Ease of Use & Installation
As per usual I followed my "no instructions needed approach" for installation and implementation of PDF Converter 3 Professional. I found no issues with the installation process and in less than five minutes part 1 of the installation was completed. Part 2 consisted of product activation either using manual activation over the telephone or the automatic activation over the Internet. I opted for the automatic approach as all program elements are activated quickly and seamlessly. The manual approach necessitates the separate activation of two of the product's components.
I liken this process to Microsoft's current product activation ritual that must be performed after installing most of their newest products. The main difference with ScanSoft's approach to product activation is that you are only able to use PDF Converter 3 Professional a total of five times before product activation is mandated. The entire activation process took less than 30 seconds and required no further data entry on the part of the user.
ScanSoft does provide a Quick Reference Guide both for online purchasers as well as for those that opt for purchase of its boxed retail counterpart. The reference guide is more than adequate to guide the less adventurous user through installation, product activation, and the rudimentary tasks associated with basic product function.
Inside PDF Converter 3 Professional
After only a few minutes of perusing the elements of PDF Converter 3 Professional it became quite evident to me that this was not a single piece of software. Instead I found what I would describe as a suite of integrated tools for:
- Creation of new PDF documents
- Conversion of almost any existing document format to PDF
- Conversion of a PDF document to either of two popular Word Processing formats
- Conversion of a PDF document into an Excel spreadsheet
- Creation of new documents and conversion of existing documents to interactive PDF forms
- Highly complex editing capabilities including drawing tools
When first opening PDF Converter 3 Professional you will be presented with what Scan Soft refers to as the "Work Area" which contains:
Main Toolbar: contains tools grouped by functionality. Right-click on the toolbar area to display the shortcut menu. You can show or hide the tool groups by clicking their names in the shortcut menu.
Document Window: Located just below the main toolbar contains is the Document Views area which in turn may have a Page Panel to show Bookmarks, Pages, Document Info, Annotations, etc. (Shown with PDF Converter Professional Manual opened)
Organizer: This versatile area gives you access to Document and Digital Signature Preferences; Comment, Form, and Touchup Text Properties; the Search Tool, Actions, Stamps, Watermarks and Clip Art.
