Looking for a free ABBYY FineReader? The vendor does have a free program – FineReader PDF Viewer. But it is meant only for reading PDFs. This article explains what you can do for free, what the free program lacks and when it is worth buying a licence.
What the free FineReader PDF Viewer can do
- Open and read PDF documents.
- Comment on and highlight text.
- Print documents.
If you only read and comment on documents, this program is enough and you do not need to pay.
What the free program lacks
- Text recognition (OCR) – in a scanned document or photo the text stays an image; you cannot copy or search it.
- PDF editing – you cannot correct text, amounts or dates.
- Conversion to Word, Excel and other formats.
- PDF creation, form filling, document comparison and automated processing.
All of this is in the paid editions. The edition comparison will help you choose the right one.
Trial version: 7 days with all features
Before buying you can try the full program. The vendor’s trial runs for 7 days with all Corporate features, and up to 100 pages can be converted during the whole period. For organisations the vendor also offers an extended option: 30 days, up to 500 pages and 5 licences.
When the trial ends, the program does not stop working completely: you can still open, comment on and print PDFs. Editing, recognition and conversion need a licence – just enter the serial number in the same program, no reinstall is needed.
Where to download
Download both the free Viewer and the trial only from the vendor’s official site pdf.abbyy.com. All links are on the Downloads page. Do not download free “full versions” from other sites: they are usually cracked programs with malware.
When it is worth buying
If at least once a month you need to extract text from a scan, fix a PDF or turn it into a Word document, the paid version pays for itself quickly: FineReader PDF Standard costs 99,95 € per year (about 8,33 € per month), the Mac edition – 69,95 € per year. All prices are in the article ABBYY FineReader PDF price.