At first blush, the interface may look intimidating, but that feeling quickly wears off once you take a good look at the menu icons, which all feature pop-up descriptions. The controls are grouped in a logical fashion and context sensitive, which helps quickly resolves any misunderstandings. All of the options offered are far too numerous to go through in detail here, but users will find that the most used ones are readily available. The application makes quick work of conversions (import and export) of files, and annotations, markups and images are easy to add, modify or create.

Security is one of the top features of the product, with access to digital signatures, secure document delivery, password protection and encryption available with just a click of an icon. Markup and attachment tools prove to be powerful features for those working with "living" documents; that is, documents which are used, updated and distributed often.

An imposition tool brings important publishing tools to those who often print PDF files for distribution or use PDF files to create manuals, flyers and other physically distributed documents. There are also plenty of image and editing tools included with the application. Users will find it a snap to add or remove images, select and sharpen text and crop areas of the document for changes. Users can also embed hyperlinks, attach files and draw lines or other objects.

One of the most ideal situations for PDF Converter Professional 5 comes with creating rich documentation across teams. For example, copy writers can create mar-com text, while an art department can add illustrations or images and then managers can markup, document or comment on the process as it occurs. That should lead to a rich documentation development environment, ideal for companies selling services or products that require manuals. Of course, the capabilities don't end there. Users will find "forms" tools for creating electronic forms, digital signature tools, conversion tools, OCR tools and many other capabilities.

When it comes down to brass tacks, Nuance has done an admirable job at creating an affordable tool, which should help to bring PDF creation to the masses, and the product is well worth considering over Adobe's high-end Acrobat Professional 8.1