As far as free PDF converters go, doPDF is one of the best out there saving you tons of cash on Adobe's patented version and whatsmore, doing it in half the time.

The program is remarkably simple to use. Just open a document in Microsoft Word, WordPad, NotePad or practically any other text editing software, choose Print and select doPDF. The program asks you where to save the PDF file and when finished, the PDF file will be automatically opened in your default PDF viewer. This process takes less than a minute and you'll be amazed at how accurate the PDF is. Occasionally, it can suffer with unusually formatted text and images and so they won't come-out exactly as you want but this can be remedied.

Unfortunately, there's also no option to print large web pages (such as long news articles or forum pages) without dividing it into separate pages so you'll end up with lines dividing the article up throughout your PDF documents. The other slight downside is that it seems the PDF files it creates can be rather large although if you ZIP them up, this is not much of an issue.

An excellent PDF converter that's fast, easy to use and serves as more than an adequate replacement for Adobe's software.

Download doPDF 6.1.271 in Softonic

PdfFactory products offer a unique approach to PDF creation that is simpler, more effective and less expensive than that offered by other programs.

Create PDF or print to paper - pdfFactory allows printing to paper or PDF without printing twice. Acrobat is not needed for printing.

It combines multiple documents into a single PDF and increases the convenience of document delivery by having a single PDF that contains material from different sources. Just keep printing documents to pdfFactory and they will automatically be concatenated.

A quicker and cheaper way to create PDF files!

Download PdfFactory 3.36 in Softonic

If you're a big fan of Wordpad but wish it was a little more advanced, then without doubt, TextPipe is for you.

With TextPipe you can specify all your text processing needs through one application rather than having to remember and manage several text editors, command line tools, custom scripts and Word and Excel macros. In a nutshell, TextPipe basically makes it fast and easy to convert, transform and re-form data in text files including HTML and XML documents. Probably the most outstanding feature of TextPipe is that it is very fast and can handle files of unlimited size. TextPipe is also remarkably efficient at handling multiple tasks simultaneously. The advantage of this is that you only need to learn how to use one tool rather than several to do multiple tasks. For those that have invested a lot of money or are planning to invest a lot of money in an editor, it's also a much cheaper solution. If the developers claims are right, it certainly packs an impressive punch when it comes to making corrections. They report that in a recent speed trial, TextPipe made the same number of changes to a document in seconds that took MS Word hours.

A very powerful all in one text editor, cleansing and conversion tool although it will only come into it's own if you're dealing with very large documents and tasks.

Download TextPipe Pro 8.1.8 in Softonic

Do you need the processing power of Microsoft Word but don't have hundreds of dollars to pay for the Office package itself?

Jarte may be your answer. It's a free word processor based on Microsoft WordPad's word processing engine. It's extremely fast and easy to use. In a way it acts more like WordPad on steroids, adding tons of useful features to the basic word processor. It's very portable - it can fit on a USB stick - and yet it can open any document compatible with Word and WordPad.

Believe it not, Microsoft is continually upgrading the simple WordPad editing engine, although WordPad itself hasn't changed. never know it by examining WordPad. Jarte however takes advantage of these changes and has evolved to take advantage of the new useful features that Microsoft have added. These include tabbed document windows for easy access to open documents, larger buttons for the most commonly used functions, instant dictionary and thesaurus word look-up and a free spell check and text search tools that do not impose themselves on top of the text you are trying to edit.

There are many new features in Jaxtr that make it a superb option for those that can't afford or access Word but need it's processing power.

Download Jarte 3.3 in Softonic

There's an increasing demand for alternatives to Adobe's resource hogging, RAM sapping, not least expensive PDF creator and PrimoPDF weighs in as an excellent alternative.

The fact that this program is free makes it all the more appealing. One of the problems with these PDF programs is that invariably, they change the formatting of your text, once you've converted your Word, Publisher etc. document to PDF. PrimoPDF largely avoids this however converting to PDF as faithfully as the original. It's also remarkably fast and the installation is equally speedy.

Once installed, the program appears as a virtual printer in your Printer Driver preferences too. The main downside, of which there are few, is that you are regularly prompted to register although this is a small price to pay for an excellent program. It's also a bit unreliable when converting images. Text is fine but images can sometimes be in the wrong position or formatted incorrectly when converting from Office documents. It also doesn't use Windows standard way of saving documents - it has it's own format which doesn't suggest a file name but it's a small drawback.

A really excellent PDF creator that will have Adobe critics laughing all the way to their virtual printers.

Download PrimoPDF 4.1.0.9 in Softonic

WinMerge is an Open Source visual text file differencing and merging tool for Win32 platforms. It is highly useful for determing what has changed between project versions, and then merging changes between versions.

Features:

• Visual differencing and merging of text files
• Flexible editor with syntax highlighting
• Handles DOS, UNIX and MAC text file formats
• Unicode support
• Difference pane shows current difference in two vertical panes
• Location pane shows map of files compared
• Highlights differences inside lines
• File filters in directory diff
• Moved lines detection in file compare
• Shell integration
• Rudimentary Visual SourceSafe and Rational ClearCase integration
• Archive file support using 7-zip
• Plugins
• Localizable interface via resource DLL
• HTML-based manual

Download WinMerge 2.8.6 in Softonic

pdfFactory products offer a unique approach to PDF creation that is simpler, more effective and less expensive than that offered by other programs.

Create PDF or print to paper

Only pdfFactory allows printing to paper or PDF without printing twice. Acrobat is not needed for printing.

Combines multiple documents into a single PDF

Increases the convenience of document delivery by having a single PDF that contains material from different sources. Just keep printing documents to pdfFactory and they will automatically be concatenated.

Preview

Allows quick, accurate previewing of the PDF, including up to 400% zoom, without saving the file first and without opening Acrobat.

Font embedding

Ensures that the original fonts used in a document are displayed even if the reader of the PDF does not have the fonts installed on his or her computer.

Page insertion and deletion

Allows unwanted material to be deleted before the PDF is created. This is especially useful when creating PDFs from long reports, email and web pages.

Send via email

One mouse click sends PDFs through your default email program. Also copies PDF to clipboard for pasting into existing email.

AutoSave

Saves entire contents of pdfFactory sessions automatically so you can retrieve previously compiled PDFs.

Live URL Links

Customize links by line type, thickness and color to open Web pages and email addresses with a click of your mouse.

Security

Encrypt and control access to PDF files

Bookmarks and Table of Contents

Automatically or manually create bookmarks to organize and easily navigate complex documents.

Integrated Jobs Tab

Shows all jobs and allows you to rearrange them.

Custom Drivers

Save your settings to multiple print drivers so you can quickly select them for specific tasks.

Set Initial Acrobat Display Properties

Such as zoom factor, layout and tab configuration.

Download PdfFactory Pro 3.35 in Softonic

I've always used MS Word for my word processing needs but if you don't have Office installed, then it's not exactly a cheap option.

AbiWord can read and write all standard industry docs ranging from open source efforts such as those created in OpenOffice to those created in professional apps such as Microsoft Word. It also features support for WordPerfect documents, Rich Text Format documents, HTML web pages etc. Although the editing options can't compare with Word, I do like the fact that this is a very light word processor that doesn't take up much more processing power than even MS Text. This makes it especially suitable for those working on slower machines who haven't got a decent word processor installed. What's also nice is that AbiWord is fully customisable with several different plugins to extend its capabilities. These can vary from format converters, document importers and thesauruses to image importers and a text format managers.

This may be basic but it's generally a very impressive word processing app that has everything you need to edit simple documents.

Download AbiWord 2.6.4 in Softonic

If you ever need to convert documents to PDF format, the easiest way to do so is simply by printing out your document with Royce PDF Printer.

Royce PDF Printer works as a virtual printer that's configured and added to your Printers and Faxes folder and thus accessible from any Windows application with printing capabilities. The difference is that, instead of creating a copy of your documents on paper, Royce PDF Printer generates a PDF file.

The PDF you create with Royce PDF Printer contains exactly the same information as the original document. Plus, being a standard format, you have the guarantee that it'll keep its design and design, no matter in which program and/or platform the PDF is used.

Royce PDF Printer includes a complete settings menu you can access from the "Preferences" button in the Print dialog of any Windows app. My only complaint is the size of the watermark: I understand this is a shareware version, but was that huge watermark really necessary?

With Royce PDF Printer you can convert any document to PDF, as long as the application you open it with has printing capabilities.

Download Royce PDF Printer in Softonic

NoteTab Light is the ultimate free Notepad replacement and a capable HTML editor. A slimmer version of the award-winning NoteTab Pro, this slick application makes text editing a breeze. Move quickly around a stack of large files with a simple tabbed interface. Format your text to your heart's content. Write with the font of your choice, fixed-width or proportional.

Key features:

• Open and edit many documents at once
• Capable of editing huge text files
• Text drag-and-drop editing
• AutoCorrect/Auto-replace mode
• Clip tool for quick and easy text insertion
• Capture text sent to Clipboard

Download NoteTab Light 5.7 in Softonic

NoteTab Pro is a leading-edge text editor and HTML coding tool, and an ideal Notepad replacement. Winner of top shareware industry awards since 1998, this elegant application does it all: you can handle multiple large files with a simple tabbed interface, use a spell-checker and thesaurus, format text, use multiple undo, and bookmark documents. You can build templates, use powerful system-wide searches, and do global multi-line replacements.

Key features:

• Open and edit many documents at once
• Multi-level undo/redo
• Very fast text processing
• Highlights URLs and HTML tags
• Supports document templates
• Multilingual spell checker and thesaurus
• Supports regular expression search/replace
• Programmable - add your own features

Download NoteTab Pro 5.7 in Softonic

Text editor that highlights more than 50 filetypes! (C/C++, HTML, ASP, PHP, Perl, Pascal..) Built-in spell checker, HEX editor, UNICODE, code templates, auto correction, print preview, bookmarks, export the text with highlighting to RTF, HTML and LaTeX format, support many character sets, scripting engine, evaluate math expressions, regular expressions, support file format for Windows, Unix, MacOS.

Download GridinSoft Notepad 3.3.2.6 in Softonic

Aloha Sign is a digital validation utility for documents that require a signature. If you want to verify the validity of an official document, Aloha Sign will help you in just a few clicks. It is compatible with all the main major digital signatures including PDF, P7M, D2D, XMLDSIG and PKCS7.

The really useful thing about this program is that if a document is revealed to be fake or unauthorised, it can revoke or approve a document online, offline or by an authorisation procedure known as OCSP. At the same time as verifying the validity of digital signatures, it can conduct various other tests according to several other protocols. It also includes a plug-in facility that allows it to integrate with other programs such as Adobe PDF reader.

This is a great utility if you need to authorise official documents digitally although the setup procedure seemed to hang-up on several occasions so persevere if you desperately need it.

Download Aloaha Sign 3.0.146 in Softonic

AkelPad is a beefy alternative to Windows Notepad. It's an interesting little app that provides many practical improvements on the Windows version that enhance editorial options.

When you install AkelPad, it offers three possibilities - to install it as a completely new program, to add it to Windows shell or to completely replace Windows notepad. AkelPad can do everything that Windows Notepad can but also includes features such as multiwindows, recent archives shortcuts and re-open closed document functions. You can also do simple things like change the colour and size of the font and visualize the documents in various formats.

The coolest feature though is the ability to add plugins. These include syntax highlighting, auto-completion, script execution, keyboard macros and much more. Autocomplete is particularly useful as it saves a lot of time typing documents by predicting what you write beforehand.

This is a great substitute for notepad although you can get most of these features in an average word processor.

Download AkelPad 3.5.6 in Softonic

A text editor and personal information manager with innovative, powerful features, InSight can also be an excellent tool for system maintenance, or as an Internet link manager, a multiple Clipboard capturing utility, and many more uses you'll discover for yourself. It has an optimized interface, with 32 new features & many other miscellaneous improvements.

Taking notes is finally made easy for everyone! Jot down your thoughts, ideas, bits of information, and organize them naturally, without effort. And be able to find them instantly! Customizable "skins", to-do lists and logs, file URLs, improved history and the ability to go back to previous documents, plus keyboard macros in templates and shortkeys, and much more...

Download InSight 3.7.1 in Softonic

No matter how accurate your typing is, you probably do a few typos every time you write an email or post something to your blog. How can you avoid this?

The answer is Enso Words. This universal spell checked takes care of your written accuracy when writing, be it in your word processor, your web browser, your email client or even your instant messaging app.

Simply select the text you want to analyze in whichever program you've written it and launch Enso Words using its keyboard shortcut. The spell checker will be displayed as a new layer over your screen, showing a copy of your text and highlighting all those words that seem to be wrong. To correct them, simply click on them and select the right option from the context menu. You can also make Enso Words learn new terms in this same context menu.

Any drawbacks? Well, if you're to be picky, Enso Words only supports English, and doesn't include advanced options to replace the same word all through the document or simply ignore it.

Enso Words can correct any text on an application, provided is written in English and you don't need any advanced features.

Download Enso Words 1.0 in Softonic

Steganos LockNote will change the way you work with confidential notes. Application and document in one: the mechanism to encrypt and decrypt a note is part of it. Secure, simple, independent. No installation required.

Store your most valuable notes as a LockNote

Hide your serial numbers, passwords, phone numbers and everyday notes in a safe place. Your informations will be encrypted using a password and most modern AES 256bit encryption technology.

Secure, yet simple

Just double-click a LockNote and enter your password to access your text files as usual.

No installation required

Move LockNotes wherever you want, as often as you want. A LockNote document does not require much more hard drive space than an unencrypted document.

Encrypt existing text files in no time at all

Simply drag and drop existing text files on a LockNote window: they will be encrypted automatically.

Open and free

LockNote is open source and is based upon open source technologies, e.g. the certified CryptoPP program library for strong encryption.

Download Steganos LockNote 1.0.4 in Softonic

Unless you're a talented touch typist or a professional secretary, your typing speed will probably be very average.

However, there are ways to speed up your typing without going to typing school. Speed Typing allows you to type frequently used text quickly and easily and then it automatically fills in the blanks. You just type a word, and Speed Typing will automatically replace it with a line or a paragraph. This is particularly useful for typing out standard phrases such as signatures, email addresses, frequently used sentences, URLs, phone numbers and even hieroglyphs.

The program uses a tree-like phrase storing structure which means it builds on phrases slowly but surely giving you a considerable arsenal of stored phrases and paragraphs after a limited period of time. In addition, the program has drag and drop support meaning you can drag and drop phrases or paragraphs in and out of it including formatted text. You can even insert pictures although the formatting of these leaves a lot to be desired as they jump all over the page. If you're editing a text, you can add comments to any phrase or if you're filling out forms, it can fill them out for you if you've done them before.

It's not perfect and it does frequently throw up phrases you don´t want to use but over time, Speed Typing can boost your productivity considerably.

Download Speed Typing in Softonic

Celtx is a comprehensive software package designed for people who work in the Film, TV, Theatre and New Media industries. It combines full-feature scriptwriting with media rich pre-production support and enables online collaboration.

Prior to Celtx, projects were completed using slip sheeted, paper based scripts maintained in bulky three ring binders that included hundreds, sometimes thousands, of attached pictures and hand written notes. Project information, in other words, could only be shared in paper form.

Scripts written or imported in to Celtx can be broken down digitally and, for the first time, easily shared with others to foster collaboration and creativity during the pre-production and production phases of film and TV making.

Download Celtx 1.0 in Softonic

WordPipe is used by IT personnel to repair hyperlinks when a server gets renamed, by SMEs and large organisations when they change their contact details, name or office bearers, by translators to apply massive search/replace lists - the list of uses is endless.

WordPipe applies one or more replacements to thousands of documents, to every part of your Microsoft Word documents. To use WordPipe, you simply add a list of search/replace pairs, and for each one, specify where in the document it should be found. Then you tell it which files to process - that's it!

What it can be used for:

• Standardize corporate name changes such as your organization's phone number, address, web site or CEO
• Performing server consolidations where document links need updating
• Server renaming or replacement where document links need updating
• Standardize Policy Headers
• Changing part numbers or SKUs across multiple files
• Removing digitized signatures from documents prior to converting them to PDF and placing them on the web
• Translating documents
• Correcting OCR (scanned) documents
• Detecting 'TOP SECRET' documents that have been saved in the wrong folder (by security identifiers located in headers)

Download WordPipe 5.7.1 in Softonic