Best FREE PDF Editor | PDFgear

Summary

Discover PDFgear, a versatile free PDF editor that offers a comprehensive suite of tools for all your PDF needs. With capabilities ranging from text editing and file conversion to annotation and OCR, it's available across multiple platforms. The software stands out with its AI-powered PDFgear Copilot for summarization and other commands. Despite its extensive features, it remains ad-free and doesn't require personal information for sign-up. The future introduction of premium features at competitive prices is planned, while basic functionalities remain accessible for free users.

Takeaways

• 🌟 PDFgear is a free PDF editor that offers a comprehensive suite of tools for PDF management.
• 🖋️ Users can edit text, add new text, and convert PDFs to various formats, including Microsoft Word, all without any cost, ads, or watermarks.
• 📱 PDFgear is available on multiple platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, with Android support coming soon.
• 🔍 The software features an AI chatbot, PDFgear Copilot, which can perform tasks like summarizing documents and adding passwords.
• 🎨 The interface is customizable, allowing users to switch between light and dark modes for better viewing comfort.
• 📝 Annotation tools include highlighting, underlining, strikethroughs, and the ability to insert shapes, text boxes, and stamps.
• 🖼️ Users can easily replace outdated images with new ones and adjust the size and positioning of images within the PDF.
• 🔄 The editing tools allow for changing text, font styles, and colors, as well as adding signatures directly into the document.
• 📂 The software provides options for page management, such as reordering, extracting, inserting, and cropping pages.
• 🗂️ PDFgear includes a compression tool to reduce the file size of PDFs with many images, saving storage space.
• 💡 Despite offering free services, PDFgear plans to introduce premium features in the future, with clear communication and competitive pricing.
• 📢 The company's strategy for offering free services is to grow the user base, with the intention of keeping essential features free while monetizing advanced functionalities.

Q & A

What is PDFgear and why is it considered the best free PDF editor?

PDFgear is a versatile PDF editing software that offers a wide range of features such as text editing, file format conversion, annotation, and even AI-powered assistance. It is considered the best free PDF editor because it provides all these functionalities without any cost, ads, watermarks, or the need for personal information to sign up.

On which platforms is PDFgear available?

PDFgear is available on Windows, Mac, and iOS platforms, with an Android version coming soon.

How can you obtain PDFgear?

To obtain PDFgear, you can visit the official website and click on the 'Free Download' button. After installation, you can launch the application and start using its features.

What are some common actions you can perform with PDFs using PDFgear?

With PDFgear, you can convert PDFs to Microsoft Word, compress PDF files, merge and split documents, and access a variety of other PDF manipulation tools.

How does the Auto Scroll feature work in PDFgear?

The Auto Scroll feature in PDFgear allows you to read your document automatically by scrolling through the pages. You can adjust the speed of the scrolling to suit your reading pace.

What is the OCR feature in PDFgear and how is it useful?

The OCR (Optical Character Recognition) feature in PDFgear enables you to extract text from images within the document. This is particularly useful when you need to edit or copy text from scanned documents or images.

How can you change the interface theme in PDFgear?

You can change the interface theme in PDFgear by clicking on the icon in the top right-hand corner of the application and selecting between light and dark modes based on your preference.

What are some annotation tools available in PDFgear?

PDFgear offers various annotation tools such as highlighting, underlining, striking through text, inserting shapes or ink, and adding text boxes or notes for comments.

How can you edit text in a PDF using PDFgear?

To edit text in a PDF with PDFgear, you click on the 'Edit Text' option which allows you to select and modify the text within the document. You can also adjust the font style, size, and color as needed.

What is the PDFgear Copilot and how does it assist users?

The PDFgear Copilot is an AI-powered chatbot integrated into the software that can perform various tasks such as summarizing documents, adding passwords, and other commands to assist users in editing and managing their PDFs more efficiently.

How can you convert a PDF to a Word document using PDFgear?

To convert a PDF to a Word document in PDFgear, you go to the 'Tools' menu, select 'Convert PDF', and then choose the 'To Word' option. After selecting the file and confirming the settings, you can click 'Convert' to obtain the Word document.

What is the future plan for PDFgear regarding premium features?

The PDFgear team plans to introduce premium and advanced features in the future, which will be offered at a cost significantly lower than the competition. However, the essential features like merging, splitting, and basic editing will remain free.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to PDFgear - The Ultimate Free PDF Editor

The video begins with an introduction to PDFgear, a free PDF editor that offers a comprehensive set of features for working with PDF files. It highlights the software's ability to edit text, add new content, and convert PDFs to various formats, including Microsoft Word. The presenter emphasizes that PDFgear is available across multiple platforms, including Windows, Mac, iOS, and soon Android, and that it can be used without any personal information, ads, or watermarks. The video then guides viewers on how to download and install PDFgear, and provides a brief overview of its interface and common actions such as converting, compressing, merging, splitting, and annotating PDFs.

05:01

🖋️ Editing and Annotating PDFs with PDFgear

This paragraph demonstrates the various editing and annotating tools available in PDFgear. The presenter shows how to open a PDF file and navigate through the Home tab's controls, including adjusting document fit, using Auto Scroll and Slideshow Mode, and utilizing OCR to extract text from images. The video also covers how to make annotations such as highlighting text, adding notes, and inserting stamps like 'draft' to indicate the document's status. Additionally, it explains how to edit text within a PDF, change fonts, and replace images, as well as how to insert and customize signatures.

10:05

📄 PDF Management and Conversion

The final paragraph focuses on managing and converting PDF files using PDFgear. It shows how to reorder pages within a document, add a summary at the beginning, and utilize the AI-powered PDFgear Copilot for tasks like summarizing the document. The presenter also covers the conversion of PDFs to Word documents and the compression of PDF files to reduce their size, which is particularly useful when dealing with multiple images. The video concludes by discussing the free nature of PDFgear and the future plans for premium features, reassuring viewers that essential features will remain free and that any premium features will be affordably priced and communicated well in advance.

Keywords

💡PDFgear

PDFgear is a free PDF editing software that offers a comprehensive suite of tools for manipulating and editing PDF files. It is the central subject of the video, with features such as text editing, file conversion, annotation, and OCR capabilities highlighted. The software is available across multiple platforms, including Windows, Mac, iOS, and soon Android, emphasizing its versatility and accessibility.

💡Editing

Editing in the context of the video refers to the process of making changes or corrections to the content of a PDF document. This includes altering text, images, and the overall layout. The video showcases various editing tools within PDFgear, such as changing text, inserting images, and adjusting page order, to improve the document's content and presentation.

💡Conversion

Conversion in this video pertains to the ability of PDFgear to transform PDF files into other file formats, such as Microsoft Word. This feature is crucial for compatibility and workflow integration, allowing users to work with PDFs in different environments and applications without losing the original formatting or content.

💡Annotation

Annotation is the act of adding comments, highlights, or notes to a PDF document to provide additional information, feedback, or to call attention to specific parts. In the video, annotation tools like highlighting, underlining, and text boxes are used to mark corrections and add notes for the publisher, enhancing the collaborative review process.

💡OCR (Optical Character Recognition)

OCR is a technology that enables the recognition and extraction of text from images or scanned documents, allowing for searchable and editable text. In the context of the video, PDFgear's OCR feature is used to select and extract text from an image within the PDF, showcasing its utility in document digitization and data extraction.

💡Compress

Compression in the video refers to reducing the file size of a PDF by minimizing the amount of data it contains, without significantly affecting the quality. This is particularly useful for saving storage space or for sharing files that are easier to transmit due to their smaller size.

💡Merge and Split

Merging and splitting are actions within PDFgear that allow users to combine multiple PDF files into a single document or to divide a single PDF into separate files. These features are essential for organizing and managing PDF documents efficiently, making it easier to handle large collections of related documents or to break down lengthy documents for specific purposes.

💡Signature

A signature in the context of the video is a digital representation of a person's handwritten signature, used to authenticate or approve documents. PDFgear allows users to insert a signature into a PDF document, which can be typed, drawn, or imported as an image, adding a formal and personal touch to the document.

💡AI (Artificial Intelligence)

In the video, AI refers to the integration of artificial intelligence within PDFgear to assist users with tasks such as summarizing documents or performing other complex actions. The AI, called PDFgear Copilot, can process and understand the content of a PDF to provide helpful insights or automate certain tasks, enhancing the user's productivity and efficiency.

💡Platform Compatibility

Platform compatibility in the video script refers to the ability of PDFgear to function across different operating systems, including Windows, Mac, iOS, and the upcoming support for Android. This ensures that users can access and use the software on their preferred devices, contributing to the software's user-friendliness and accessibility.

💡Free Software

Free software in this context means that PDFgear is provided without any cost to the user, offering all its essential features without the need for payment. The video highlights that the software is entirely free, with no ads, watermarks, or personal information required for sign-up, making it an attractive option for users seeking cost-effective PDF editing solutions.

Highlights

PDFgear is a comprehensive, free PDF editor offering a wide range of features such as text editing, conversion to multiple formats, signing, annotating, and AI assistance.

The software is available on Windows, Mac, iOS, and soon on Android, with no ads, watermarks, or personal information required for signup.

PDFgear supports PDF conversions to formats like Microsoft Word, and offers compression to reduce file size.

Users can merge or split PDF documents, and access a comprehensive suite of tools for all PDF-related tasks.

Features include Auto Scroll for easy reading, Slideshow Mode for presentation, and OCR for text extraction from images.

PDFgear includes a Dark Mode option for user comfort during extended use.

Annotations can be made with highlights, text boxes, notes, and custom stamps, facilitating clear communication and document marking.

Editing capabilities allow users to modify text, including font, size, and color adjustments, as well as image replacement.

The PDFgear Copilot feature utilizes AI to offer functionalities like summarizing documents or adding security through password protection.

PDFgear plans to introduce premium features in the future, but will maintain essential functions for free and ensure affordability.

The tool's broad compatibility and feature set positions it as a singular solution for PDF editing and management needs.

PDFgear's partnership and its strategy to offer a premium service model underscores its ambition to grow and enhance its offerings.

The software's emphasis on user privacy and ease of use without requiring personal details for access is highlighted as a key advantage.

The inclusion of a PDF to Word conversion tool addresses common needs for format shifting, showcasing PDFgear's utility in professional workflows.

PDFgear's commitment to keeping core editing features free reflects a user-centric approach to software development.

Transcripts

We're going to look at the best free PDF editor,  PDFgear. If you work with PDFs, this is the only  

software you'll ever need. With it, you can edit  text and add new text, convert from PDF to many  

different file formats like Microsoft Word. Sign.  Annotate. You can even ask AI questions about your  

PDF. It works on Windows, Mac, iOS, and coming  soon, Android. Again, this is all free. No ads,  

no watermarks, and you don't even have to  provide any personal information to sign up.  

I partnered with PDFgear to show you how this  works, so let's check it out. To get PDFgear,  

head to the following website. You can click  on the card in the top right-hand corner,  

and I've also included a link down below in the  description. Once you land on this website, click  

on the button that says "Free Download." Once  you finish installing and launch PDFgear, you'll  

land in an interface that looks like this. Up at  the very top, you'll see some of the most common  

actions that you might want to take with PDFs.  For example, you can convert a PDF to Microsoft  

Word. Over here, you can compress a PDF file. That  way, it takes up less space. Right up on top, now  

click on Merge and Split, and over here, you can  merge together two separate PDFs into one, or you  

can take one PDF file and then split it out into  two. Right up on top, if we click into All Tools,  

here you'll see all the different actions that you  could take with PDFs. Again, this is the only tool  

you'll ever need when working with PDFs. Now, I  have an existing PDF file that I would like to  

edit, so over on the left-hand side, I'll click on  Open File, and there's my file. I'll double-click  

on that. This now opens up my PDF document, and  I'm currently writing the story of the Kevin  

Cookie Company, and here I just got a draft back  from my publisher. Right up on top, you'll see all  

these different menus, and when I click into  any one of them, you'll see all the different  

associated tools, and we'll go through some of  the most common ones that you might want to use  

with a PDF. Right here on the Home tab, we have  all sorts of different controls. Here, I could  

adjust the fit of the document. Here, I could go  to the actual size, and here I could fit it to  

the page. Right over here, one of my favorites,  you could turn on something called Auto Scroll,  

and this will help you read your document. Here,  you'll see it's scrolling, and I could even adjust  

the speed. Let's turn that off. You could also  turn on something called Slideshow Mode, which  

I think makes it really easy to consume a PDF.  I'll press Escape to exit. One of my favorites,  

you also have something called OCR. This will  allow you to select an area of your document,  

and then you can extract the text from an image.  It's really impressive. Now, just looking at this,  

this interface is really bright right now. In the  top right-hand corner, I'll click on this icon,  

and right here, I could shift it into dark  mode. And look at that. That is so much easier  

on the eyes. On second thought, I think I would  actually prefer it to be light. So, right up here,  

I'll click back on that menu, and here I could  toggle back to the light theme. I think this  

looks really good. Now, I need to start making  some revisions to this document before I send  

it back to the publisher. So, let's take a quick  look here to see if there are any corrections that  

I need to make. And here, I spotted one thing.  Here it says that we were founded in Oregon,  

but it actually turns out that we were founded in  Washington. So, right up on top, I think I need  

to make an annotation. I could click on this menu  right here, and this shows me all of my different  

annotation tools. For example, you could highlight  text, you could underline, strike through,  

you could highlight an area. You could even insert  all these different shapes or ink. And here,  

I have a few more tools. Now, I want to highlight  the text Oregon. So, I'll click on highlight right  

here, and down below, I can choose the highlight  color. Currently, it's set to yellow, and I  

think that will work fine. That will really draw  attention. I'll select that, and then down below,  

here I could highlight that text. And there, we  now see it highlighted in yellow. But I think I  

also need to call out what it should be. So,  right up on top here, I could add a text box,  

add text. Let me click on note. I think this will  work well. So, with note selected, here I could  

click into my document, and that now adds a note.  And let's say, please change this to Washington.  

Now that I've typed in my note, I could close out  of this, and here, I could position a note, so it  

appears right on top of Oregon. Now, if someone  clicks on this icon, that exposes the note,  

and the publisher will know what change to make  here. Now, I'll close out of this. As I'm working  

through this document and making modifications,  I want it to be clear that this is a draft. So,  

let's go all the way back up to the top. And  within annotation, over on the right-hand side,  

I can even insert a stamp. When I click on this,  we have some preset stamps, and I could even make  

my very own custom stamp. But for this, I think  a preset will work. I'll hover over preset,  

and here, we see all the different stamps that I  can insert. Here, for example, there's one that  

says draft, and that'll fit my needs perfectly.  I’ll click on that, and now I can put the stamp  

anywhere I want on my document. I'll place it  right there, and over here, I can even adjust  

the size. Let me make it a little larger, just so  it's really clear that this is a draft. Maybe I'll  

put it right there in the center of the page, that  way, no one will miss it. Looking at the title,  

I think this is a big missed opportunity. We say  an amazing success story, which this obviously is,  

but I think it would be more fitting to say a  sweet success story. To edit the text that I see  

here, I'll go up to edit up on top, and here we  see all the different edit tools. I want to edit  

text, so over here, let's click on edit text. I  now see a rectangle around all of the different  

text that I can edit in this PDF. Here, if we  scroll down, you can see that I can edit any text  

throughout. Let's go back up here to the title,  and I want to change this to a sweet success  

story. So over here, let me delete an amazing,  and in place of that, I'll type in a sweet. Now,  

right up on top, here I could also adjust the  font. I can make a bold, italics. I could also  

adjust the color, and here, I could also adjust  the size. But I think for now, this looks good, so  

let's click on exit editing, and right over here,  let's save the changes. The title now looks good,  

but here, looking at the logo, it turns out this  is our old logo. Here, I could simply select an  

image file in my PDF, and over on the right-hand  side, I get this edit icon. When I click on that,  

I have different options. You could do things  like rotate, or here, you could extract text from  

an image. But this is outdated, so let's click  on delete, and that'll remove the image. I'll  

click on yes, and now we have this blank space.  Within the edit menu, let's click on add image,  

and over here is the new logo for the Kevin Cookie  Company. I'll click on that, and now I can insert  

this directly into the PDF. Here, let's adjust the  size just a little bit, and here, I'll place it  

right in the center. I think that looks really  good. Let's now go to the very end of the PDF.  

I'll click on this icon, and this brings us all  the way to the bottom. Right here, I've included  

a page with a thank you to all of our customers.  Without our customers, we wouldn't have been  

able to build the company to where it is, but I'd  also like to include a signature. Also, on edit,  

over on the right-hand side, we have the option  to insert a signature. When I click on this, here,  

let's create a signature. This now opens up a  dialog, and you have a few different options.  

Here, we can add a picture of your signature,  and over here, if you have a background, you  

could remove the background, so it just keeps the  signature. That works very well. Over here, you  

could also type in your signature, or if you have  a touchscreen, or if you want to try using your  

mouse, you could also write it into this space.  I'm simply going to type in my signature. Here,  

let's type in Kevin Stratvert, and of course,  that doesn't look very much like a signature,  

so let's click on this font drop-down, and over  here, let's choose a font that looks a little bit  

more like a signature. Maybe this one right here,  the script. That looks good. I'll click on OK, and  

now I could place my signature into the document.  That looks great. Let's save the document so far.  

I'll click on this icon, and over here, let's save  the PDF and flatten it. I think it would actually  

make more sense to move this thank you to the very  beginning of the book instead of near the end. I  

mean, I don't know how many people are going to  make it through this entire story. I don't know  

if it's that exciting. So, up on top, let's click  on page, and here I have all sorts of different  

options. You can extract or pull out pages from  your PDF. You could delete pages. You could also  

insert new pages. You could insert another PDF,  a Word document, or even images. You could crop  

pages, and you could even rotate pages. I just  want to adjust the position of a page. Here,  

I see my thank you page at the very end.  I'll press and hold on that page, and I  

can now place it in a new position. Let's put it  right after the title page. There, I'll release,  

and it says, "Are you sure you want to reorder  the selected pages?" I am. I'll click on yes, and  

there I now have the new order. That was so easy.  Before I send this book back to the publisher,  

I would like to include a summary of the book  that we can include on the back cover. To do that,  

let's click back on the Home tab, and over  on the right-hand side, let's see if maybe AI  

can help with this. There's something called the  PDFgear Copilot. Now, if you don't see this pane,  

let's say it were closed, right down in the bottom  right-hand corner, you should also see this icon.  

If you click on that, that opens up this pane.  Let's see if this can help by clicking on chat  

now. This now opens up some sample prompts that  I can use to converse with the AI. For example,  

here, I can have it summarize this PDF file, and  in a moment, I'll click on this, but you could  

also command the AI. For example, if you want to  add a password to your PDF file, you could simply  

ask the AI to do that for you. Down below, you  could also type in prompts directly to the AI, so  

let's say you want to ask questions about the PDF,  or maybe you want to command. You could do all of  

that down below. I simply want a summary, so I'll  click on this, and let's see if it could summarize  

this document. Look at that. I get it back almost  immediately. And the summary looks really solid.  

I think I could use this, and I could send this to  the publisher. Now that I'm all done making edits  

to this document, I'm ready to share it back with  my publisher. Although, they've requested that I  

share it as a Word document. Luckily, that's no  problem. Right up on top, let's click on tools,  

and here we have all these different tools. And  the first option is to convert this PDF. When I  

click on this, you'll see all the different  file formats that you can convert your PDF  

to. Chances are, if you need to convert it into  another format, you'll find it here. Now, right  

at the very top, there's the option to convert a  PDF to Word. I'll click on that, and right here,  

I see the option to convert it. Now, if I wanted  to say bulk convert multiple files, I could even  

add more files here. But I just need to convert  this one file, and this range looks good. So down  

below, I'll click on convert. And look at that.  The conversion was successful, and I now have a  

Word document. That was great. I'll close out of  this. I would also like to save a copy of this  

PDF for myself, but there are so many different  images in this file, and I think it takes up a lot  

of space right now. So, I would like to compress  it to make it a little bit smaller. Up on top,  

let's click into the tools menu. And over on the  left-hand side, we have the option for compress.  

When I click on that, that opens up a dialog. And  here, I have the option to compress the file. And  

here too, I could also add additional files if I  would like to bulk compress PDFs. I just need to  

compress this one, and here I see it's selected.  I can now select the compression level. Let's go  

with high compression. That way, I'll get the  smallest file size possible. Right down here,  

I see the output path. That looks good. Let's now  click on compress. And just like that, look at  

that. The file size was originally two megabytes,  and it got it all the way down to 1.26. That takes  

up a lot less space. And especially if you have  lots of different PDFs, this is a quick way to  

reduce the file size that they consume. In the  top right-hand corner, I’ll now close out of this  

dialog, and I think this PDF is all set to go.  Keep an eye out for a new book on the Kevin Cookie  

Company. And again, you get all of this entirely  for free. And on that point, you may be wondering  

how could it be possible to offer all of this for  free. It costs a lot of money to hire a team and  

also to develop software. In conversations with  the PDFgear team, offering the product for free  

is a great way to grow the product. At some point  in the future, they plan on offering premium and  

advanced functionality, and they'll charge for  that. For example, think of the AI chatbot.  

However, the essential features like merging or  splitting or just the basic editing features will  

always be kept free. They indicated that premium  features will cost significantly less than the  

competition, and that they'll also communicate out  any premium features far in advance. To watch more  

videos like this one, please consider subscribing  and have fun editing your PDFs, for free.