Home < Case Processing < PDF Software and Information

NOTE: The United States District Court does not endorse, or in any way support any specific PDF software, method, or company. The court simply requires all documents submitted to the court for ECF use the PDF format. How you read PDF's, create PDF's, or convert other files to the PDF format is entirely up to you. There are many options in many price ranges, but remember you must have BOTH a PDF reader AND a PDF writer to fully utilize ECF.

Read PDF Documents:

• Acrobat [FREE] http://www.adobe.com
  Adobe Acrobat Reader is widely used and all information on viewing PDF documents in ECF references this reader. There are other readers out there, but this one is considered standard.

Write PDF Documents:

• Acrobat Writer http://www.adobe.com
  Adobe Acrobat Writer software and online PDF converter.
  
• PDF995 [FREE] http://www.pdf995.com
  Easy to install and to use to create PDF documents. PDF995 is free because it is adware (a web page will show an ad when you create a PDF), but the documents you create with it are clean, accurate, and free of any ads. For a small fee you can prevent the ads from popping up.
  
  NOTE: You do not need their other PDF offerings ("PDFEdit995" or "Signature995"), just look for the "PDF995 Printer Driver."
  
• FinePrint http://www.fineprint.com
  "PDF Factory" which creates PDF documents as well as other printing tools.
  
• Global Graphics http://www.jawspdf.com
  JawsPDF will create, edit, and manage PDFs.
  
• Corel http://www.corel.com
  WordPerfect versions 9, 10, & 11 word processing programs have a built-in PDF converter.

PDF Tools

The list below is a few of the applications found by simply searching the web for "PDF," but the ECF HelpDesk does not have any information on usage:

• Active PDF http://www.activepdf.com
  Server based PDF software and a number of other PDF tools.
  
• AdLib http://www.adlibsys.com
  Suite of PDF tools, including server-based tools. The Sentinel product will monitor a source directory and convert all files in it to PDF automatically.
  

More PDF Information

PDFZone http://www.pdfzone.com
Information for PDF, Adobe Acrobat and related document technologies.

PC Magazine http://www.pcmag.com
Good article comparing currently available PDF options.