SODA PDF Reviews

Summary: Poor, the program cant connect online, so no updates. the ocr functions do not work, the scan functions do not work, and customer service is essentially non-existent.

Positive: Some of the functions that work are great, like merging documents, editing and other things that you cant do with a just a reader.

Negative: Most of the functions that were supposed to be included with the premium version have never worked, and it is so hard to get to customer service it's almost not worth it.

Summary: My experience was not satisfactory as I indicated above. The interface is easy to use, but the results are not good. I tried several documents and there were a lot of errors. So I decided not to use it anymore and cancel my subscription. They need to use more and better AI to improve their product.

Positive: Interface very user friendly, easy installation and use. Very fast in getting the results after upload.

Negative: I tried it on several documents and the results were not satisfactory. I cancelled my account.

Summary: Horrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was charged more than advertised price, paid for a whole year and was not able to use it. Very unhappy.

Positive: I have nothing to say but it has been a horrible experience dealing with this company. I regret ever using, if any, this software.

Negative: Repeated issues with the software, poor customer support (none almost). Constantly re-installing the software, not working.

Summary: Poor advertising techniques a terribly distressing experience would not recommend and am still contemplating taking the matter further. I think the sales technique is very intrusive on our machines and interrupting my with adverts is not very helpful.

Positive: I had an unfortunate time with your Soda standard pro 365 offer.

Negative: I thought i was being offered the use of, for £ 29.95 a year, the standard Soda. When i saw my bill it was £100 =
all the extras mentioned which I did not ask for were added.
The good news that I got a complete refund but still think it is pressure and selling and the way to cancel these options are not clearly stated.

Summary: How disappointing, for a paid version of a PDF editor. This doesn't allow me to highlight or annotate and requests that I upgrade to pro version. There are free versions of pdf software on the market that allow for highlighting and even annotations, so definitely not worth paying for renewal again.

Positive: Converting, editing, and merging work well, so I can't complain regarding this functionality of the software.

Negative: You have to upgrade and pay for highlighting and annotation, this is extremely disappointing as this is costly when comparing against alternative pdf software in the market.

Summary: If you can't actually own the software, then might as well just do an online PDF service rather than paying high prices for this.

Positive: Full featured PDF suite, handles the basic editing you would expect it to.

Negative: The webpage lists prices ($80 per license) and allows you to unclick the annual component ($9.99 /yr) but after you have clicked 'submit' you find out that its promotional pricing - $80 for the first year and $200 per year thereafter. Very deceptive marketing! Stay away.

Summary: Jake spent an hour with me today trying to help me fix the problem, and that's after I spent twice that with Melanie. She just stopped responding to me and didn't help me fix it at all. But Jake did, and I so appreciate that.

I'll be taking my business elsewhere the next time this happens, that's for sure.

Positive: I like the ease of version 11. It is easy to understand, easy to use, easy to find things, I just like this version the best out of all the other Soda versions.

Negative: Sometimes it forces you to accept an upgraded version. That happened to me yesterday and it made my job a lot more difficult. It took me three hours to use the "add text" or "type text" tool in the version 12, whereas in version 11 I could have completed it in one hour.
The text box has a drop-down menu that appears right on top of the page where I was trying to insert a text box (in the upper right-hand corner), and this box drops down with the ability to change the font color, font size, font type, etc. But it drops down right onto the page and you can't see where you're typing in the text box. I had to "click" on the text box to get it to appear where I wanted because every time I would make a font adjustment, color, size, etc., it would close out the text box.
That's just the dumbest upgrade ever. I don't know who the idiot is that thought of that but it's stupid, irritating, and takes twice as long to accomplish anything.
The whole layout of version 12 is so stupid it's hard to find anything. Again, I don't know who the idiot is who created it but it's dumb.
Version 12 is a horrendous product . It makes no sense whatsoever. It's hard to navigate. And it's difficult to use, i.e., the three hours versus one hour because of the difficulty to navigate it.
I hate the fact that every year they force you to get an upgrade you don't want. It wouldn't let me into Soda version 11 until I accepted the upgrade, which then made my life miserable for two days. There was not way around it until I got on the supports "chat online" option. I still spent three hours with them trying to revert back to version 11, which they obviously don't want you to do. They just want you to accept the upgraded version.

Summary: You get what you pay for. Rather buy from Adobe
and pay way more.

Positive: Quick refund. They do respond and track customer messages. Didn’t give me any trouble with refund.

Negative: Basic edit functions too difficult.
Even editing 2 lines was stressful.
Imagine trying to edit a 10 page PDF.

Summary: The CONS say it all best at this point. I am not satisfied with this newer version at all and don't like the fact that my responses have to be paragraphs of what WILL NOT be fluff about your product!

Positive: I could edit and convert with ease. Now I have to activate every feature I want to use when trying to work in a document.

Negative: With this new upgrade have to pay for tools I already had and now can't use any of them! Totally not impressed with this newer version

Summary: This product is not as advertised, in my opinion. I should not have to consult online support to use its basic editing features.

Positive: The free version is an adequate pdf reader. The paid version is somewhat cheaper than Adobe, and advertises the same features.

Negative: Features are very difficult to manipulate, and editing capabilities are VERY limited. If you only need a pdf reader, the free version is adequate.

Also -- they advertise a monthly cost, but require you to pay annually with only a 30-day refund period. So, if you experience over time is unsatisfactory, you cannot receive a pro rata refund. I'm eating the cost and going back to Adobe.

Summary: Not so good. Having to deal with a Bot doesn't really help as its standard automated responses reacting to algorithms.

Positive: Answers. I really can't think of anything to add as I've been encountering the same issue for 3 days not.

Negative: Not being able to speak to someone. The assumption that everyone is of the same technological literacy level. Not being able to use what I've paid for.

Summary: I have to wait quite a long time to solve my problem.

Positive: The person in the chat was good.
The support was professional.
I am only happy with the person who helped me through the chat.

Negative: I wasted a lot of time trying to contact.
Lost the deadline for my work because there was no reply from the contact support.
Have to pay again to update the software (but I did not, because I am considering moving to another serious company). Bought it for life. They must tell the selling point that it will be upgraded.
Still send messages to activate the program.

Summary: Overall an OK PDF program that has a lot of room for improvements. In particular the implementation of the 'append document' option and the improvement of server reliability.
The support quality varies. I had two agent that seem to have big knowledge gaps and I also had Ginger (twice) now, who is polite, swift and has a good knowledge. So if you get him (or her?) you'll be in good hands.

Positive: Good PDF generator. Works in a simple fashion. They offer the free, Pro and Business Version. I have the Pro version. Works for me on most days. BUT... (continue reading in the "Con" section.

Negative: ... one of the features I use very often in Adobe is the 'append document' function, which allows to append additional pages by clicking on a link in the PDF. Soda PDF does not offer that option.
Today, I tried to sanitise a document, and only got the pop-up 'buy the business version'. Now, I confirmed with support that the sanitise option is included in the pro version but currently not available due to server issues.
Also, their advertising pop-up are very annoying. Contacted support and they just sent me a weblink with instructions I told them I had already tried. Eventually found a solution myself, very different from what support recommended, and the solution is actually simple but not described in their documentation.

Summary: Disappointed (very, in fact), when we buy a renew, the expectations are that the product is improved not the opposite.

Positive: Found any so far, I've to try more of its options to clearly rate the activation we've asked today.

Negative: Renewed my Soda product from PDF to PDF 360 Pro I found Edit mode not efficient as previous product.
In the previous product I was using from Soda, the file was the same and when in Edit mode the word or price changed color and was ready to erase or change values...with the new activation this doesn't work anymore,
Soda assistant told me to try to convert the page into an image file, after l that, recognize it with OCR module, well this is not helpful and it's not the easiest mode to the option of Edition, if there is a simple and quickest way to do it, I appreciate any help.

Summary: I contacted Melanie in support about the calculation issue and while she tried to help, she clearly did not understand the issue.

at the end of it all I was just left hanging with no resolution to the issue.

I guess I will have to go back to paying 180.00 dollars x 3 for Acrobat!

Positive: The product is cheap! Much cheaper than Adobe Acrobat DC, but cheap does obviously not mean better.

Negative: Interface is not really easy to use... too many mouse clicks and movement across the screen to accomplish a simple task - IE SAVE AS...

Calculation fields are clumsy and not reliable. when you change a number in the form the form does not recalculate

Support sucks!