Edit PDFs at work, on the go, and elsewhere.

PDFgear is a highly versatile collection of apps capable of editing and manipulating PDFs, annotating them, converting them to other formats, or changing those formats into PDFs. Better still, it’s a powerful desktop app, a good mobile app, and an ok web service, so wherever you are, and on whichever device you’re on, you can make use of PDFgear to work on your PDF documents.

Pros

• +Multi-platform
• +Free
• +Powerful tools

Cons

• -Works best on the Desktop
• -Web service option feels slow
• -Potential privacy issue for the mobile version

PDFgear is a multi-platform app whose Singapore-based developers claim offers everything you need to do to a PDF, all under one roof, and all for free. We’ve tested plenty of the best free PDF editors, and when you consider some of these hide more advanced features behind a subscription, or lack specific tools altogether, this is certainly an attractive proposition.

With apps available on desktop, mobile, and the web, we took a look at each one to see what it can do.

PDFGEAR: PRICING & PLANS

No charge whether you use the service offline or online, no watermark, no need to create an account.

OK, the advertising says it’s free, but there’s got to be a catch, right? Apparently not. We’ve looked around and tried various features, but it looks like the developers are true to their word: not only is PDFgear totally free to use, it won’t watermark your work, nor will you need to create an online account.

We contacted the company about this, and their response hinted at the possibility this might not be the case in the future: “PDFgear is free to use at the current stage, and there are no other versions that contain more functions.” So for right now, everything is free, and that’s worth celebrating.

Pricing & plans: 5/5

PDFGEAR: DESKTOP APP

So many features and possibilities – PDFgear lets you edit, annotate, fill in and sign, as well as offering numerous conversion tools

We tested out version 2.1. And like all the best PDF editors we’ve tried, you’ll find the interface clean and simple. Most of the welcome page is dedicated to various shortcuts which will allow you to perform quick, one-step functions, such as rotating a PDF, taking a screenshot and using the OCR software. As you[‘d expect, there’s also conversion tools and a PDF merger.

You can display the ‘hottest’ tools, narrow down the results to merely ‘convert’ from or to PDFs, or simply focus on the ‘split & merge’ tools, or just display everything. Click on the tool you need, locate the file you wish to alter, use fields to input your instructions, and save the results. It’s simple, but it’s not drag-and-drop-simple.

For instance, when splitting a PDF, you need to state which pages you wish to split and put that information in a field. You don’t have a visual representation of the file, or thumbnails of the pages, so no way to just click on the ones you need. Most of the conversion tools don’t need much input, so when it comes to them, such a basic interface works great.

But these are just the appetisers. To the left is a simple sidebar with a single button: ‘Open File’. This enables you to load a PDF into PDFgear, and gain access to all of its tools. This is where editing the text contained within PDFs is possible. Highlighting text, adding shapes, overlaying images, inserting new URL links, notes, it’s all there for you to use.

You’ll find some tabs at the top of the page. This is from where you can access the signing and form filling options for instance. There’s even a way to set a password to access your document, or redact certain sensitive sections of it. PDFgear covers pretty much all the bases.

Desktop app: 4.5/5

PDFGEAR: MOBILE APP

A good number of options while you’re on the go, but the potential privacy issue when it comes to accessing your camera from within the app could be a concern for some.

On Android and iOS, PDFgear lacks the shortcut feature that is so prominently displayed in the desktop version. We also couldn’t find a way to edit the text already present in a PDF. However, the annotation options are vast. The interface works in either landscape or portrait orientation, you can highlight and underline text in multiple colours, draw, add shapes and notes, pretty much the same as what you can do with the Desktop version.

There’s a cool feature when adding a Text Box: you can turn on your phone’s camera and grab any text it sees. PDFgear will automatically OCR said text and insert it into your document as a moveable and resizable text box. The character recognition isn’t perfect, but thankfully, you’ll be able to edit the content, font size and colour.

There is however a privacy concern when using an iPhone (we couldn’t check this on an Android device). Usually, when you choose to access your camera for the first time from a new app, your iPhone asks you for permission for it to do so, but here, no such permission was requested. Maybe something Apple should look into?

Additional features include organising pages, creating new ones, and splitting pages from a PDF, as well as built-in eSignature software. It’s a great tool to have when you need to annotate a PDF on the go, and you get to import documents directly from your iPhone, iCloud Drive or Dropbox.

Mobile app: 3.5/5

PDFGEAR: WEB APP

If you need to annotate or fill in a PDF and you’re nowhere near your computer or phone, this would be a godsend.

If you don’t have your computer or mobile device handy, but still need to work on some documents, you can do this without having to download an app onto the machine you’re borrowing: just use PDFgear straight from the developers’ website under the ‘Products’ menu, then select the online tool you’d like to use.

When it comes to annotation, form building, conversation, splitting and merging, and more, the online tools are very similar to the Desktop version. The only drawback is an interface that isn’t ideally suited for the purpose: you constantly have to visit a dropdown menu to choose the tool you need, and doing so overwrites whatever document you might’ve had on the page at the time.

The service’s forte lies in its desktop app, so it isn’t too surprising the online version isn’t as polished. PDFgear even quietly urges you to download their app, with a prominent red button, top right of the page. Despite this, you can do everything you’d expect, aside from editing the text of a PDF. We weren’t able to find a tool that does that. The ‘Edit PDF’ option is actually the annotation tool.

The biggest drawback is of course having to be online to use the service, which isn’t surprising, but it’s worth noting that if your internet drops, so will your ability to work in PDFgear, and if you’re not comfortable uploading a document in order to work on it, then this version is a no-go for you.

PDFgear works best and is the most feature-rich on a desktop (or laptop), but it’s good to have options, as the mobile version can be fantastic when you’re on the go, while the online version could save your bacon if you’ve got no other option. The fact this app is free and so feature rich is most impressive, just as long as it remains that way.

SHOULD I BUY?

PDFgear free PDF editor as we test out each app.

The various manipulating and conversion tools are easy to access, but lack the visual element that would make them truly easy to use  (Image credit: PDFgear)

BUY IT IF…

You’re in the market for a powerful and versatile PDF editor, that works on any device you happen to be in front of when you need it.

DON’T BUY IT IF…

You don’t need to edit, annotate or fill in a PDF, or you view free services with deep suspicion.

PDFGEAR: ALTERNATIVES

If PDFgear doesn’t do what you need, check out Adobe Acrobat. Soda PDF Online, Nitro PDF Pro, and Foxit PDF Editor. If you’re on a Mac, give Apple Preview a look. It’s fairly basic, but contains many common features for free.

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A contemporary project management tool that doubles up as your instant website creator.

Bublup is a modern project management tool with an intuitive interface that’s pretty easy to set up and use. Assigning tasks and collaborating with your team on Bublup is pretty straightforward. However, the platform is more focused on “Rolls” and lacks traditional collaboration tools.

Pros

• +Create a website within minutes
• +AI Creator tool to auto-populate folders
• +Easily collect emails for your marketing needs

Cons

• -Free plan is quite restrictive

Bublup, founded in 2014, is currently one of the fastest-growing project management and organization apps. It not only provides a safe storage unit for your confidential company files but also doubles up as a team management tool with features that allow you to assign tasks and deadlines to your employees.

If you want to find out whether it’s worth your time and investment, this detailed review is for you.

BUBLUP: PLANS AND PRICING

Bublup offers one free plan and three paid plans with both monthly and annual subscription options.

Here are Bublup’s pricing details:

Standard (free plan)

You can get started without paying a single penny, but note that you can only add your employee as a guest. They will be able to join collaborative and secure group folders and receive task assignments, but apart from that, there’s hardly anything you can do on this plan.

Premium (priced at $7.99/month)

This plan is the first of the lot that gives you any sort of control within the platform. You also get access to an AI writer and the ability to tag team members upload files to storage, add a custom logo and branding, create and share group folders, add links to them, and more.

It also comes with 100GB of storage, which is going to be more than enough for personal use.

Pro (priced at $9.99/month)

This plan is ideal for small businesses. It comes with everything in the Premium plan plus email collection, a centralized billing system, permission to add up to 10 new members, the ability to create teams, and 1TB storage to store all your files and documents, among others.

Teams (priced at $24.99/month)

If you have a large organization with different departments and/or a large team, the Teams plan will fit your bill. Apart from everything in the Pro plan, you get 5TB of storage and the ability to add up to 20 members from your organization.

It’s worth noting that some features, such as data security, folder image picker, unlimited shareable rolls and themes for rolls, and password protection and analytics for rolls, are common in all of the above-mentioned paid plans.

Also, every user qualifies for a free 7-day trial. You might not find it on the pricing page but if you log in without selecting a plan, you’ll see the free 7-day trial option.

Additionally, Bublup does not offer any refunds for the remaining months/years in your plan if you change your mind post-purchase, so I’d recommend making full use of the trial period to test out the tool risk-free before you commit.

BUBLUP: FEATURES

Bublup is much more than an organization and collaboration tool. Here are some of the best features of Bublup:

1. Rolls

The best thing about Bublup has to be its “Rolls.” Rolls are basically small custom websites that are created from the data in the Bublup folders. Simply put, every folder can be converted into a Roll and whether you set it for public or private view is up to you.

Two other features work perfectly with Bublup Rolls – analytics and password protection. Bublup lets you integrate with Google Analytics so that you can see how viewers are interacting with your Rolls. You can see how many visitors it gets, how much time they spend on average, and more.

If you want to prevent unauthorized viewers from accessing your rolls, you can simply add a password to it. Another way to prevent unauthorized use is to disable downloads. What’s more, you can be creative with Rolls by adding different fonts, themes, or even a custom domain.

2. AI Creator

Bublup’s AI Creator feature allows you to auto-populate your folders with AI responses. Let’s say you’re creating a folder on the “best places to visit in Paris.” For this, click on the AI Creator button in the top right corner.

Next, type a prompt for the AI. You can also select the type of prompt from a list of options that include Travel, Top 10, Companies, Best Practices, and more. You can then add the response to your folder. However, it’s important to note that this feature only works in English.

3. Folder Image Picker

Bublup has made managing multiple folders simultaneously a cakewalk, thanks to the Folder Image Picker feature. This tool lets you integrate with Unsplash and then pick a custom image for your folder. It’ll be like an icnn for your folder and it will help you differentiate between folders with similar names.

4. Email collection

One of the most important things in business is building quality connections with your clients and the best way to do that professionally is email marketing. However, manually copying your client’s email information from the files is too time-consuming, and that’s where Bublup’s email collection tool comes in handy.

It extracts all email-related data from the folders and helps you store them in a separate database—meaning you’ll have a list of connections ready for use without much trouble.

5. Team and work management

Bublup is more than just a static organization tool. It also helps you delegate tasks to your team. For instance, you can use the Assign Tasks tool to delegate a certain task to one of your team members.

This tool also lets you add a due date to it. The chosen team member, on the other hand, will have the option to mark the task as completed once they are done with it. Communicating through Bublup is quick and efficient.

Group Folder is another example of Bublup’s easy collaboration. You can share any folder with a particular team or a few selected employees (as per your need). All group participants can view the folder in real-time, add an emoji reaction, or leave feedback for others to see.

BUBLUP: INTEGRATIONS

Bublup offers a decent number of integrations to make your life easier. In addition to the Google Analytics and Unsplash integrations that were mentioned above, it also seamlessly integrates with Google Docs and Google Calendar. Integration with Google Docs allows you to directly save your work in Bublup instead of having to manually upload the links.

Next, Google Calendar lets you set reminders and deadlines from within Bublup. To increase team efficiency, you can also mark certain items (especially the ones needed in tasks that are currently ongoing) for offline access. This way, your team will be able to access all important material even without WiFi—no more excuses for missed deadlines.

BUBLUP: SETUP

Getting started with Bublup is as easy as it gets. Here’s how you can go about setting up this modern project management software:

Step 1: Go to their official website and click on the “Get Bublup” button. You can also choose one of their paid plans before beginning.

Step 2: You’ll be directed to a new window where you’ll be asked how you want to log in – Google, Facebook, or Email.

Step 3: Once you have chosen your preferred sign-up method, you’ll be directed to a new window where you can confirm the email ID/ Facebook ID you have chosen.

Step 4: Wait for a few minutes and you’ll see your account being created, and within just a couple of minutes, your dashboard should be ready.

BUBLUP: INTERFACE AND EASE OF USE

As soon as your account is created, you’ll be given a quick tour of your dashboard. During this tour, you’ll be taught to create a new folder, name it, and add links to it. Once you are done with the tour, you’ll be free to use the dashboard.

The first thing you’ll notice about the dashboard is how vibrant and colorful it is. There are two main menus, one on the top header and the other on the left-hand side.

There’s another collapsable menu hidden under the three dashes on the left column of the page. Here, you’ll find the options to create and edit folders. You’ll also find a trash can icon on the bottom left corner of your page that contains all of the items you have deleted.

In short, the interface is very easy to navigate. Almost every function you need is within your reach. Even if you’re a newbie, you’ll only need a few minutes to familiarize yourself with all of the features.

Also, don’t worry if you are having a hard time figuring something out – there’s a help button on the top right of the page. You’ll find video tutorials and keyboard shortcuts, as well as a quick startup guide and a video on how you can use Bublup in different ways.

BUBLUP: FINAL VERDICT

At this point, it must be pretty clear that Bublup is not only a collaboration tool but also the ultimate document management platform for remote teams that need quick and easy access to every file and limitless interaction within the group. With features like Email Collection and Folder Image Picker, it can significantly reduce the time it takes for your team to manage data.

On the other hand, functionalities like Assign Task and Custom Permissions allow you to control how your team members interact with each other and company files. Now, while the tool is pretty affordable, the stripped-down free plan is not a value-packed solution and it can be looked at as an extended free trial of the tool.

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