PDF Files Management Tool

PDF Exploiter is a simple, small application designed to help you split, merge, encrypt, decrypt your PDF files, and even personalize them by adding watermarks.

The PDF file format is quite popular nowadays, as it offers a very nice combination of text and images and especially because one can secure these files against printing or copying; not to mention the business-like look.

There are times when you need to obtain a custom document by adjusting a few others: split a very large one in individual pages, page ranges or just merge multiple PDF files into a bigger one. We’ve recently discovered PDF Exploiter, a simple solution designed to perform these operations for you.

The application is basically a GUI for PDFtk and it also makes use of the PDFSharp library. It is available free of charge, released under the GPL license, meaning that you can use this app at home, and in a corporate environment as well. The source code is available, just in case you have some ideas and want to practice your development skills. Because of the libraries it uses, PDF Exploiter will not run on a computer that has Adobe Reader X, an error that will most certainly annoy some users.

In order to run this software you must have .NET Framework installed on your system, but the requirements stop here.

When first launching the app, you will notice its intuitive, tabbed based interface. Basically, everything is right in front of you. Regardless of the action that you want to perform, you will first select the file to be used, of course. The file you have chosen will be displayed in the left panel of the main window.

Also, all the actions found in program’s tabs can be also accessed from the File menu, just in case you don’t like the tabs.

Our first stop will be at the Split function, which can be found in the first tab. You can select to split only the first 10, 20 or any number you want. If you only need the first 20 pages from a 100 pages document, for example, you should use this option. The Drag and Drop function is not available in the Split tab. You will have to add each file using the Browse button.

Also, when you need a more specific number of pages, for example the first 20 pages, the next 30 and so on, you should make use of the By Page Range option. When you’ve finished customizing the splitting options, all that’s left to do is enter the new file name, and the destination folder for the output documents. In order to identify with ease the newly created documents and to avoid document over-writing, PDF Exploiter will add a number to the name you’ve entered.

We’ve tested it using 35, 106 and even 245 pages documents and the application has behaved really well. All that’s left for you to do now is press the Split button and let the app work its magic. It will open the destination folder so you can check out the result when the splitting process is done.

In order to merge PDF files, you must access the second tab. Adding the input documents can be done using the Add file button or with the Drag and drop function, a plus in my opinion. File removal can be done either with the Remove button – to erase one document – or the Remove All button – which will clear the list. If the documents’ order is important, the Move Up and Move Down buttons help you take care of this matter. Please be advised that if you want to merge encrypted PDF files, you will have to provide the password that allows you to modify those documents.

One interesting and useful feature that PDF Exploiter offers is the ability to select a page range for your merged documents. For example, if you only need a certain page from a 10 pages document, you can select for that page alone to be used for your new PDF. If you work a lot with PDFs and need the text from one doc and the images from another, this tool will help you get the job done with ease.

When pressing the Merge button, you will be prompted to enter the name and location of the new file. You will also be asked if you want to open the new PDF when the merge process is complete, so you can check out if the resulting document fits your needs.

We’ve put this feature to a test by using 10 documents (summing 257 pages) and it performed well. It is however worth mentioning that PDF Exploiter will not identify duplicates, so you have to be careful which documents you add to the list. We’ve also noticed one other thing: if you have a file with its extension written in caps, the program will not recognize it when using the Drag and Drop function. A downside worth dealing with in future releases.

If you need to merge 50 - 100 documents this is not the application to use. It will display that the new document has been made, but fail to actually create it in the output folder It’s time now to take a look at the security features in PDF Exploiter. The Encrypt tab will give you the tools needed to secure your documents. After selecting the PDF file, you must choose the encryption level: 40 bit or 128 bit.

There are two types of passwords that you can set: the owner password restricts the modification, but allows reading access, while the user password restricts both of them (so it’s impossible to view or edit the PDF without entering it).

While testing the app we’ve noticed that if you enter the same password in both fields; the encrypted document will not be created.  After selecting the filename and path for the new document you’re good to go. When the process is finished you will be asked if you want to open the newly created PDF.

Each encrypted file needs to be decrypted in order to be used. This app will help you with that too, through the dedicated tab. You will, of course, have to supply the document’s password. The owner password has priority; if the PDF has no owner password, you will enter the user password.

Next, set the filename, path and press the Decrypt button to get your new file. If you’ve entered the wrong password, you will be prompted to enter the correct one. When the process is finalized you can choose to open the decrypted PDF.

In order to get customized documents you can add a watermark. PDF Exploiter offers 3 types of watermarking: you can use another PDF file, text or an image. The PDF file can be added as background or as a stamp. The drill is easy: you just select the two docs and you’re good to go.

The text watermark feature provides a few more customization options. In a new window you will enter the string (for which some text editing options are available: font, color, bold, underline, italic). While reviewing the app, we weren’t able to find a length limit for the text watermark, but it’s recommended to keep it short and simple, so it doesn’t cover too much of your PDF.

There are three types of text watermarks that you can create: as Solid Graphical Path, as Outlined Graphical Path or as Transparent Graphical Path. The image can also be added as background or as stamp, just like before. You just select the picture to use and you’re done.

This text watermark section might show you an error: Cannot handle iref streams. The current implementation of PDFSharp cannot handle this feature introduced with Acrobat 6. As the error states, the library version used to develop this application does not offer the needed support. However, the next release will probably solve this issue, so that you won’t have to save your PDF with Acrobat 5.

Although the Transparent Graphical Path option functioned flawlessly in our tests, it most likely depends on the components installed on your system. When using the Solid Graphical Path and Outlined Graphical Path options, PDF Exploiter fails to add the watermark.

It’s fair to say at this moment that if you have PDFs saved with Acrobat 6 and higher, the text watermark will not work. This is one of the most vexing problems that the developer must address in further releases. However, if your expectations aren’t that high and you are only looking for a simple tool, to be used occasionally, this application is worth taken into consideration.

To conclude, this application will help you customize and secure your PDF files in no time. You can also modify the metadata and security options, and that adds value to the software.

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