Improved PDF Form Designer, Modify PDF Forms

We are pleased to announce some new features for PDFescape, the free PDF editor and free PDF form filler:

  • Improved PDF form field designer. Use our free PDF form designer to add new PDF drop down, radio, and list form fields.
  • Edit existing PDF form fields. Delete fields no longer needed in a PDF form. Unlock and then modify PDF fields that need to be moved, resized, or restyled.
  • Firefox 3.6 support
These features are live on PDFescape effective immediately.

RAD PDF 1.4 Released

Version 1.4 of the ASP.NET PDF Viewer and PDF Editor, RAD PDF, has been released.

This new version improves XFA Form support, is compatible with 64-bit servers, & adds new server-side events.

First, native 64-bit (x64 / AMD64 / Intel64 / x86-64) support allow for wider deployment on high end servers running the latest versions of Windows Server.

Second, a revamp of RAD PDF's methods and documentation will allow new users to more easily get up and running with our ASP.NET PDF editor.

Release Notes

RAD PDF 1.3 Released

Version 1.3 of the ASP.NET PDF Viewer and PDF Editor, RAD PDF, has been released.

This new version is improves document loading times, adds annotation support, & improves browser compatibility.

First, a number of improvements to PDFescape, the free PDF editor, have filtered down to RAD PDF. Primarily, PDF files now load quicker, the Opera browser is now supported, and text annotations can now be created & manipulated.

Second, the RAD PDF DocumentEditor object has been extended to offer more control over PDF objects & new RAD PDF sample implementations in both C# and VB.NET have been released.

Release Notes

Opera & PDF Annotation Support

On the heels of our previous PDFescape announcement, we're proud to announce that PDFescape now also supports the Opera browser (9.5+) as well as select PDF annotations.

Opera supported in free PDF editor, PDFescape

PDFescape now displays and edits PDF text annotations (commonly called "Sticky Notes"). New sticky notes can also be added using the new "Sticky Note" tool, allowing notes to be made on PDF files more easily.

Edit PDF sticky notes in PDFescape

A full list of PDFescape's features can be found here.

PDFescape Enhanced

Several new features have been added to the free PDF editor, PDFescape, this month:
  1. PDF files now load quicker. Instead of being forced to wait for the entire PDF file to load, the first page of opened PDF files is displayed nearly instantly. Furthermore, PDFescape's footprint has been reduced to allow for quicker loading on slow internet connections.
  2.  PDF pages now will appear crisper and cleaner. Improved server side code allows PDFescape to render opened files more accurately. Additional client side code now makes use of browser specific optimizations (such as the canvas element in Firefox, Chrome, & Safari)
Additionally, several more minor improvements including cleaner page rotations in Internet Explorer and more accurate line drawing tools have been made.

RAD PDF 1.2 Released

Version 1.2 of the ASP.NET PDF Viewer and PDF Editor, RAD PDF, has been released.

This new version is easier to install and configure, and features a number of new tools and improvements.

First, RAD PDF now furthers it's ability to edit documents using the DocumentEditor class allowing objects to be added prior to a PDF being displayed in RAD PDF. New properties for these objects also allow advanced control over how a user is permitted to interact with them. For example, a new form field can be added to RAD PDF which can be moved or resized, but not deleted or renamed.

Second, a number of improvements to PDFescape, the free PDF editor, have filtered down to RAD PDF. Primarily, text selection is now available in all browsers. This improvement allows RAD PDF to function like a true in-browser Adobe Reader replacement in all supported web browsers.

Full list of changes

PDF Text Selection - All Browsers Supported

For regular users of PDFescape, the free PDF editor and free PDF form filler, some major user interface improvements. Most notably:

Adding new objects to PDF files is even easier with the new "click to add" tools. Creating multiple objects, typing on PDF files, creating PDF forms, and filling out PDF forms is faster and more intuitive.

Object position tools are a bit snappier. The internal stack for PDFescape has been overhauled allowing for faster response in older browsers.

And, after several months of only providing support to Firefox , we are proud to announce that all supported PDFescape browsers can now select (and copy)  text.

PDF editor and PDF form filler now selects text in all browsers

These new features take effect on all PDFescape user accounts immediately.

RAD PDF 1.1 Released & PDF Form Updates

We are proud to announce a few minor upgrades to both PDFescape and RAD PDF.

First up, RAD PDF is now at version 1.1. The ASP.NET PDF Viewer & PDF Editor now features a number of code optimizations and improvements as well as a new DocumentEditor class which allows the pre-processing of PDF documents before they are displayed in RAD PDF.

Currently, the DocumentEditor class is limited to pre-filling PDF form fields, however this class will be expanded in future versions to accommodate all object types supported by RAD PDF.

RAD PDF now officially supports Firefox 3.5.

See full updates list

Also, PDFescape, the free PDF editor and free PDF form filler has been updated to improve PDF form filling. Amongst a number of improvements, PDFescape now supports PDF form field combs, better enforces max field lengths, and improves support of PDF specified PDF form field styles.

RAD PDF Beta Now Public & PDFescape Firefox 3.5 Compatible

The ASP.NET PDF Viewer & PDF Editor, RAD PDF is now in public BETA. This initial release features a number of updates over the initial private BETA releases including the new bookmark and url / page annotation support.

With the release of Firefox 3.5, PDFescape, the free PDF editor and PDF form filler, has been updated to support this new release of the extremely popular open source browser.

Bookmarks And Links Support In PDFescape

We are proud to announce that our free pdf editor and pdf form filler, PDFescape now supports PDF bookmarks as well as PDF links!

Now an even more complete PDF viewer than ever, PDFescape makes navigating and using PDF files without an installed PDF reader even easier.

PDF editor with bookmark and link support

Files opened in PDFescape will now display bookmarks on the left hand side in the Bookmarks tab, providing an outline of the PDF file.

Hyperlinks embedded in the document can be clicked and viewed as well. Like other security conscious PDF viewers, PDFescape will warn you when clicking a link to prevent you from visiting a site which you did not intend to click on.

For users who need more room to edit their PDF documents, clicking the highlighted tab (be it the thumbnails or bookmarks) will allow minimizing of the left side toolbars.

This update is the first in a series to further grow the features and functionality of PDFescape as they are prepared for integration into our new ASP.NET PDF viewer and editor, RAD PDF.