RenWaller Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 Hey guys, I love the Affinity Suite, and I made the jump from Adobe CS4 to Affinity several months back (and am very happy I did). One thing I am still lacking though is a good PDF editor. I need one that has basic page layout functions (add/remove/rearrange pages), but also has things like OCR capability. I know this isn't technically an Affinity question, but since the forums have been super helpful in everything else, I figured I would ask fellow designers here. Any recommendations? Thank you! Squark, maranatha91 and Martin Ferenec 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slvJoe Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 I do most edits in Affinity photo. For everything else I use Scribus. Hope this helps. Trang and SrPx 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Callum Posted March 19, 2019 Staff Share Posted March 19, 2019 Hi RenWaller, Have you tried Affinity Publisher? it has page layout features along with many other features you would expect from a DTP app. Unfortunately in regard to OCR compatibility if you are referring to Optical character recognition its not something we currently support or have plans to implement at the moment however we never like to rule anything out completely. If you would like to try the free Affinity Publisher Beta you can download it below https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/62-affinity-publisher-beta-forums/ Thanks Callum SrPx 1 Quote Please tag me using @ in your reply so I can be sure to respond ASAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickRose Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 Hi RenWaller - Publisher is very good for opening PDFs as long as you have the fonts within the PDF on your computer. If not, it will ask to use different fonts and this will almost certainly cause problems. On the odd occasion that I need to use OCR on a PDF I use Abbyy Finereader. It's not free but the OCR is pretty good. You could probably get a trial. Quote Windows 10 Pro, I5 3.3G PC 16G RAM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RenWaller Posted March 19, 2019 Author Share Posted March 19, 2019 Thanks guys, I have been using Publisher a lot lately (and loving it), but what I'm really wanting right now is something with OCR (actually so I can remake a document in Publisher). slvJoe, does Scribus do OCR? MickRose, how did you find Abbyy? What does you like about it besides the OCR? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstdefence Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 If you have Google Drive available to you it will OCR scan documents, you can then download them: https://support.google.com/drive/answer/176692?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en A more detailed explanation of the process here: https://business.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-ocr-documents-for-free-in-google-drive--cms-20460 Jenna Appleseed 1 Quote iMac 27" 2019 Sequoia 15.0 (24A335), iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9 (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum) Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerard O Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 If you are on Windows then Office Lens is free and can do OCR. I have sued it successfully for large documents and it outputs in Word or PDF. However you need to convert the input document to an image(jpeg, png, bmp etc) . I do this in Affinity Designer/Photo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RenWaller Posted March 20, 2019 Author Share Posted March 20, 2019 Thank you guys! Gerard O, no I'm not on Windows anymore. My husband, a non-artist, really wanted me to switch to Mac. So I am now a Mac user (although still have much more familiarity with Windows and often lament how I prefer many Windows features). Firstdefence, thank you! I didn't know that, and I will definitely be using that. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RenWaller Posted March 20, 2019 Author Share Posted March 20, 2019 Also, another feature I'm wondering if any other programs have is "output preview." I really like being able to check out the color separations in a document to make sure all of the colors are what they're supposed to be. Does Publisher do this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstdefence Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 There is a Preview mode on the View Menu View > Preview Mode Quote iMac 27" 2019 Sequoia 15.0 (24A335), iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9 (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum) Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 15 minutes ago, firstdefence said: There is a Preview mode on the View Menu View > Preview Mode All that does is what clip to canvas does plus hide margins & text frame borders. @RenWaller, The only other application for viewing color seps, ink density, etc., is callas pdfToolbox. Unlike Acrobat, there really isn't a means to edit a PDF in pdfToolbox nor does it have an OCR component. There is no means of viewing separations, ink densities, etc., in Affinity applications. As I use Windows, I don't have any recommendations for a PDF editor. Sorry. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstdefence Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Thanks for letting me know MikeW Quote iMac 27" 2019 Sequoia 15.0 (24A335), iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9 (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum) Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RenWaller Posted March 21, 2019 Author Share Posted March 21, 2019 Hey guys, I was able to find PDF Studio which offers OCR, page layout/editing, color separations, digital signatures, impositions and more, so I'm good to go now. Thanks for all the advice! I hope this helps someone else out as well! SrPx 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazmondo77 Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 I've been on the hunt for a replacement to Acrobat pro 9.5.5 - so was exited to see that PDF studio offers output preview and the ability to verify compliance which are the main things I use before sending PDFs to the print shop, and don't seem to be available in any of the other PDF editors - so I downloaded PDF studio and found it to be a little slow and clunky compared to my 10 year old version of Acrobat, also output preview and the ability to verify compliance in pdf studio are pretty terrible, with output preview you have to select your colour profile from a long list instead of auto-detecting and theres no separation preview also the verify compliance feature which I tested on a CD jewel case insert set as PDF/x 1a 2003 from Designer, passed compliance in Acrobat and failed in PDF studio. it's also pretty expensive for the pro version. Looks like I'm sticking with Acrobat 9.5.5 till theres something else that does what I need - only prob is Adobe CS5 has loads of problems in Sierra - Mojave so I'm stuck for the time being in El Capitan SrPx and maranatha91 2 Quote Mac Pro Cheese-grater (Early 2009) 2.93 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon 48 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 ECC Ram, Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB GDDR5, Ugee 19" Graphics Tablet Monitor Triple boot via OCLP 1.4.3 - Mac OS Monterey 12.7.3, Sonoma 14.1.1 and Mojave 10.14.6 Affinity Publisher, Designer and Photo 1.10.5 - 2.4.0 Betas 2.5.0(2430) www.bingercreative.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazmondo77 Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 For OCR, I've used a few over the past few years, some are terrible (Cisdem OCRWizard) the best I've come across for my needs is Leadtools OCR which is free and just works https://www.leadtools.com/sdk/ocr Quote Mac Pro Cheese-grater (Early 2009) 2.93 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon 48 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 ECC Ram, Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB GDDR5, Ugee 19" Graphics Tablet Monitor Triple boot via OCLP 1.4.3 - Mac OS Monterey 12.7.3, Sonoma 14.1.1 and Mojave 10.14.6 Affinity Publisher, Designer and Photo 1.10.5 - 2.4.0 Betas 2.5.0(2430) www.bingercreative.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atlrob Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 Take a look at this product https://www.foxitsoftware.com/ ROB maranatha91 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RenWaller Posted March 21, 2019 Author Share Posted March 21, 2019 Yeah, definitely not a fan of the UI for Studio 2018, but it seems to work for want I want it for. I have Acrobat on my other computer, but not on this one, so I need something. @atlrob, does Foxit have the ability to do impositions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atlrob Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 Check their web site for an answer. I don't know about impositions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fixx Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 For PDF page operations I use Preview, for OCR I use an old copy of Acrobat. Acrobat OCR has a nifty feature to add hidden text to a image PDF. SrPx 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floraoliviaa Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Like it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tart Posted July 3, 2023 Share Posted July 3, 2023 Hii! Is there maybe on the roadmap to add some PDF editor to Affinity Suite any time in the future? RenWaller 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.