Edit PDF Files On The Go With PDFzen

Even though our smartphones are getting smarter and tablets steadily grow more powerful, they still can't run full-fledged applications written for PCs. Luckily, you can rely on web apps when you need to stay productive and mobile at the same time.

Modern web apps really cover all your needs – from simple tasks like measuring time and taking notes to editing photos and video, and in some cases they can completely replace the desktop applications in terms of functionality. With this in mind, I tested PDFzen; read on to find out the results.

PDFzen is a simple web application that lets you edit PDF files directly in your browser. It promises a lot: to always stay free, to keep submissions private (at least during the beta phase of the app), to support Android devices. This means that for now only Apple's mobile devices are supported; of course, you can use it on any PC, from any browser. The greatest thing about PDFzen is that you don't need to register to use it – just upload a PDF file you want to work on and start using the app.

If you're expecting a complicated interface with many advanced editing options, you might end up disappointed. After all, PDFzen is intended for quick, small changes to a file, so you can only highlight, insert notes, add annotations, and make freehand drawings. The options are easily accessible from the toolbar.

There are some additional options for each action which can be activated while you're using it: for example, you can adjust the font size while writing notes, and change the position of annotations. You can also move the highlight selection area around the text by dragging it with your mouse. Sadly, the highlight color is not adjustable, so you're stuck with the predefined yellow. All changes you've made to the document can be selected and removed before you export/save the PDF file, either by clicking Delete on the toolbar or pressing it on your keyboard.

Once you're satisfied with the changes, click on the Actions button to open a menu on the right side of the screen. The menu is very Windows 8-like in appearance, and it contains the information about your file, along with some useful functions.

From here, you can share your document on LinkedIn, email it to your friends or coworkers, as well as embed it into a website.

You can download both the changed PDF file and the original version, open a new file to work on, fax the PDF file, and – the most important part – delete the file once you're done with it.

After this, you'll be redirected to the PDFzen homepage and receive a confirmation message. Now's the time to check what your changed PDF file looks like.

In my case, all changes were correctly applied, saved and displayed, except the drawing. Instead of a circle that I drew around a headline, there was a giant gray box with the word “Draft” placed over the modified headline. This was an unpleasant surprise, but it might be a problem with my PDF reader, so I won't take any points away from PDFzen.

I still wish to recommend it to anyone wishing to quickly edit a PDF file without having to install proprietary software. PDFzen is an excellent solution when you're away from your computer, and its sharing options make it a great collaboration tool.

Ivana Isadora Devcic is a freelance writer, copyeditor and translator fluent in English, Swedish, Croatian and Norwegian. She's a Linux user and KDE fan interested in web design, productivity and personal branding. Ivana tweets about the world around her as @skadinna.