Convert, edit and create PDFs online with Soda PDF

Soda PDF is an intelligent comprehensive PDF manager. You can open it in any browser or device (including Mac, iPhone, and Windows) and perform just about any task, from editing, annotations, signatures, OCR, format conversion, form filling, and more.

pros

Can convert, edit and convert PDF files
Lots of great and powerful features
The free version is quite affordable

Minuses

User interface needs some improvement

Price: Free to use (subscription starts at $4.15 per month).

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The PDF format was created to make life easier for everyone. However, sometimes it becomes more of a headache. You can’t directly edit files or enter necessary information unless you have a PDF editor, and be warned, it’s not that easy to use.

Here comes the online Soda PDF editor tool that promises to solve any PDF-related problems. And although it contains many other tools, there is a big question here. Can Soda PDF live up to its promises, and are the tools and features exactly what you need?

Soda PDF Review: A complete web app for everything PDF related

Soda PDF seems to take its namesake very seriously. Just as carbonated drinks are fun and quickly quench your thirst, the editor and converter are fun and help you get things done quickly.

Soda PDF is a complete web application that offers everything you would expect from a regular PDF editor. From creating PDFs to converting files to PDFs, editing PDFs, adding signatures and filling out forms, Soda promises to do it all.

Because it’s accessed through a web browser, you can use it on macOS, Linux, Windows, iOS, Android, and anywhere you can run a browser.

While we’ll take a closer look at the features offered by Soda PDF, it’s pretty obvious that there’s a reason why big names like NASA, TATA, Scotia Bank, and many more use this online tool.

Soda PDF Features That Make PDF Editing Easier

Soda PDF offers most of the features you would expect from a PDF viewer or editor. These include:

Edit PDF – Add, edit or delete text in your PDF. Insert images, links, stamps, blank spaces and highlight paragraphs. You can also reorder or delete pages in a PDF.
Merge and Compress – Merge different types of files such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into PDF. Compress PDF without quality loss
Create and Convert – Create PDFs from scratch, scan, convert documents, or even from URLs. There is also the possibility of batch file conversion.
E-Sign: Sign documents, set templates for adding signatures and manage who can sign your documents.
OCR: Scan and recognize text in a document or images. You can manually select text areas on OCR documents or images and either copy or edit them.

But it’s not just about how many features we get; it’s also about how good those features are. And I have to say that Soda PDF does a great job of it; let me show you how.

Easily Convert PDFs

With Soda PDF, you can easily merge, split, compress or export pages accordingly. All with very simple steps such as:

Merge: Click “Add Files”and select the file you want to merge → click “Merge”.
Split: To split a document, you need to have a premium subscription, and if you subscribe, you can split your PDF file with one of the following options:
All: This can split the PDF file based on the number of pages you have assigned.
Range: Divide a document based on a specific range
Compression: There are five types of compression available for you to choose from. Also, Soda PDF will let you know what things will be skipped when compressing the file.
Export: You can export a document to Word, Excel, a presentation, or even an image. If that’s not enough, there’s also an advanced option where you can convert the file to multiple PDF formats, text, RTF format, or even codes, but this feature is only for premium users.
Password lock. If you care about security, you have the option to lock the document. In addition, you can also set passwords for a specific set of permissions.
OCR function: Select text in a document or images, and then copy, paste or share it as you like. You can even share the document with Evernote or SharePoint.

All functions worked as promised. But the boat didn’t always go well, maybe because my internet connection was as unstable as my relationship history. And I would appreciate a standalone application for such cases.

And while almost all features are well-labeled, sub-features have been represented as small icons. Since I tried Soda PDF for the first time, I had a hard time understanding the icons and their functions.

Edit documents on the go

Editing the document was easier than expected thanks to the well organized options. However, unlabeled suboptions were still a headache. This time I mistakenly removed the header and footer; luckily the undo option was there to save me.

But I have to evaluate many options; you can extract, replace, insert, delete or even move pages. You can also add text characters, signatures or even an electronic signature to the document, extract an image, or change the background color of the page.

If you want to add some comments, stamps, or even fill out some forms, there are options for that too.

Is Soda PDF Web App Worth Considering?

What I like most about Soda PDF is that it’s online. The web app can be accessed from almost anywhere as long as you have a stable internet connection. While a standalone option is available, it is subscription-locked.

What I liked about this online PDF tool is how many features it gives. And mind you, none of them are for nothing; each feature has a purpose and it accomplishes it up to T. Aside from some UI issues and a steep learning curve, I have no other major complaints about the software.

I was able to quit almost any task that involved editing or creating a PDF file. It’s as easy as clicking and waiting for the magic to work.

Price: Free to use, subscription looks like this: