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Inexpensive & Indispensable Tool - A Realtor's Best Friend

idea I like to share when I find something extraordinary.

I purchased a pdf editor a few months back that has made my work so much easier.

Do you work selling REO's that want their own forms to be used? Want to avoid having to hand write them? Especially the all-important legal description which is easier to copy & paste using a computer. This software I found creates fields so you can fill in previously non-fillable pdf files.

Do you wish you had an MLS input form that you could fill out on the PC instead of by hand? This software will take care of that too.

Did you ever get a fax in your e-fax that was missing one of the pages in the middle and didn't want to request that the whole 30 pages be refaxed to you? No worries. Ask for just the missing page and then insert it in the middle with this software.

Did you ever get a scan from a client in a tif format but everyone you're working with wants only pdf format? Don't bother your client to figure out how to scan in pdf format. You can convert it lickety split with this. This amazing software converts tiffs, , jpegs, bmps, gifs and other formats into pdf files.

Did you ever get an email from a client who can only scan one page at a time and wondered what to do with 17 pdf files other than printing them all and scanning them yourself into one file? This software will merge all 17 files into 1. Click, click, click, select. You're done!

Did you ever get a pdf e-fax that you want to forward to someone but don't want to send the whole thing? (for instance, the cover page which was meant for your eyes only). This software will split a file into 1 or more pdfs. Are you liking what you hear?

Did you ever want to rotate one of the pages in a pdf because it was sideways and you don't to have to keep hitting ctrl, shift +? This baby will take care of that too.

But wait. There's more! There is so much more that this software can do that I haven't used yet that I really think you should check it out. In case the benefits I've listed above don't cover your particular situation.

And best of all, it's not going to set you back several hundreds of dollars. It only costs $19.99. I paid 50% more for a software that only fills in fillable pdfs. Nothing more. If I came across a pdf file that was not fillable I was stuck. That's what led me to look for something better. I'm so glad I kept looking.

PDFill So what is this amazing software called? PDFill PDF Editor.

This thing is amazing! I find myself using it at least once every day. It has made my work so much easier since I bought it. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to save time and aggravation.

Maggie Dokic is a licensed real estate broker in the state of Florida selling residential real estate in Miami, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, Coral Gables, Gables by the Sea, High Pines and the Redland.

For more information on our local real estate market, or to see or sell a home in Miami, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, Coral Gables or the Redland, visit my Miami Real Estate blog or contact me at Maggie (at) TheBlogThatAteMiami (dot) com.

The opinions expressed herein, are those of the author, and not necessarily of Prudential Florida Realty.

Posted by Palmetto Bay | Redland Real Estate | Maggie Dokic on 09/07/2009 09:43 AM

Comments (111)

PDF Editor in the Technology and Tools Channel

111 Comments on Inexpensive & Indispensable Tool - A Realtor's Best Friend

SEP

Thanks for the great tip. Sounds like it is really worth the small amount.

Edward & Celia - I can't say enough good things about this software. I would have gladly paid 5 times more because of all it does....but I didn't have to! Check it out. You'll be glad you did.

Looks wonderful! Hope they come out with a Mac version!

Sounds like a great tool. I'll have to check it out.

Wow - thanks for doing the homework and passing it along.

Sort of off topic, but I use a monthly fax service called rapidfax (rapidfax.com). It's $9.95/month and my faxes are delivered via e-mail in PDF format. AND, if I receive a PDF inspection report that I want to send to my repairman who doesn't have e-mail, rapidfax will send it to his fax machine.

This is unbelievable... now I won't have to take 2 aspirins before I go to bed (lol)! A great tip!

Lori, I have a similar service for my faxes. I use Packetel and they charge 3.95/mo. I love the fact that I can pay the whole year at once and not break the bank. LOL They also offer sending a pdf to someone's fax machine, but that does cost extra. I think they charge per page. I've never had to use it though.

Joan, I think you'll probably get as much use from it as I have. I can tell from your comment. I really could not get through the day without this handy software. Enjoy your pain-free days!

MAggie - sounds almost too good to be true. Thanks for passing this along - I love how folks share their tech tips, software and gadgets here on AR!

Have a great holiday - off to some showings.

Jeff

Wow, the inserting a page sounds fantastic, I will check it out. (((mwa)))

Jeff, I can point to lots of things I use which I read about on AR. This place is a fab place to learn.

Check this one out for sure. You will LOVE it!

Good luck on your showings. I have 2 buyers to see this afternoon myself. =)

Missy, that feature as well as some others are actually FREEBIES they include with the purchase. I LOVE this thing! A big kiss back atcha!

Thanks for sharing, what a great tip!

Thanks for the great tip.

Sounds like Adobe Pro for a fraction of the cost to start with.

Maggie, your'a doll! And don't you have a birthday coming up?

I have the complete Adobe license, but my husband doesn't and we didn't want to "splurge". This is a wonderful tip. Thanks.

I use the Adobe pdf software, but it is basically the same idea. I LOVE it, it does all you said here and more. It makes life easier and my files cleaner.

I also love using it to 'print' things - when I want a record of something but don't want to waste paper I print and select my pdf print driver instead of my ink printer from the drop down list... and then I save it whereever I want. Great for keeping tax records for properties that someone MIGHT offer on, or records of purchases or payments you make online...

Maggie - This looks like an awesome tool! Thanks so much for sharing this - I think I'll start using it this week.

Yay for pdf tools! I use PDF Annotator for my tablet so I can write on PDFs and take signatures on the screen. Makes me so happy!

Yes, some kind of PDF-editor is a must. I use a freeware tool called PDF-Viewer. It does let you edit, annotate (like putting a "sgin here" stamp on a document), and more.

There have a pay-for version too with more functionality.

I also use Primo-PDF "printer" that you lets to "print" from any program to create a PDF file as the output.

Thank you so much! I love to hear about great tools like this!

I wish I knew about this. I paid out a few hundred dollars for Adobe Acrobat Pro to do all these things! I am like you. I use it almost daily. I am going to pass this product information around to my colleagues so they don't have to pay like I did! Thanks,

Thanks, Maggie - I have been considering the Adobe upgrade, this is a fantastic price - that inserting a page tool will be great.

Wow, what a great tip...And it doesn't break the bank either! Thanks also for the info on fax programs in the comments, I'm going to bookmark this and follow up on that too!

I love reading about all the great teckie tools out there. And the best thing is I'm starting to understand them.

Maggie - Thanks for the info. This looks like an outstanding tool to be able to use in my business.

"But wait. There's more!"

makes me laugh. I have always wondered why there are products like this?? Whether it infringes on Adobes product... or maybe what I wonder is what's the catch?

I spent time looking for what you say this does and I found a PDF Merger and then a PDF Splitter so it was not worth while. I will definately check this out immediatly.

What I said above, this time logged in:

I spent time looking for what you say this does and I found a PDF Merger and then a PDF Splitter so it was not worth while. I will definately check this out immediatly.

Looks great. Love the price! I need it for MAC!

Now that is a great time saving problem solving tip!!! Many thanks for this!!! I will check it out!

This looks like a great tool - will have to check it out! I get SO FED UP with pdfs!

Maggie- Thanks for this great tool that is much less than adobe's products that do this also. I am going to get this on our main computer. I see many benefits to using it. Thanks for posting this! Katerina

I am a big fan of Snagit that lets you take a picture of anything you see online in any way - selection or scrolling page, make any changes you want, and then put it into any kind of output. It does some of what you mention above, but I don't tihnk it will combine multiple PDF files into one, a feature I could occasionally use. It also won't let you insert a page in the middle of a document which would come in useful for short sale packages. Thanks for the tip. Sounds like it is well worth the selling price.

Hey thanks for making us aware of this. Sounds good to me and I plan to check it out.

Patricia Aulson/portsmouth nh homes

Hey, thanks for the feature AR. =)

Maureen, your comment made me wonder so of course I went to Google. I found this:

Formerly a proprietary format, PDF was officially released as an open standard on July 1, 2008, and published by the International Organization for Standardization.

I'm not sure if this answers the question though!

Colleen, I have snagit also but have only used it to capture sections of my screen. I had no idea I could do more with it. Live and learn! LOL

Thanks to everyone for their comments.

Okay, you sold me. Getting rid of that pesky cover page on my eFaxes has been the bane of my existence (well, a minor nuisance anyway), so I will be using this product immediately. Thanks!!!

Thanks for sharing your tip we can all use. I'm going to check it out immediately.

Have been using this software for a few years now. It is great. There is only one thing I wish they would add and that is the ability to underline your text.

Hi Maggie~ Thanks so much for passing this along. I also like the info about Packetel faxing too!

Maggie, Thuis is EXACTLY what I have been looking for for all the reasons you have outlined. I keep procrastinating because I just didn't to spend the money to upgrade my adobe. Thank you!!!!

Great post looks like a wonderful tool that I need to look into.

I used to use this years ago and I can't remember why I stopped. Not I just use Adobe. It is loaded on another computer that I will have to check out again.

Hello Maggie !

I thought you were about due for another great tip for us !

... and here you are :o)

Cheers !

Sheldon

Thanks for the Great tips i have PdF convert softwear i used but i wasn't know it has that many functions.I think i need lookin to more.

Fantastic tip. Thanks very much for sharing your know how.

Patricia - for Mac you can use PDFPen. Here's a link. http://www.smileonmymac.com/PDFpen/

Maggie - I didn't have to read past where this product would let you fill in your MLS forms to know I was sold on it. That alone would save me so much time. I've been looking for quite awhile to find a product like this that wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg. Thank you!!

Thanks for this tip. . I will also get it for my desktop in my office.. . thanks for sharing it!

Awesome looking tool! Thanks for getting the word out!

Maggie -

Aren't you the smart one! Generosity seems to be a hallmark of AR bloggers - very nice.

Awesome! Adobe stuff is so expensive I could never really justify the expense, this is so much better. Hope it is easy to use.

Maggie, I'll be checking into this one for sure! Thank you for introducing this to us!

Hi Maggie -- Thanks for the tip. I was thinking of creating some new editable PDFs so I'll see if they have a trial version to check out.

Hi there Maggie: That sound like a really good thing to ad to your real estate tool boxd.

Good to know!

Thank you so much for the heads up, sounds like it is a great value and very practical.

Maggie,

What you are saying is so good, that I am pinching myself to make sure I am not asleep (LOL). For $19.99 I am game. Thanks

SEP

I get very frustrated when I can't save my PDF form for my BPO's.

Anything that can save me more time away from the pencil and the scanner will become an instant favorite.

It sounds like this is really a feature-packed PDF utility. Thanks for the tip, Maggie!

MAGGIE- Sounds great! You would make an awesome product pitch woman! You go girl!

Thank you, Maggie, for the great tip. I am bookmarking this!

This takes the cake! This saves time, trees and ink. I have always wanted to convert tif files. Thanks so much for sharing.

Thanks Maggie...I also was in need of something like this and was just about ready to splurge on Adobe Acrobat Pro. Timing is everything!

I can't believe so many of you don't already have a PDF editor.......What will you do with all the extra time.......do some research and do not rely on Realtor.org to keep you abreast of new software or ideas they are usually well behind the curve......sorry but it's the truth....you only read about it after they have done a story......more than ever we have to think out side the box and find tools that streamline our business!

OK, I cometh late to the PDF editor table...I, too, shall check this out. Thanks.

Good Morning Maggie,

Thanks for the fantastic tip, and the wonderful posting!!! In today's economic climate, it is nice to hear about tools that we can clearly use that are not hundreds of dollars. Anyone that does not have a PDF Editor (and everyone should), this one will enhance your business tremendously.

Wow, that is a great price for such a helpful tool. I had never heard of it but will definitely look into it. We also love CutePDF for writing documents to .pdf and it's free! It doesn't allow you to edit a .pdf though.

That was on my to-do list for this week! Hooray - thanks for the tip!

Tina in Virginia

This sounds like a great tool and you are right about dealing with those pesky PDF's.

Maggie: I implemented this great tip on one of my previous posts about the TOP TOOLS REALTORS NEED FOR BUSINESS.

You can delete this comment if you feel is inappropriate and I will not be offended. . but I'm trying to build one post where people can see suggestions such as yours and take advantage for all our community,

You can see it here. .

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1222685/top-ten-websites-you-will-not-see-in-active-rain-but-i-know-you-need-them-

Thanks,

MAGGIE!!! You have saved me so much money! I was planning on upgrading Adobe for this exact reason! You are the bomb! Thank you so much for the tip!

That is a great software. First thing I needed to make check on was its ability to password protect private documents, which it does have. Plus I can create a master password along with a user password. I've been using NITRO PDF, but this looks to be a little better and at least half the price.

For faxes I (like you) also use Packatel. That is a great deal. I used to use JFax (eFax or J2) which was expensive. Packatel is excellent.

Thanks for the tip. I just bought mine. I have been looking for a cheap and easy solution to this for a long time.

Excellent! Thanks so much for the tip. I just started using my ScanSnap product that scans documents into Pdf files, and now with this editor, there's no stopping me!!

I think this is my first post here, although I've been a member for at least a year. I'm a little shy, so please forgive me :)

Lisa Goranson, Broker, e-PRO

Michael Realty, Chicago.

Thank you so much...this has been an ongoing headache for me. I'm excited to try it!

This sounds great! I will have to check it out....thanks, Maggie.

Maggie,

I love tools that save me time so thank you for sharing this information.

Congratulations on the featured post!

Maggie, thanks for finding this tool for all of us. I have a basic PDF file creator but yours is much more flexible.

I downloaded a free PDF editor and now I can not get the thing to work. Are purchased copies easier to use?

Maggie, your post is exactly why I love AR, people like you who love to share your knowledge and help all of us that sometimes struggle to get things done in a timely manner, I am off to check it out.

Antonio

PS: I you ever wanted to learn how to cha-cha... let me know

Maggie - cool product and it would be so helpful for us at a great price, too. Thanks for sharing

Great tool. Thanks for the helpful post. I will be looking into PDFill PDF Editor.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

By the way, meant to say, I'm sure you're well aware, but everybody needs to be very careful when making changes to a .pdf of a legal document. Can get you in trouble.

Thanks for the tip, Maggie. I was looking for a PDF tool like this and so many came up on my search, it was a bit overwhelming. I wil be sure to check it out.

You are my new best friend. :) Cannot wait to try it out - particularly for grabbing mutliple pdf's and merging into one! Thanks so much for sharing!

I've been using a similar product for years called PDF995 (the free version has sponsor ads)...it is definitely one of my indispensable tools!

Leilani (Souza Realty)

Howdy!

We use Macs exclusively-honestly, I can't imagine the machinations people go through with Windozz!

On the Mac side, we use Formulate Pro to fill out pdf files and a great program called Combinepdf. Last time I looked they were both free.

Serving Buyers and Sellers in Northern Kentucky since 1987. Moving People is what WE do!

Chris & Amy Christman

CHRISTMAN FAMILY, REALTORS®

Hi Maggie-Congrats on the well deserved feature and finding this great tool. :-)

Hi Maggie, Yes I have been looking for something like this. I will check this out, and also, Leilani #89's pdf995. Like that one because she says it is free:) thanks for sharing!

Hey Maggie,

So good to see you in the Rain again, missed you! Thanks for the heads up on this.

I had almost every issue you've listed in your post and am sending myself an email with the URL so I can get this in the next day or two.

Thank you.

SEP

Sounds like a helpful tool Maggie. I will have to look into it some more

SEP

I have been wishing I had something like this for so long that I didn't even read through the comments before going to the site and downloading the program. I'm sure it will be indespensible! Thank you so much for sharing this information!

Hi everyone. Thanks so much for your comments. I had to fool around with the program a bit to familiarize myself with it (it does come with a help section, but it's not very detailed). Just last week I discovered something new that would have saved me even more time. Feel free to drop me a note if you need help with it. I am going to try to post some of my findings that may make its usage simpler for you.

Maggie, Wow, this sounds like an incredible program! I am going to have to check into it. Thanks so much for the info.

SEP

Thanks for this useful tip.

SEP

Thanks for the tip, I bought it and tried it immediately, it is an awesome product and great time saver!

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I've been using PDFill Editor for a few years. Love it!

SEP

Glad you're finding this tip useful. Enjoy!

Maggie, I cannot thank you enough for bringing this software to my attention!

How about: thank you, thank you, thank you!

As you are officially a 'power user' of this software, can you look at the e-mail that I just sent to PDFill support and see if you know the answers??

I am currently setting up making an Offer to Purchase editable....

Again-- blogs like this are what make this such a fantastic place to visit!

---- Copy of E-mail sent to PDFill support

Hello,

Congratulations on a WONDERFUL program!

Some concerns working with a project file (.pfl):

1- How to RE-NAME a page in a project file (.pfl)

2- How to DELETE a page in a project file (.pfl)

3- How to RE-ORDER the pages in a project file (.pfl)

4- How to ADD an existing PDF file into an existing project file (.pfl)

Of those #4 is the most important!

In other words, many of the features that are available in ‘PDFill PDF Tools’ program to work on .PDF files would be VERY USEFUL if they could also work on Project Files (.pfl) !!!

SEP

Tim, I'm so sorry I didn't see your comment sooner. Did they help you with your concerns? If you still need help, please feel free to email me.

ALL of the items you mention can be done by the program. But they are done with the PDFill PDF Tools (Free) that they include. When you install the program, it installs the free tools. You have to open the separate free tools and do it there. Let me know if you need help with it.

*BOOKMARKED* because I know I will need this soon!

Maggie, this is very cool. I use eDoc PDF Pro printer all the time, but this reasonably priced software looks like it will do what my PDF printer does not without a lot of hassle--convert TIFF files to PDF.

Thanks!

Robin

This has been booked marked for later use and download. I am beginning to really know why people love Active Rain. I am becoming such a fan. Thanks for sending me this very valuable information.

Maggie, I'm keeping this post, I'm going to need it as well....it sounds wonderful and honestly, anything that can help me save time these days is worth it's weight in gold! Thank you!

SEP

Maggie, yes it's great. I've had the full version of PDF for a while now. As you pointed out, it's very useful. I also use it to create and email leases to tenants.