Comprehensive Buyer’s Guide to the Best PDF Editors for Financial Institutions and Banks
Productivity is a closely tracked metric in the finance and banking segment, and there’s a good reason for that being the case: with the emergence of so many private organizations in this segment, it pays to get an edge over competitors in any way possible. Fortunately, there are many PDF software applications that can increase a finance or banking professional’s productivity by measurable amounts. They help make document workflows more efficient and data transfers more secure and seamless, thereby increasing the speed at which daily work is executed. Since PDFs form a large part of financial documentation, it’s logical to want the very best for your organization and give it a significant advantage over the competition in terms of better service levels and speedier execution of deliverables.
Here’s our comprehensive buyer’s guide to the best PDF editors for the finance and banking segment.
#1 – PDFelement 7 Pro
Financial PDF Workflow Handling Capability: 5/5
Usability and Intuitiveness of Interface: 5/5
Feature Set: Comprehensive
OS Support: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
Licensing Options: One-time and Subscription-based
Pricing: $129 one-time or $99 per annum
PDFelement 7 Pro from Wondershare is a comprehensive financial documentation utility that handles heavy PDF workflows with ease. One of the important advantages of this software is the gentle learning curve. That translates directly into reduced training times for employees during deployment of the software across your organization, as well as lower expenditure by the employer. Some of the key capabilities of PDFelement 7 Pro include: a full editing suite, easy-to-use and comprehensive annotation tools, PDF conversion into multiple formats like spreadsheets and slide presentations, protection and encryption, and more.
The OCR module deserves special mention because it transforms the conversion of scanned PDFs into editable files into a simple task. For instance, employee receipts for reimbursement that have been digitized can be put through the OCR module and the information accurately extracted into the desired format. That also means digitizing large portions of your documentation and saving paper in the long run.
Another important point to note is that PDFelement can standardize all your financial documents by converting them into PDF/A format, which is a global ISO standard. In the tightly regulated world of finance and banking, this is a critical component of any PDF software.
PDFelement is also a master of batch conversion and other batch jobs, which means your workflows will move faster through the required channels, and you can rely on the accuracy of the converted documents, which is an absolute must-have in this industry.
Some of the other relevant features are:
- Form data extraction – PDFelement allows you to execute rules-based data extraction from digital or scanned forms. You can create custom form templates for your clients, analyze financial data for risk profiling, build forms from existing MS Word files, and address several other aspects of governance.
- Data Security – In an environment where information security is paramount, this robust tool enables password-based encryption and permission restrictions, digital signatures, certificates, redaction, watermarking, etc. Many of these tasks can also be executed as batch processes, saving time, money, and effort.
- Document Collaboration – The annotation and sharing tools ensure that your employees always have access to the latest version. Instead of relying on email threads to keep track of changes, they can be done within the documents themselves and shared in a secure manner with other collaborators, thereby streamlining documentation workflows and making overall file management easier than with other tools.
- File Size Optimization – This feature allows your workflows to occupy a significantly smaller footprint, thereby contributing to lower TCO by allowing you to store, send, and archive files in an efficient manner.
- Cross-platform Support – Since PDFelement is available on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Linux, it is compatible with all major brands of PCs, Macs, and mobile devices like iPhone, iPad, Samsung premium models, and other gadgets. That means workflows don’t need to stop when an employee is away from their desk or traveling for work reasons. This is true mobility and will be a significant contributor to improving overall productivity and efficiency.
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#2: Nitro Pro 12
Financial PDF Workflow Handling Capability: 4/5 (Limited Batch Processes)
Usability and Intuitiveness of Interface: 5/5
Feature Set: Comprehensive, with some additional costs for add-on features
OS Support: Windows only
Licensing Options: One-time
Pricing: Starts at $159 per user
Following closely on the heels of Adobe Acrobat DC Pro, Nitro Pro 12, which is part of the Nitro Productivity Suite®, is another ideal companion for professionals in the financial segment. The intuitive interface is appealing and cost-friendly from a training viewpoint, and the software offers all the pro tools you’d expect from a robust PDF editor.
Nitro Pro offers all the financial tools you need for document management, including page management (merging and splitting), bookmarking, editing, converting, security, and more. The OCR function is highly accurate and comparable to that of PDFelement – and, in many cases, better than Adobe’s PDF editor. The upgrade for cloud integration is a useful tool for collaborative workflows, but the extra cost per user tends to push customers toward their chosen cloud architecture. As a matter of fact, cloud integration with both Adobe and PDFelement is more versatile than with Nitro.
In summary, Nitro Pro 12 is a great tool for financial companies to consider because it promises significant efficiencies through its feature offerings. However, it is restricted to Windows computers, and there are no mobile apps for iOS or Android.
#3: Adobe Acrobat DC Pro
Financial PDF Workflow Handling Capability: 5/5
Usability and Intuitiveness of Interface: 4/5
Feature Set: Comprehensive
OS Support: Windows and macOS; Only Adobe Reader for iOS and Android
Licensing Options: One-time and Subscription
Pricing: $450 one-time or $179 per annum
No list of PDF editors for the financial industry is complete without mentioning the market leader. The ubiquitous Adobe Acrobat in its DC (Document Cloud) Pro avatar has been the go-to PDF editor for ages but is starting to show signs of weakness against the competition. Nevertheless, it remains the PDF editor of choice for millions of businesses and enterprise companies all over the world.
The latest iteration of the Pro version is well-integrated with Adobe’s own cloud service and has several UI improvements that users have been waiting for. Even though it’s packed with features, it’s a lot easier to navigate because of the introduction of a special sidebar panel for tools. You can create, edit, export (convert), comment, organize, sign, fill, sign, protect PDFs, as well as enhance scanned documents and convert them into editable documents using OCR.
Adobe Acrobat DC Pro is an ideal tool for financial PDF document workflows because of its extensive features. It is also available for macOS in addition to the original Windows application but the mobile apps are limited to Adobe Reader, which doesn’t have the extensive feature offering of the desktop PDF editor.
Although it’s right for the job, the price can be prohibitive for smaller businesses and companies on a tight budget. For that reason, products like Nitro and PDFelement are growing fast to fill this massive gap left by Adobe that’s solely based on price point. They offer equally robust feature-sets at much lower prices.
#4: Kofax Power PDF Advanced
Financial PDF Workflow Handling Capability: 3/5 (Some Advanced Features Not Available)
Usability and Intuitiveness of Interface: 4/5
Feature Set: Comprehensive, with some additional costs for add-on features
OS Support: Windows only (Standard version available for Mac users)
Licensing Options: One-time
Pricing: Starts at $179 per user
The branding change turned Nuance into Kofax but the software is essentially the same. The UI is simple and uncluttered and the Windows styling for the menus makes it more intuitive for new users to get accustomed to.
Kofax Power PDF Advanced is a lot like Adobe Acrobat DC Pro but with a more intuitive UI. You’ll notice that it sports a large portion of the tools that Adobe’s software has, and it serves the purpose for financial organizations looking to switch over to something cheaper.
The OCR feature is quite good as long as the scanned documents are clear; if not, you might get unexpected results, which is bad news when the data is of a financial nature. But if that’s not your main task then Kofax is more than capable of handling day-to-day tasks typically executed at financial organizations, which include form-filling and form-creation, PDF conversion, editing, e-signing with DocuSign integration, merging, sharing, security, and collaboration. On that last point, it’s worth noting that Kofax allows multiple users to simultaneously work on the same document when it’s saved on a shared location. At a one-time $179 price, it’s worth checking out. Although there’s no Advanced product for macOS, Kofax does offer a Standard version for both Mac and Windows in addition to the Advanced version for Windows.
#5: Foxit PhantomPDF Business 9
Financial PDF Workflow Handling Capability: 4/5 (Limited Batch Processes)
Usability and Intuitiveness of Interface: 4/5
Feature Set: Comprehensive, with some additional costs for add-on features
OS Support: Windows only (Standard version available for Mac users)
Licensing Options: One-time
Pricing: Starts at $179 per user
The ninth iteration of Foxit’s PhantomPDF for businesses is sufficient for more finance-related PDF tasks such as compiling PDFs from various sources including a scanner. You can even insert pages into an existing PDF directly from a scanner, which is useful when putting together data from disparate sources. One unique feature is that you can select just a portion of your PDF file to convert into other formats like Office files, HTML, and RTF.
PhantomPDF Business 9 contains nearly all the features required to maintain financial documents of various types and it will definitely speed up your workflows. The Windows-style navigation is intuitive for most users and the tool includes key features like creating, converting, editing, OCR, annotations, etc. It is also well-integrated with popular cloud platforms. The robust suite of security features increases user confidence in the product, especially in the field of finance and banking.
The software is available on a subscription basis for a very reasonable $120 a year, and the new version includes cloud services integration as opposed to the previous versions that required a paid add-on license.
#6: PDF-XChange PRO from Tracker
Financial PDF Workflow Handling Capability: 4/5 (Limited Batch Processes)
Usability and Intuitiveness of Interface: 2/5
Feature Set: Comprehensive, with some additional costs for add-on features
OS Support: Windows only
Licensing Options: One-time
Pricing: Starts at $93.50 per user
PDF-XChange PRO is actually a software bundle containing the Standard version, PDF Tools and Editor Plus. It’s a budget product for cost-conscious financial companies and finance and banking professionals but it comes with a pretty impressive list of features that includes OCR; Enhanced OCR is a paid optional plugin for the software.
The major drawback of this tool is that it is three separate programs that you’ll have to jump back and forth with in order to do simple tasks like PDF editing, creating PDFs from scans and creating PDFs from other file types. Together, however, they offer nearly everything that a finance professional will be looking for.
The best part about this utility is its price – $93.50 for a single user with volume discounts for small and large teams, plus $14.95 for Enhanced OCR. That’s quite reasonable for getting all the tools you need to manage financial documents.
#7: Adobe Acrobat DC
Financial PDF Workflow Handling Capability: 4/5
Usability and Intuitiveness of Interface: 4/5
Feature Set: Basic but workable
OS Support: Windows and macOS; Only Adobe Reader for iOS and Android
Licensing Options: One-time and Subscription
Pricing: $400 one-time or $156 per annum
The standard version of Adobe’s PDF editor is quite capable of handling most daily tasks that a finance expert would expect. Unless you’re doing large batches or OCR, this version works quite well.
Let’s not forget that Adobe was the company that first broke ground with PDFs and changed the way the financial world handled documentation and data sharing. That’s clearly visible in their product even though it only covered all the basic tasks of PDF management.
Some of these tasks include security, financial document management, collaborative tools, conversion into easily editable formats like Excel, extracting data, form handling, etc.
From a cost perspective, this product doesn’t come cheap. However, it’s from a well-known pioneer in the space and generally reliable in terms of functionality. There are better alternatives today, and we’ve covered the best of them in this article. Hopefully, it will help you make a solid decision for your organization or finance team.
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