gDoc Fusion

gDoc Fusion is a PDF creator and editor that can also work with Microsoft's XPS format

PC Advisor (UK)

  • Review
  • Specs
  • Images
  • User Reviews
  • Buy Online

Ever since Adobe's PDF format became an open standard for print and other types of file exchange, the market for budget PDF software has started to become a little crowded, so a new package must offer something a little different.

Pros

  • Support for XPS, good interface

Cons

  • XPS is not yet a popular format

Bottom Line

At present, XPS is unlikely to be necessary to most users. If you need a simple to use application that integrates well with Microsoft Office, however, as well as offering good editing and management options without the need for latest Acrobat features, gDoc Fusion is highly recommended.

Would you buy this?

  • Price

    $ 400.00 (AUD)

The biggest thing that stands out with gDoc Fusion is its support for XPS, or the XML Paper Specification. This is a rival format to PDF developed by Microsoft and Global Graphics that has since been released as an open standard to take on Adobe's popular format.

You are unlikely to find many documents being exchanged in XPS at present, but it works in a very similar fashion to PDF and may gain ground over coming years.

Most people, however, will consider using gDoc Fusion for creating and managing PDF files. gDoc Fusion also includes gDoc Creator, a handy utility that can create PDFs quickly and simply from Microsoft Office and other documents, and which is now available as a free standalone product. With gDoc Fusion itself, you can also edit and manage PDFs, incorporating comments or exporting documents to Word format.

The gDoc Fusion interface is extremely easy to use, and for quick conversions to or from PDF you can simply drag and drop files onto the welcome screen. The other views - page, document, and flick view - provide more control over working with PDF files so that you can edit individual pages or merge other documents without losing formatting. Various options also allow you to fine-tune such things as print settings.

One thing to be aware of is that, as with other PDF packages that are not Acrobat, gDoc Fusion is restricted with creating documents in the PDF format, in this case up to version 1.6, even if the version now set at ISO 32000 is PDF 1.7. This is unlikely to pose too many problems, as the most significant additions to PDF, such as multimedia embedding and digital signatures, were all implemented previously. If you need support for the later features, however, as well as advanced form editing features, Adobe Acrobat Professional is still the best software on the market.

gDoc Fusion compares favourably to the other PDF editors and creators on the market, such as Foxit PDF editor and ABBYY PDF Transformer. Although slightly more expensive, it is generally a simpler to use editor, particularly as it integrates so well with Microsoft Office, the software which many of us still use to generate documents that are eventually converted to PDF.

Keep up with the latest tech news, reviews and previews by subscribing to the PC World newsletter.

Read more on these topics: pdf

Be the first to comment.

Post new comment

Users posting comments agree to the Good Gear Guide comments policy.

Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.

Most Popular

Tethering tutorial: How to use your iPhone as a modem
Capacitive vs resistive touchscreens
LCD vs plasma vs LED TVs buying guide
How to pick the right size TV for your living room
The most disturbing YouTube videos of all time

Best Deals on PCWorld

Software and ServicesView all »
SecurityView all »
Servers & StorageView all »
Desktop PCsView all »
NotebooksView all »