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We have sort of a hodge podge of different versions of Adobe in the office.  Its working but some are getting outdated, etc.

What are others using?  I kind of like the Office 365 approach where you pay a subscription and everyone always has the same and most recent version of office.  Is there such a subscription based model so you don;t always have the office on old versions?

Definitely relying on these pdf tools more in a paperless age.  But not as much as we rely on money of course, which is why Adobe is not in the running!  I'm sure Adobe must do something amazing to justify the price, it's just not anything I need.

Austin Powers, CPA, QPA, ERPA

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Am using Foxit - https://www.foxitsoftware.com/ - does everything that Acrobat Standard did and cost was $129 per machine (one time payment) vs. Adobe Standard $14.99 (PER MONTH)  As a retiree, am not sure about Foxit's "enterprise pricing".  Also, it seems that some of the pension admin software packages had a pdf generator built in - but that may only work on the admin software output.

 

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The firm I work for moved to Foxit a few years ago.  I still don't find it as slick as Adobe but I also am not one of the people who sees how much the costs are  If the price turns out substantial I can would agree that the money saved to lose a bell or whistle here or there is worth it. 

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We switched from Adobe to Nitro in our office a few years ago. https://www.gonitro.com/

They have both a subscription option and a perpetual license option. We went for the perpetual license.

Free advice is worth what you paid for it. Do not rely on the information provided in this post for any purpose, including (but not limited to): tax planning, compliance with ERISA or the IRC, investing or other forms of fortune-telling, bird identification, relationship advice, or spiritual guidance.

Corey B. Zeller, MSEA, CPC, QPA, QKA
Preferred Pension Planning Corp.
corey@pppc.co

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For Nitro you only get the version that was current at the time you bought it. They did contact me at one point offering upgrade pricing (cheaper than the full purchase price) to get us on whatever the newest version was at the time, but I don't know if that's something that's always available.

The way the software industry  is today, you will usually only get upgrades forever if you pay forever, i.e. subscription model.

Free advice is worth what you paid for it. Do not rely on the information provided in this post for any purpose, including (but not limited to): tax planning, compliance with ERISA or the IRC, investing or other forms of fortune-telling, bird identification, relationship advice, or spiritual guidance.

Corey B. Zeller, MSEA, CPC, QPA, QKA
Preferred Pension Planning Corp.
corey@pppc.co

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My problem with Nitro is that, because we are paperless, I want new pdf documents to open the way Adobe and Excel do, where you can move the two windows on different screens,  It defaults to the "tabbed" view which is very annoying. It's trrue you can drag a dab outside to open a new window, but it's a little too slow, and adds an extra step for us way too often.

Aside from that Nitro was very very slick, and I actually liked the layout/tools, etc more than Adobe.  Very very good recommendation, I'm actually really disappointed that it won;t work.  I even asked them if there was a default setting change (it isn;t).

Austin Powers, CPA, QPA, ERPA

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Fox it does what I want it to!  IT also defaulted to a tabbed format, but I easily found a box to check (allow multiple instances) to have separate windows open for every file.  I also think the type writer feature works better in Fox it then Nitro.  I think everything else is pretty standard. We use stamps a lot and those are pretty easy to use.  I think I may have found a winner!

Austin Powers, CPA, QPA, ERPA

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The software is still looking good, but there is a small problem that cropped up.  It allows me to open the same file multiple times which gets real real messy.  Have you guys had the issue and is there a workaround?

I'm startign to think there might be a reason Adobe charges more...

Austin Powers, CPA, QPA, ERPA

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9 hours ago, austin3515 said:

My problem with Nitro is that, because we are paperless, I want new pdf documents to open the way Adobe and Excel do, where you can move the two windows on different screens,  It defaults to the "tabbed" view which is very annoying. It's trrue you can drag a dab outside to open a new window, but it's a little too slow, and adds an extra step for us way too often.

Aside from that Nitro was very very slick, and I actually liked the layout/tools, etc more than Adobe.  Very very good recommendation, I'm actually really disappointed that it won;t work.  I even asked them if there was a default setting change (it isn;t).

Yeah, I think that is Nitro's biggest failing. I got used to it eventually. If you right-click on any tab you can open it in a new tab group, which helps for looking at documents side-by-side. Sometimes I resort to opening a PDF in a browser window if I really need to see it on a different monitor.

Free advice is worth what you paid for it. Do not rely on the information provided in this post for any purpose, including (but not limited to): tax planning, compliance with ERISA or the IRC, investing or other forms of fortune-telling, bird identification, relationship advice, or spiritual guidance.

Corey B. Zeller, MSEA, CPC, QPA, QKA
Preferred Pension Planning Corp.
corey@pppc.co

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Now I found with FoxIt too another issue is that before I know i have 15 windows open.  If I open a new PDF if it opens a new window, even if another is sitting their empty and unused.

I can't understand how these packages get everything so incredibly right, but not something the "big boys" have figured out is a requirement.  Adobe, Excel, Word, they all figured out how to easily manage multiple open documents in different windows that can be dragged around from monitor to monitor. You'd think that would be an obvious enhancement with dual monitors being the absolute norm... 

 

Austin Powers, CPA, QPA, ERPA

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I see no reason to have the same document opened in two windows.  What am I missing? In the rare event you want to, as I think was mentioned above at some point, just open it once with one software program and then open it again in a different software program.  Now you can move your windows any way you want.

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"I see no reason to have the same document opened in two windows"

I might be working 4 separate pdfs within a 10 minute span.  A plan document, a census report, a contribution report and an ACP test just to let you know where I am coming from.  I admit there are times (many of them) when I reopen the census report (I may not have looked a that particular report in half an hour for example).  In Adobe, if I "reopen" the census report it just activates the window that already has it. Fox it just reopens it a 2nd copy and both versions are read only.  Which  I think can really only be justly called a bug.

10 hours ago, Mike Preston said:

just open it once with one software program and then open it again in a different software program

I don't see this as a practical solution.  I think part of the difference might be that we print nothing in our offices anymore, we're completely paperless.  So that means I have lots of pdf documents open all at once.  Cheap is good, but productivity is better I think is where this might shake out for me... 

Austin Powers, CPA, QPA, ERPA

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OK my wife's company uses Nuance (now KoFax) and theirs seems to do everything I need it to (i.e., none of the deal breakers above are present).  Still not as good as Adobe, but definitely pretty good!  I ended up doing Kofax Power PDF Advanced version 4.0.  It costs $200, so a lot less than Adobe and again it seems to be adequate. 

So again, if I open a file a 2nd time, it just activates the window that already has the file open.

Austin Powers, CPA, QPA, ERPA

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