Nuance  http://www.nuance.co.uk/for-business/document-imaging-and-scanning/power-pdf-converter/index.htm

Price £63.99 https://shop.nuance.co.uk/store?Action=DisplayPage&Locale=en_GB&SiteID=nuanceeu&id=QuickBuyCartPage&siteid=nuanceeu

There is so much computer software out there, that it is easy to be overwhelmed and not see the potential benefits of a specific package. So whenever you come across a potential computer or IT problem, there is likely to be a solution, but the tricky part can be finding that particular solution. Or there may be specific piece of software that can provide a solution to an issue that you didn’t even know you had! With this product, I think for some specific users there can be an increase in productivity and being able to do things that the user did not know they could achieve. Being presented with this particular software, I wanted to see how it could improve my use of PDF files. PDF is a document format that is used globally as a common currency for transferring documents. Many of us will probably either email or receive within an email, or download or transfer a PDF document and all they have to do is open it using commonly and freely available software and read it. This particular software  Nuance Power PDF Standard, allows you the user, to achieve clever things with a PDF document and like many productivity improvements; you don’t always appreciate the benefits until you use it.

Installation from a CD was very easy, rapid and without any fuss or problems. The first thing I noticed was that the graphic that I normally associate PDF files was changed to this programme’s own particular graphic. Rather oddly I found this a little disconcerting but got used to it very quickly.

If you are working with PDF documents on a regular basis you will find lots of useful tricks available from the software. You can create PDFs from other programmes; you can annotate PDF documents or edit them in a number of ways. This may not sound very exciting but for some people I am sure this could improve workflow. In small groups when transferring, editing and altering documents (often a PDF), it can be tricky keeping track of changes-this software can help.

As I said there are lots of tricks that this programme can produce around a PDF file and helpfully if you are interested, the publishers of the software from the website offer a 15 day free trial for Windows version. (http://www.nuance.co.uk/for-business/document-imaging-and-scanning/power-pdf-converter-standard/index.htm) This try before you buy philosophy can be very helpful and if you can see a use for it then it is not that expensive to buy.

The menu system and user interface is very straightforward and most computer users will get cracking and start to appreciate the benefits of this programme very quickly. I don’t think you really need to read any manuals to get started and regular use of this programme and exploring its numerous facilities, is the best way to get acquainted with it. This programme is not for everyone but if you deal with a lot of PDF files on a daily basis then this could make life an awful lot easier for the user.

Dr Harry Brown

April 2015