/e-pdf/
-mwb1100 (May 28, 2009, 02:04 PM)

- I don't think it can edit the pdf's original text, only add new text.
-Curt (May 28, 2009, 06:35 PM)

Of course I had to try out e-pdf. I cannot remember why I didn't keep it, but I didn't. What I wanted to tell, now, is, that together with e-pdf came this little info box, basic rules, which might explain certain pdf editing problems, in general:

,,,,

rjbull · « **Reply #48 on:** June 12, 2009, 07:47 AM »

@Curt: that little box about changing "For" to "Four" was just the problem I hit with PDF TExt Replace Tool! I can't get the boxes to resize properly using Foxit PDF Editor, either, though in practice there are too many of them to manually deal with anyway. The author of PDF TRT has already made a new version that saves its search-replace string pairs between sessions, but I haven't tried it yet.

mwb1100 · « **Reply #49 on:** June 12, 2009, 09:19 AM »

Of course I had to try out e-pdf. I cannot remember why I didn't keep it, but I didn't. What I wanted to tell, now, is, that together with e-pdf came this little info box, basic rules, which might explain certain pdf editing problems, in general:
-Curt (June 11, 2009, 12:23 PM)

I tried out e-PDF when it was on sale and noticed this exact problem, realizing that it was an artifact of the PDF format. But this problem would make doing anything other than very minor edits quite painful. The few PDFs I tried it on had a text box around every few letters (even words were usually comprised of multiple text boxes). I don't have a burning need to edit pdfs, so I just dropped it.

What I wonder now is if other (possible more expensive) PDF editors such as INfix handle things such that this issue isn't noticeable by the user?