The Good
* Straightforward, non-complicated usage.
* Converts PDFs to .DOC, .RTF, .TXT, .JPG, .BMP, .GIF, .PNG, .TIF, .HTML, and .SWF formats.
* Users are allowed to convert whole PDFs or a select range of pages.
* Can convert encrypted PDFs.
* Converts fairly quickly.
* Supports batch processing.
* Supports drag + drop.
* Doesn't require users to have Microsoft Office/Word installed to do PDF to DOC conversions.

The Bad
* Poor conversion/output quality for all non-image/SWF outputs.
* PDF to GIF does not convert in color.
* PDF to HTML uses absolute paths for images instead of relative paths.
* PDF to Word/RTF uses text boxes for text.
* Overwrites existing files of the same name and same format in the output folder without prompt.
* For PDF to image conversions, lacks ability to directly control output image resolutions and poor usage of DPI property.
* For encrypted PDFs, users must enter password as that PDF comes up during conversions (cannot enter in prior to conversion), so batch processing becomes semi-useless since user has to sit there and type in passwords when prompted.
* Attempts to install directly into C:/ by default as opposed to C:/Program Files.
* No option to add an entry in the right-click context menu in Windows Explorer.
* Supports PDF to DOC but not PDF to DOCX.

Free Alternatives
AnyBizSoft PDF to Word Converter

For final verdict, recommendations, and full review please click here.

Ashraf  –  13 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+172)

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DL and installed with no problems on Windows 7 64. I converted The Iliad to .txt within a couple of minutes and so far it looks accurate. I haven't tried the other file types as the conversions to text formats are the primary focus for me.

So from my point of view the program is very good, however, there are a couple of things that would improve it, at least for me,

1) I really wish it had a conversion to .odt for Open Office as I don't use Word. From my understanding although it's not as popular as Word there is a market for Open Office, .odt compatible software.

2) The actual conversion process would benefit from a progress % just so you know it's working, especially on long or large pdfs, as I had started to wonder if it was stuck while the conversion bar continued to go back and forth like a cylon's eye with no mention of how much time or % was left.

All in all, from my perspective, a useful tool to add to my office software. Thanks to GAOTD and PDFZilla.

Cassie  –  13 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+33)

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PDFZilla is a small, VB [Visual Basic] app for making copies of a PDF file in .doc, .rtf, & .txt file formats -- it can also do .jpg, .bmp, .gif, .png, & .tif image files, as well as .html & .swf. It uses 3 cli [Command Line Interface rather than GUI] apps, & 2 are older versions -- the pdf2html site no longer exists [pdfimage.com], but pdf2swf & pdftk are here http://goo.gl/5mQfl & here http://goo.gl/zbeH ... if you want to try updating those 2 PDFZilla will still work, but I don't know if you'll gain anything by it or not [in quick tests the .swf files were smaller, but didn't notice anything else]. The .exe file for today's GOTD version is 1.2.0.9 -- the version I had from GOTD [can't swear that it's the latest] is 1.2.0.7... there's no change log included, but the newer version adds/uses richtx32.OCX. Running PDFZilla you get an initial window with buttons for 5 types of conversion -- click any one of them & you'll get the actual program window with a task/pdf doc list that supports drag/drop, & you select the output format on the right, along with selecting pages to convert & output destination. Annoyingly, closing the app's working window [or clicking File menu -> Exit] doesn't close the app but brings up that initial splash sort of screen. In quick tests PDF copies in .doc format looked very close to the original, with graphics & individual lines of editable text as movable objects. Copies in .swf format just cycled, showing one page after another, but they did look like the original. Three minor annoyances are: 1) the list of imported PDF files clears itself after conversion [I'd prefer something like a checkbox that got cleared, + a Clear button], 2) Windows Explorer opens to the destination folder whenever you complete a conversion, & 3) whenever I start the app I have to click the desktop to get it to actually start in 7.

Installing PDFZilla is [at least potentially] problematic... As Ashraf noted the default installation folder is c:\PDFZilla rather than under c:\Program Files [or Program Files (x86) for 64 bit Windows] -- bad practice but certainly not the end of the world. More important, PDFZilla puts MSCOMCTL.OCX & richtx32.OCX in the program's folder, & registers them there with Windows -- this older version of MSCOMCTL.OCX *might* have an effect on other apps you've installed that use it, & removing [or moving] the PDFZilla folder breaks any installed apps that use either file. Lots of apps use MSCOMCTL.OCX & it's usually already in Windows' system folder, meaning I could use the older version of PDFZilla [from GOTD] as if it was a portable app -- with richtx32.OCX added that's no longer the case (that VB file is much less common), so I'll probably not bother updating. PDFZilla's program folder holds 19 files, 2 folders, & takes up ~16 MB. PDFZilla itself has one registry key for uninstall, but registering those 2 VB files causes ~300 new or changed registry entries in XP -- it can have more impact in Vista/7 because .NET can get involved when you have VB apps.

[If you install & then remove PDFZilla, & find that one or more of your installed apps no longer work, you'll need to re-register one or both of those 2 VB files mentioned with Windows. Registering files can be done from the Windows' command prompt [run -> cmd in XP, search cmd & then run as admin in Vista/7], using regsvr32.exe that can be found in Windows\System32 & Windows\SysWOW64 [in 64 bit windows use the one in SysWOW64 for 32 bit apps], or you can find .reg files on-line that, when merged with Windows registry adds the register/unregister commands to the right click, context menu, or you can use utilities like RegDrop http://goo.gl/OZjtZ [I keep a copy on my desktop, & in 7 it's set to run as admin]. If/when removing PDFZilla breaks something, search your hard drive for MSCOMCTL.OCX, & if you have more than one, register the file in Windows' system folder. Then do the same for richtx32.OCX -- don't worry if you don't find this one as it is a bit uncommon.]

Personally I've kept (& very occasionally used) PDFZilla from an earlier GOTD, but I just installed it to a VM [Virtual Machine], copied the program's folder to my regular Windows install, & then restored the VM [I just copy/paste a copy of the baseline virtual disk, replacing the changed one], so I never suffered any grief from it's installation. I could do the same for today's GOTD, using RegDrop to register richtx32.OCX after copying it to Windows' system folder [where it belongs], but I've used PDFZilla so rarely I'm not yet sure if it's worth the bother.

mike  –  13 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+31)

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Note that there is a workaround for Ashraf's listed "con" that states "PDF to Word/RTF uses text boxes for text": You can select the entire document (or, at least all the text boxes, if there are also pictures and other non-text objects) and then do an Edit / Paste Special, and paste everything as unformatted text, which, while it will lose formatting, will result in editable text that is not in a series of text boxes.

Also, related to the posts / suggestions regarding the progress bar - the one near the bottom of the program window worked for me. When I converted a small PDF, it converted so fast I didn't really see the progress bar. But when I converted a large PDF, the progress bar and percentages were reasonably accurate, and the "back and forth" finish-up graphic was only on-screen for a few seconds. Maybe that graphic is on screen for a longer period with slower processors?

BigG  –  13 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+14)

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A rerun from http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/pdfzilla-1-2-9/
same version from may 7, 2010.

Buzz  –  13 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+12)

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