Please recommend a drawing/sketching tool for PDFs 2

[RandomName]

In my last job with Jacobs I used BlueBeam Revu which was wonderful as a PDF editing software. Sketching was pretty effortless as I recall and there were lots of handy tools, even libraries for general structural shapes and various weld symbols. Everything worked smoothly: shapes, internal shading, dimensioning, etc.

I just switched jobs and now I'm being given Adobe 2017 as my only option which from what I can tell barely does anything. It's so bad it randomly breaks up a full page of text into separate chunks. WTF? How is this even sold to the public as a real program? This isn't in the same universe as what I had. And needless to say the drawing/commenting tools are incredibly basic. I can draw a few lines and change their color. That's about it.

Most people at my new company are older and hand-sketch things before scanning them in and attaching them to their engineering reports. Well, I'm at home so I don't have a scanner readily available and no, I'm not buying one. And TBH, that's not the answer. I need a simple, elegant PDF-editor in which I can make quality sketches without turning to a CAD sort of program.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[BAretired]

PDF Annotator is not too bad but not nearly as good as Bluebeam. I haven't really found one as good as Bluebeam, but perhaps I haven't looked hard enough.

For rough sketching, Paint is pretty good.

BA

 

[kipfoot]

I've used Foxit PDF Reader in combination with pdfFactory Pro. The Foxit Reader does rudimentary markups (shapes, text, clouds, etc) and pdfFactory combines PDFs from different programs. This lets me drag cad sketches onto a shop drawing, for example. I haven't used Bluebeam so these may not live up to what you're used to.

 

[Celt83]

If you're on Windows 10 Drawboard PDF is a passable editor with markup tools has some tools available for free other like their measuring tool are an in app purchase.

My Personal Open Source Structural Applications:

https://github.com/buddyd16/Structural-Engineering

Open Source Structural GitHub Group:

https://github.com/open-struct-engineer

 

[drawoh]

RandomName,

Can't your CAD software do PDF?

--
JHG

 

[phamENG]

I feel your pain. I use Bluebeam at my day job, but for my side business I decided to save a little and go with Adobe (saved $500 in startup costs). BIG mistake. It's buggy, crashes constantly, and has limited markup capability. The only benefit is the PDF editor - it recognizes Word's base formatting better than Bluebeam and makes for cleaner text edits when needed.

I hadn't used Drawboard before - but it looks like it's at least on par with Adobe and probably better - at 1/3 the price. If you have a tablet and stylus looks like Drawboard would be the way to go.

Unfortunately this is about using the right tool for the job. Bluebeam is that tool. You may just have to get used to using a wrench as a hammer. You could always download the trial version and do a demonstration for you boss. If you can show him that it's worth the extra few hundred bucks (it really only needs to save you a couple of hours per YEAR to be worth it).

 

[XR250]

I either import it into my CAD system or use Adobe

 

[WARose]

PDF Annotator would be a good choice. I liked Bluebeam as well.

If you don't mind me asking RandomName, what office were you working out of at jacobs? (I ask because i've worked in their Greenville, SC office a few times.)

 

[GeoEnvGuy]

Nitro PDF

 

[dauwerda]

I successfully convinced my current employer to purchase Bluebeam for me after leaving my previous company which used it. There are now 5 of us that have it.

 

[johnie134]

adobe

 

[Tomfh]

Bluebeam. If my employer didn't buy it I'd buy it myself.

 

[IDS]

I have not tried Bluebeam or any of the other purpose designed tools.

I either:
Print, mark up by hand and scan to pdf
or:
Copy to clipboard, paste into Excel, mark up with shapes and text-boxes, print to pdf.

Doug Jenkins
Interactive Design Services

http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/

 

[Retrograde]

I use PFD-XChange and find it OK.

 

[SnTMan]

2nd PDF X-Change as well, unlike SO MUCH software out there these days, worth what it costs. As I recall they have a free trial version, cost about $40 for the full I think.

BTW you can get an all-in-one printer scanner fax in B-size these days for a couple hundred bucks. Been very happy with my WF-7520.

Regards,

Mike

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand

 

[phamENG]

I know you said getting a scanner isn't the right answer, but if you find yourself backed into that corner....I'm sure you have a smartphone. Office Lens is a good app, and many new cell phones have document scanners built right into the native camera app. Office Lens and the Samsung Camera app (the two I'm familiar with) will recognize the boundaries of the document pretty well and "flatten" the image so it looks like a document that went through a decent scanner.

 

[Agent666]

Bluebeam. If my employer didn't buy it I'd buy it myself.

I'm with Tom on this. I couldn't live without it these days and would happily shell out my own money for it rather than use Adobe. Adobe is OK as a pdf viewer, I cannot imagine how painful it would be doing markups with it.

Totally false economy using something else. You don't know how much time you're potentially wasting using Adobe if you're used to working paperless with bluebeam (I'm sure you do, but your workmates probably don't if they are in the stone age). Time is money. Bluebeam is relatively cheap, a few wasted hours here and there will pay for it.

 

[Veer007]

In my opinion, Blue beam is the best choice if you have to cloud, callout, edit text, snap page, etc... you can do almost everything.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[dik]

Without hijacking this thread... is there a tool that I can use to import a *.pdf file into another without making a rubber stamp out of it?


Dik

 

[EDB9]

Dik,

Just about every PDF software I’ve used let’s you do this. They all have a different step to get there but I know you can use the snapshot feature in Adobe and paste the image elsewhere in the file or to another. Bluebeam does the same too. I don’t do either of those very often as I just do it thru AutoCAD using the command “pdfclip”. I’m much more efficient in CAD but it sounds like you’re wanting to use a simpler drafting process.

Erica