3. PDF Escape
Sticking with online editors, PDF Escape may have a weird name, but it also offers decent features on the free tier. Like PDF Candy, you download documents from the web and work from there. It’s a bit less powerful, but that’s because there are paid tiers that naturally retain some of the more useful tools. That being said, you can still do a lot for free.
The workspace is similar to that of PDF Candy, in that the tools are on the left and the layout is in the center pane. You can choose from three types of functions: Insert, Annotate and Page. As these suggest, each section has tools for certain types of jobs. Inserting allows you to add text, images, dynamic links and other elements to the document. Annotate is where you’ll find highlighting, underlining, footnotes, and similar things. While Page gives you the option to rearrange, reorient, crop and append the pages in the PDF.
There is a 10MB file size limit on the free tier though, and you can’t digitally sign a document unless you’re really good with the freehand pencil option or have an image you can download. There’s also no option to edit existing text or images in a PDF, convert to Word format, or redact information without upgrading to one of the paid tiers. It’ll cost you $5.99 per month or $35.88 per year for Premium (about £4.80 and £29), or $8.99 per month ($71.88 per year) for Ultimate. That’s around £7 and £58 if you’re in the UK, although you pay in dollars. Ultimate allows to digitally sign and seal a document as well as the redaction tool.
PDF Escape isn’t as good as PDF Candy (we saw some issues while testing it) and lacks some features. Still, it has some great tools, and since it’s free, it’s another option if PDF Candy doesn’t do what you want.
