3StepPDF is a lightweight tool that can help you perform various operations involving PDF documents. In this respect, the program lets you create completely new documents, apply OCR to scanned documents as well as split, merge, crop and watermark batches of files. The tool has an easy-to-use interface, which is characterized by a welcome menu that allows choosing the desired operation.
In terms of new document creation, 3StepPDF comes with a simple editor that supports typing or pasting text as well as importing images. It is a shame that it only allows basic formatting; so, it does not let you create a table, for instance. Another possibility is to start a new document by extracting readable text from a scanned document, which it does with limited accuracy. Luckily, your work can be saved in not only PDF but HTML format as well.
The program can also manage PDF pages in many ways. For example, you can split a document every given number of pages or by the selected intervals. Likewise, it can also let you merge multiple documents into one, with the possibility of arranging them in the required order. However, combined operations, like merging certain pages from one document with other pages from another, become extremely bothersome. In such a case, you will need to create new documents with the extracted pages and then merge them as another operation.
Other possibilities are stamping watermarks on batches of documents and cropping document pages to the desired region. Unfortunately, when cropping, there is practically no visual feedback of what you are doing. Besides, the program does not let you select the area you want to keep by dragging your mouse. Finally, it is also too bad that you cannot use this tool to edit existing documents.
In general, 3StepPDF solves some of the problems you may encounter when dealing with PDF files. The product is shareware and its trial version, called Lite, is available without period restrictions for personal use. However, should you want more flexibility, like splitting a specific page range, you must buy the full version. Although 3StepPDF is quite inexpensive, you should know that there are other similar programs with more features available completely free.
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