14 DAY TRIAL // Got PDFs?
For most professionals who deal with tons of different file formats, here's a program that makes it a little easier to manage. Although it only narrows down your PDF files, it will make viewing them a whole lot easier no matter what your profession is. With more and more PDF documents hitting your computer, you're going to want something that will catalogue and organize your PDF files.
I want to start off saying that the first time you'll work with PDF Explorer, it'll look a little daunting since the interface is jam packed with column, rows and information. The interface is layered along with being split into three working parts. The layers consist of a PDF Info, PDF View and Images.
The Complexity of it all
There is no possible way I can fully describe the complete layout of this program without having numerous pictures and arrows pointing to what goes where. I'd have to say that this is one of the more confusing interfaces I've had to work with. Although it's quite confusing you can still get the gist of it after a few practice runs using the program.
The 'PDF Info' layer shows a grid of all the PDF's you have chosen to scan on that particular directory. It creates an Excel like view that shows you every file, the filename, where it's located, disk label/serial, size, date, title, subject, author, etc.
The ScanGrid is used to post the documents found after any scanning operation and the WorkGrid works as an auxiliary grid which can be used to pile up documents from several scanning operations allowing the creation of document's collections, which otherwise wouldn't be able to share, at the same time, the same grid.
On the bottom right hand side you're given the option of scrolling through the DiskTree, DBDiskTree, DBDisk, or the DBSearch. The DBSearch is the most versatile mode since it allows us to fill the ScanGrid with the documents, previously indexed in the database, which contain in their information fields, or in their content, the keywords that according to our hunch may be in the document(s) we wish to consult.
The last window on the PDF Info is where you can InfoEdit, Search/Filter, and mess with the Batch Tools. I thought that one of the cooler tools that PDF Explorer had was its massive image Batching utility. It takes all the files you've selected and automatically extracts all the images out of in a desired folder. Before extraction, you're able to choose between Bitmap and Jpeg. You're also able to set the image quality.
The second layer is your 'PDFView' where you can get a quick look at the specific PDF file you've chosen. This brings up Adobe Reader with a few more options. I liked that you can get the full version or the text version by just switching around the modes.
The third layer is the 'Image' layer where you can view and extract all the images from a certain document (or a batch of documents). Other than that, I think this program has a lot more to offer. I liked the fact that this little program came in other languages (English, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Slovak, Valencian, Romanian, Polish and Portuguese to be exact).
Some odd quirks
I wish that the minimize button would work, that would make my life a little easier. Actually, after a while of using the program and not being able to minimize, it soon became a hassle to constantly move the program around. I didn't have this problem all the time, but it did randomly start acting up.
I'd like to say that although the interface is quite (bad is not the right word) challenging, users can indeed get past the somewhat tedious and first-time-shock effect. It just takes a little practice and actually using the program.
The Good
If you work with PDF files a lot, then this should be a program that you should consider using. It's a great cataloger and it's easy to extract images. You can search, filter and do just about anything to your PDF files.
The Bad
If you haven't figured out my gripe with this program yet, you haven't been paying attention. The interface is horribly complicated and almost a complete mess. It still has a few bugs to work out, but PDF Explorer should only be getting better with later builds.
The Truth
You're going to want to try it even if it's confusing. If you are in dire need of a little PDF house-cleaning, get this baby while it's still hot and free. Let's recap: gather and add all your PDF documents to a database file, that displays an overview of Filename, Title, Subject, Author, Creator, Producer, Creation Date, Modification Date and #Pages. You can then search through all the files, view them, batch rename them and more. PDF Explorer can also scan within ZIP, RAR and ACE compressed files. It's a powerful tool that should get better along the way.
Check out the screenshots below.
