PDF-XChange Editor — The Complete Guide: Markup and Measuring on Drawings in the Free Version
PDF-XChange Editor is a fast PDF reader and editor for Windows with hundreds of tools, about 70% of which (257 of 402) are free without restriction. For an engineer it is particularly useful for checking drawings: marking up, commenting and measuring directly on the sheet.
PDF-XChange Editor
PDF-XChange Co. Ltd
Fast Windows PDF editor where most annotation, measuring and page tools are free; licensed features add a watermark.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Markup and comments — revision clouds, arrows, highlights and designer or checker notes.
- Scaled measuring — distances and areas on a drawing according to its scale.
- Forms — fill in forms and save them.
- Stamps — “approved”, “revise” and your own custom stamps.
- Fast search — find text in long documents.
What is free and what is not
The free version may be used privately and commercially, as long as it is not bundled with other software for profit. Licensed (paid) tools, such as some editing and page tools, also work without a licence — but they add a watermark to the saved file. So check whether a tool is marked as licensed before using it on a document going to a client. A perpetual one-time licence (Editor or Editor Plus) includes a year of maintenance and removes the restriction. The program is Windows only.
Related tools
For a light, fast reader without editing — SumatraPDF. For an open-source editor on Windows and Linux — PDF4QT. For open-source PDF annotation — Okular.
SumatraPDF
Krzysztof Kowalczyk
A tiny, very fast PDF reader for Windows — opens heavy drawings instantly, and reads ePub and DjVu too.
Get it from the vendor
PDF4QT
Jakub Melka
An open PDF editor and viewer — annotations, page organising, signing, redaction, plus a tool to compare document versions.
Get it from the vendor
Okular
KDE
KDE’s document viewer — read and annotate PDFs with highlights and notes, and verify digital signatures.
Get it from the vendor
Foxit PDF Reader
Foxit Software
Fast free PDF reader with comments, form filling and signing — a lighter alternative to Acrobat Reader, without text editing.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
An excellent tool for drawing review and markup in a Windows office, provided you learn to tell the free tools from the ones that leave a watermark.