PDFpenPro 7 for OS X adds editable OCR layer

PDFpenPro, a heavy-duty document editing app for OS X, has updated to version 7 with the ability to fix OCR text which is scanned in from a document before exporting to Excel, PowerPoint, or PDF. You can stash your documents in iCloud through the app now, plus create interactive forms. The interface has been updated for Yosemite, too.

PDFpenPro continues to offer the ability to redact or erase PDF text, fill out interactive forms, adjust resolution and skew of scanned documents, and otherwise put together and work with all sorts of digital docs. More details are available in the press release below.

PDFpenPro 7 Features Editable OCR Layer; Excel, PowerPoint and PDF/A Export; Updated Interface

San Francisco, CA - January 13, 2015 - Smile has released PDFpenPro 7, the latest version of its all-purpose PDF editing tool for OS X. This major upgrade features the ability to proofread and edit the OCR text layer and export to Microsoft® Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF Archive (PDF/A) formats, all with an interface updated for OS X 10.10 (Yosemite).

PDFpenPro and PDFpen 7 support document sharing via iCloud Drive.

The numerous tools, such as the text box and comment tools, remember their color preferences, and context-sensitive popup-menus allow for quick edits. Freeform highlighting enables smooth highlighting over diagrams, drawings, and unrecognized text.

Users can sign PDF forms containing interactive signature fields, though this is not cryptographic "digital" signing. PDFpenPro allows users to create PDF forms which include interactive signature fields.

PDFpen shares all but the most advanced features with PDFpenPro. It can view, but not edit, the OCR text layer; export to Microsoft® Word, but not Excel, PowerPoint, or PDF Archive (PDF/A) formats; and gives the ability to sign using interactive signature fields, but not to create those fields.

"We're excited to embrace Yosemite and to further enhance usability, performance, and functionality with PDFpen 7," said Philip Goward, Smile founder. "We're also thrilled to bring new professional features to PDFpenPro 7, including editing of the OCR text layer, Excel export, and interactive signature fields for PDF forms."

The PDF-to-Excel, PDF-to-PowerPoint, and PDF-to-PDF/A export functions use the Nuance OmniPage Cloud Service for document conversion. PDFs are securely uploaded to the service and returned as Excel documents in either .xlsx or .xls format, PowerPoint documents in .pptx or .ppt format, and PDF Archive documents in PDF/A format. PDF Archive format is an Internationally-accepted format for archival storage and long term use of PDFs.

PDFpenPro and PDFpen 7 work with PDFpen for iPad & iPhone version 2, allowing seamless editing across devices when used with Dropbox storage or iCloud Drive. iCloud storage is available when PDFpen is purchased via the Mac App Store.

PDFpen retails for US $74.95, PDFpenPro for $124.95. Family Pack licenses, which cover up to five computers in one household, are $94.95 for PDFpen and $149.95 for PDFpenPro. Office Pack licenses start at $224.95 for PDFpen (5 users) and $349.95 for PDFpenPro (5 users).

Upgrades from earlier single user versions of either application are US $30.00, and free to users who purchased on or after August 1, 2014. Upgrades from previous versions of PDFpen to PDFpenPro 7 are $50. Upgrade pricing for Family Packs and Office Packs is found on our web store: http://smle.us/store

PDFpen 7 and PDFpenPro 7 require OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) or later. For OS X 10.9 (Mavericks), see our website for compatible previous PDFpen versions. Demo versions are available at https://www.imore.com/e?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.shareasale.com%2Fr.cfm%3Fb%3D1215646%26m%3D81274%26u%3D885495%26afftrack%3DUUimUdUnU29357%26urllink%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fsmilesoftware.com%252Fprivacy-consent%253Furl%253D%25252FPDFpen%25252Fdownload.html.%26ourl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.smilesoftware.com%252FPDFpen%252Fdownload.html.&token=6R1wdzmP Full versions of PDFpen and PDFpenPro are also available for purchase on Apple's Mac App Store.

What's New in PDFpen 7:

  • Modern Yosemite user interface
  • Proof OCR text from your scanned pages
  • Edit OCR text from your scanned pages (PDFpenPro only)
  • Context-sensitive popup-menus enable quick edits
  • Export to Microsoft® Excel (.xlsx, .xls), Microsoft® PowerPoint (.pptx), and PDF Archive (PDF/A) formats (requires Internet connection, PDFpenPro only)
  • Load and save performance improvements
  • Compatible with iCloud Drive
  • Tools remember color preferences
  • Freeform highlighting calls out diagrams and drawings
  • Create PDF forms with interactive signature fields (PDFpenPro only)
  • Sign PDF forms containing interactive signature fields (not digital signing)

PDFpen features:

  • Add text, images and signatures to PDF
  • Correct text in original PDF with editable text blocks
  • Fill out interactive PDF forms and sign them
  • Redact or erase text, including OCR text
  • Search and redact text; search and replace text
  • Export in Microsoft® Word format (requires Internet connection)
  • Scan directly from Image Capture or TWAIN scanners
  • Perform OCR (Optical Character Recognition) on scanned documents
  • Viewable OCR text layer for proofing OCR text from scanned pages
  • Adjust resolution, color depth and contrast, skew, and size of an image or scanned document
  • Sign PDF forms via interactive signature fields (not digital signatures)
  • Insert and remove pages; re-order pages in a PDF by drag & drop; combine PDFs
  • Move, resize, copy and delete images in original PDF
  • Save PDFs directly to Evernote
  • Insert page numbers and specify positioning and format, including Roman numerals and Bates Numbering
  • Copy and paste rich text; retain fonts and formatting when copying from PDFs, including columns
  • Context-sensitive popup-menus enable quick edits
  • Add (and print) notes and comments
  • Mark up documents with highlighting, underscoring and strikethrough
  • Save frequently-used images, signatures, objects and text in the Library
  • Apply business-related and sign here stamps via the Library
  • Print notes and comments with or without the original text
  • Print a list of all annotations along with the document
  • Full screen mode, as well as zoom to document width and zoom to actual document size
  • Password protect a document with up to 256-bit AES encryption
  • Compatible with iCloud Drive
  • Sync Library items with PDFpen for iPad & iPhone via iCloud (Mac App Store version only)
  • Create cross-platform fillable PDF forms (PDFpenPro only)
  • Add interactive signature fields to forms (PDFpenPro only)
  • Create and edit Table of Contents (PDFpenPro only)
  • Convert websites into PDFs (PDFpenPro only)
  • Correct typos in OCR text layer (PDFpenPro only)
  • Add and edit document permissions (PDFpenPro only)
  • Automatic form creation - detects text fields and check boxes in existing PDF and makes them fillable (PDFpenPro only)
  • Create submit buttons to submit form data via web or email (PDFpenPro only)
  • Gather submitted form data via backend integration (PDFpenPro only)
  • Export in Microsoft® Excel (.xlsx, .xls), Microsoft® PowerPoint (.pptx), and PDF Archive (PDF/A) formats (requires Internet connection, PDFpenPro only)
  • Automate PDF manipulations with AppleScript and JavaScript Automation
  • Available in English, Japanese, German, French, Italian, and Spanish
Simon Sage

Editor-at-very-large at Mobile Nations, gamer, giant.