For years I’ve relied on Adobe Creative Cloud without giving it much thought. It was a set of tools everyone used, so I used them too. Over time, the cost has kept rising and the value has felt smaller with every renewal. At some point, the price stopped matching the way I work, and I realised it was time to step back and rethink things.
In this series, I record my shift away from Abobe Creative Cloud Apps. I am not moving away from Adobe out of frustration. I’m doing it because there are excellent alternatives that fit my needs without the ongoing cost of a full Creative Cloud subscription. Part One starts with something simple but important.
My Move from Adobe Acrobat to PDF-XChange (Editor Plus)
Acrobat has been familiar and comfortable, but I only really use a small part of what it offers. Most of my day-to-day tasks are straightforward. Reading, editing, adding comments, creating forms, exporting to other formats, bundling, extracting pages, and compilation. Some of the more advanced work I do includes creating certificates with attributes. I also don’t use Acrobat regularly. I can go months without opening it, then I’ll have a big job where I am using it nonstop for a couple of weeks. This has made it harder to justify the growing subscription cost. I did think that finding a replacement for Acrobat would be the most challenging task, but it’s actually been fairly straightforward.
What I have chosen as my replacement is PDF-XChange (Editor Plus). I trialled the software then purchased a license which cost (at the time of writing) £72, including VAT. I also paid a small amount for a couple of years of maintenance/software updates.
This software has turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It’s been really easy to use and offers everything I need for day-to-day document work, without tying me into a subscription. The interface is obviously different from Acrobat, so there is a learning curve, but it’s a short one. It’s not going to take you hours to do something, I would say that it took me about half an hour to get up and running.
Bye-bye Creative Cloud?
The software also felt lighter and more responsive, which was a welcome change after years of running Acrobat. There are a lot of people who have a dislike for the Creative Cloud app. For anyone who is unfamiliar with Adobe products, the Creative Cloud app is a piece of software you must first install before you can download any of the actual software you need. It manages the installations, updates, storage, etc, but it is a background service. When you launch any Adobe product, Creative Cloud prompts you to log in, check your subscription, check updates and it always seems to want my attention. Moving away from Acrobat means I no longer need this, so the whole experience feels lighter. In theory, Creative Cloud should be helpful, but I personally feel it’s just bloatware.
Technical Support
I did have one issue with PDF-XChange which was almost a showstopper. I had a couple of documents where the correct fonts would not show when the PDF was opened in Google Chrome. This was a big issue as at the time I was working on a specific project for a client who needed this. The issue was incredibly frustrating. The fonts wouldn’t embed. In the end I decided to reach out to customer support, and they responded quickly with assistance, and I was able to find a workaround….fingers crossed. This has been the only issue so far, but I will keep this blog up to date with my experience.
Summary and Recommendation
The final test has been whether I could slot PDF-XChange into my routine. I’ve now worked with client documents, marked up drafts, prepared forms and exported files and it has genuinely replaced Acrobat in my daily work. If you’re looking to move away from Acrobat, I would recommend installing the PDF-XChange Editor trial and giving it a go. There are different products available on the website, so you will need to check which product is best for you. Anything you do during the trial has a watermark, but it’s enough to test the features.
You can find out more about PDF-XChange from the website. As mentioned, the version I use is PDF-XChange Editor Plus, links below.
Coming soon…
In part two, I reflect on my move away from Adobe Illustrator, which has been an absolute staple in my toolkit! I’ve found a replacement already, and I’m absolutely thrilled, so come back soon for more hasta la vista Adobe!