SodaPDF is intended to perform various operations involving PDF documents, which include not only viewing but also creating, editing, annotating and securing. The application’s interface is very similar to those of Office products, so it is unlikely for anyone to have much difficulty to use it.
In terms of viewing documents, there is not much difference between SodaPDF and other similar tools. It has several views and lets you manage bookmarks for an easier navigation. Besides, it supports visualizing layers separately.
Something that deserves mentioning is the possibility of creating documents from scratch or by importing them from other types of files, the clipboard and a scanner. Luckily, the application supports a long list of source file extensions. Yet, if cannot find a specific type in that list, you can always open a source file in its native application and print it using SodaPDF virtual printer. As to the scanner, the tool supports not only scanning but also applying OCR to make its text fully searchable. Unluckily, the OCR module is not included in the trial version. Other operations allowed include merging documents and importing batches of files.
One of the main advantages of SodaPDF is that it can export to other formats, such as Office, HTML, TXT and RTF. Not only that, the program is, in my opinion, one of the best tools at doing this, with practically no distortion of the original format. It is good news that recent versions of the tool can convert PDFs online as well.
SodaPDF is also great as to the way it facilitates editing PDF contents. Thus, the tool lets you edit text lines as text boxes and you do not even need to worry about using the same font. Similarly, you can extract all the images in the document, insert new ones or change their size and orientation. Moreover, you can manage pages by inserting, extracting and deleting them.
SodaPDF also includes other features that allow you to set user permissions to your documents and encrypts them using strong algorithms, like 256-bit AES. Likewise, it supports creating and managing forms, with a complete array of related objects. Finally, the resulting PDF documents can be easily shared by not only saving them to the disk but also uploading them to such cloud services as OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive and Box.
All in all, SodaPDF is probably one of the best tools of its type available. It is very versatile, user-friendly and stable. Although it is true that it is not as expensive as the leading software, it has an awkward pricing model, in which you initially buy the main product, and then you can buy additional modules depending on your needs. Still, if you already know what you need, it is a better idea to purchase the product as a bundle already comprising some of the modules.
v9.0 [Dec 20, 2016]
New Features
- Access to most PDF features through virtually any web browser, on any device. Soda PDF Online
is only available for plan users. View all plans and pricing here.
- New Soda PDF E-Sign service allowing you to prepare, send and track documents for esignature directly within the application
Quick Send: Allows you to open your document, choose a signer, select a signature
type, and send your document for signature
Advanced Send: Allows you to perform the same tasks as Quick Send, but with more
advanced options
Templates: Allows you save an entire package (including all text and fields) as a
template for future use
Layouts: Allows you to save all the fields in your active document and use them on
future documents
- New Batch Convert feature allowing you to convert multiple PDF files at once to Word, Excel,
PPT, image, HTML, TXT, RTF, and PDF/A
- New Bates Numbering feature allowing you to index and identify documents
- Additional certificate-based signature properties enabling you to:
Verify signature (context menu)
Clear signature (context menu)
View signed version (context menu)
Co-sign PDFs
Remove signatures to modify a document
- Connectivity with OneDrive for Business and Dropbox Business now available
- User management:
In-app
o Create account/Sign in to access purchased products (no more license keys)
o Multi-product support, allowing users to switch between different products
o Multi-device support for plans
My Account self-serve portal
o Plan licenses can be assigned and unassigned
o Perpetual license products can be assigned or reset to dissociate from a PC
o Manage renewals for plans
Remotely manage devices for plans
- Extended free functionality via Soda PDF Free (in addition to the existing free PDF creation
features) allowing you to convert PDFs to the following formats:
PDF to Word
PDF to PowerPoint
PDF to Excel
PDF to Image
- Enhanced user interface design
Resolved Issues (Major)
- Application crashing when trying to open some secured file
- Bug when using OCR feature for Japanese language
- Application crashing when trying to edit document in Side-by-Side view
- Converting to PDF/A generating a file with errors
- Files opening with a delay
- “Login\Password” fields disappearing from online storage once the computer has restarted (in
hibernate mode)
Resolved Issues (Minor)
- "Undo" button unavailable in the “Initial View” mode
- Unreadable tooltips in Japanese language localization
- "Create link" feature not working from the context menu
- Wrong translation of "Security Warning" in German language
- Issue with several error messages in shell previewer
- Soda PDF Creator’s add-on not displayed in Mozilla Firefox
- “Open MS PowerPoint Document” checkbox inactive in the Convert tab
- “Maximize” button not working in “Manage Signers” pop-up
- Application sometimes crashing when trying to open/view PDF file
- “Comparing process” not completing after closing the “Compare documents” window
- Issue with active page being displayed in “Page Preview” sidebar
- Binding elements not being displayed when trying to move cropped image has been resolved
- Page numbers overlapping in the “Page Preview” sidebar after changes are made using the
context menu
Application behaving incorrectly when editing annotations in secured document
- Japanese characters displaying incorrect view
- Issue with opening converted PowerPoint documents
- Editing a vector image impossible within the free trial
- Soda PDF Creator’s add-on not integrated in MS Office 365
- Application behaving incorrectly when moving the document's tab
- Highlighting text in a document results in text being cropped on the Homepage (Recent
Documents)
- Once annotations added, comment pop-up window unable to be hidden when scrolling
- "Soda PDF Online" tab remaining in English when Portuguese selected
- Text being cropped in Options ("Specify Default Folder to Save Files")
- Several "Setup Wizard" windows opening simultaneously
- Application behaving incorrectly when editing the "Edit Value List" list box/combo box
- Issue with expansion of "Signature" pop-up
- Issue when opening a file from Archive folder in Hibernate mode (7-zip)
