PDF File/Form Management and Digital Signing Options
Page reference link: https://jhu-son.atlassian.net/wiki/x/AgDjC
We get a lot of questions about Adobe Acrobat DC. Those questions are often motivated by a need to edit PDFs and create fillable PDF forms. In many cases, the full (paid) version of Acrobat DC is not required. It is important to know if your workflows require it or not. We’ll try to answer your questions here.
We would prefer to have Adobe Acrobat DC installed on every machine we manage and we used to do this a number of years ago. Unfortunately, Adobe drastically changed their licensing structure making it cost prohibitive to have it installed on every machine and now have changed their licensing model to per user rather than per machine.
As of Spring 2024, below are JHU’s negotiated pricing on a few options for PDF processing.
As of July 2024, a perpetual license option for Acrobat Pro is no longer available. A perpetual license is something you buy once and can use it indefinitely (until no longer supported). Those who have any older perpetual type license versions like Acrobat Pro 2020 installed on their machines will have to have this removed by the August 2025 timeframe.
There is a subscription option for Acrobat DC for about $127/year/user (renews every May 31).
You will also find in the MyJH Software Catalog an annual subscriptions to Adobe Creative Cloud. This is currently about $270/year/user (renews every May 31), but includes Acrobat DC, Photoshop, Illustrator, as well as many other Adobe tools and cloud services. It also includes Adobe Sign for digital signatures for those who need this functionality.
Finally, if Adobe’s pricing irks you, there is a very similar product called Foxit PDF Editor which is about $40 initially and about $8 annually after that. Foxit is available for both Mac and Windows. For those who have a justified need, SON ITS will obtain and pay for this license. Foxit can electronically sign PDF documents and create documents for signature, but our license doesn’t cover the workflow (sending out and recording signed documents) that Adobe Sign and DocuSign have. To request a license, please complete this survey Foxit PDF Editor Request.
If Adobe Sign is not sufficient for your digital signature needs JHU also has a contract with DocuSign which is more widely accepted when an official certified signature workflow is required (for NIH submissions at JHU for example). We in SON IT don’t know that much about this, but the JH Enterprise has information here DocuSign at JHU.
Which PDF File/Form Management Tool Should I Choose?
Many users will not actually need any PDF editor at all. If you are simply creating or editing PDFs and aren’t doing sophisticated document management or forms creation, then you should definitely consider options already available. On the Mac, these include Preview to edit / sign PDFs, and any application can create (print to PDF) through the print dialog. On Windows, the Microsoft Office suite can both create and often edit PDF documents. Editing a PDF with Word might be limited in some cases. Windows also has a Print to PDF option that allows you to create a PDF from virtually any application. If your job requires more advanced PDF management capabilities, here is some comparison information to help decide.
Feature | Adobe Acrobat DC Subscription | Adobe Creative Cloud Subscription | Foxit PDF Editor |
|---|---|---|---|
License Terms | Renews every May 31 (price is pro-rated, around $127 per year) | Renews every May 31 (price is pro-rated, around $270 per year) | $40 purchase for first year; $8 per year after |
Read, Edit, Merge PDFs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Create and edit fillable PDF forms | Yes | Yes | Yes. However, if you frequently manage fillable PDF forms, Acrobat might be a better choice. |
Other included applications | None | Photoshop, Illustrator, and MANY (about 47) other PC / Windows / mobile applications | None |
Additional Cloud Storage | None | 100GB on the Adobe Cloud | None |
Create Adobe Sign workflows (similar to Docusign) | No | Yes | No |
PCWorld provides some additional comparisons between Acrobat DC and Foxit at the link below. Their ultimate recommendation is Acrobat DC (formerly Acrobat Pro), but that assumes users would be making full use of many of Acrobat’s advanced features. Frankly, for most of the work done at the SON involving PDF files, Foxit is probably a more than adequate alternative if you are looking to keep costs down. | |||
How Do I Get Acrobat or Foxit Installed?
Once you’ve decided which product you require for your job, you can submit a request to SON ITS for Foxit using this survey Foxit PDF Editor Request or order a license for Acrobat DC yourself in the Hopkins Software Catalog Adobe Acrobat DC. You will get installation information when the procurement is complete (it can take a bit for the licenses to get processed — they need to be activated with Adobe). Once you have your license information/confirmation, if you have trouble installing the software (like, you are given a notice about requiring administrative privileges on your computer) please contact the Help Desk SON-Help@jh.edu or 410-614-8800 and we will be happy to assist.