Foxit Phantom
Reviewed January, 2010
| What’s It Do?
Foxit Phantom is a business-ready PDF toolkit to create professional PDF documents and streamline business processes. It claims to create standards compliant PDF files from hundreds of file types up to three times faster than with competitive tools. It password protects documents, adds certificate encryption, enables signature with digital certificates, and converts documents into electronic forms for distribution via email or Web site. Does it do what it promises? Reviewer 1 – Mark Snyder: Absolutely. It is, in fact, not only a good alternative to Adobe Acrobat (which the site refers to as “the #1 competitor”) but a better alternative than Adobe Acrobat if for no other reason than price, ease of use, size of foot print, and lower use of system resources. Reviewer 2 – Dana Bostick: This fully featured PDF application is designed to be an enterprise-level PDF solution for business use. At $129 retail price, it's really more than a casual user would likely ever need. Promoted as a "Business Ready Toolkit" to create "Standards Compliant PDF files" from hundreds of types of files "up to three times faster" it appears to live up to that claim. In my testing I found Foxit Phantom PDF Suite 10 to be very capable and relatively easy to use after studying the manual for a bit. Reviewer 3 – Peter Royle: Yes. Foxit Phantom provides users with most of the features that desired in a program that manages reading, creating, editing and manipulating files in the PDF format. Reviewer 4 – Dana Cardwell: Yes, Foxit Phantom is a fully functional program to create, modify, combine, and annotate PDF files. Was it easy to install? Reviewer 1 – Mark Snyder: Again absolutely! The 9.74MB file downloaded in a mere 17 seconds on a moderately fast broadband connection and while the file size is not small and requires 52MB of available hard drive space, it is infinitesimal when compared to Adobe Acrobat’s monstrous 482MB file that requires another 2.13 GB of hard drive space! . Installation was smooth, using a standard, albeit colorful and attractive (for a change), set-up wizard offering only two choices of either the default or custom installation (something which does need explanation so as to make a more reasoned decision), and the registration using either of the two optional methods was fast and simple. The EULA (End user License Agreement) was a fairly standard single license, i.e. use on only a single computer, which I do find penurious-especially for software priced at over $100.00—and contained the standard disclaimers as to liability; although, written in a rather straight forward style with a minimum of legalese. Reviewer 2 – Dana Bostick: Foxit Phantom is downloadable from the site as an .exe file. Clicking on this setup file triggers an install wizard. There are both "default" and "custom" setup options. There is also an extensive 198-page PDF file user manual that I recommend downloading. Foxit Phantom is designed to run on Windows XP Home, Professional, or Tablet PC Edition with Service Pack 2 or 3 in either 32-bit or 64-bit versions. It will also run on Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with or without service pack 1, again in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. It will also run under Windows 7 in 32- and 64-bit. Reviewer 3 – Peter Royle: Yes, it is a standard Windows installation procedure. To be able to place the program files and icons in the locations of my choice, I chose “Custom” installation. Oddly, unlike most programs, it did not default to the “Program Files” folder that is almost universally the root directory for program installations. Starting there would save some rather pointless mouse-clicking. I was already using Foxit Reader as my default PDF Reader, and once I had located it, Foxit Phantom installed seamlessly into the same folder. There are different ways to do the registration, but the instructions are clear, and the registration is easily accomplished. The EULA (End Users Licence Agreement) is quite standard with no surprises. Although it does say that a licence is good for one computer, the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) on the site says that one can install the program on more than one computer (for example, a desktop and a laptop) but both programs cannot be run simultaneously. This is a reasonable requirement, and one that should be emulated by other software developers. Reviewer 4 – Dana Cardwell: Yes, the 9.74 MB downloadable EXT file installed without any complications or conflicts. After installation I discovered that Foxit Phantom had set itself as the default printer for all Windows programs. Since I do a lot of printing of files that are not PDF, I changed this default setting. I do not think a program should set itself as the default printer for an entire system without giving the user the option to make this choice during the installation process. Good points. Reviewer 1 – Mark Snyder: As stated above, this is a better alternative to Adobe Acrobat. Many people have already discovered over the past few years that the free Foxit Reader is a lightweight, faster, and overall better reader that Adobe Reader so for them the fact that the same is true for Foxit Phantom PDF Suite, and PDF editor, will come as no surprise. Foxit Phantom is a complete PDF creation and editing tool with all of the features and tools you would expect to find in this type of software program, and that includes a menu structure and interface design that will be familiar to anyone who has used any similar Adobe product. All of the many features are available for review on the Foxit Web site, but a few items of special or unique importance to this reviewer are: • Lightweight. Foxit Phantom requires only 64MB of RAM memory to run this program as opposed to Adobe’s requirement of 512MB of RAM memory As mentioned above, Foxit Phantom requires only 52MB of hard drive space to operate successfully, as compared with 2.13 GB of hard drive space required by Adobe Acrobat. • Usability. One can work on several documents at the same time, add personal comments and notes, highlight text, insert media, encrypt pages, use embedded fonts, and also insert, delete, extract, duplicate, or move pages. It creates PDFs very fast from a long list of file types and allows the user to edit or modify PDF documents, reorganize pages, complete forms, and so on. It also installs its own virtual printer that allows creation of PDF documents from any application. • Help and Support. The program itself is very intuitive and resembles the Adobe Reader interface. There are adequate help files as well as a full user’s manual that can be downloaded from the Web site. Technical support is quite comprehensive. There is 24/7 online support, a technical FAQ, a very active users forum that seems to be carefully monitored by Foxit staff to provide answers to questions almost as fast as they appear. The size of the FAQ and the number of posts in the forum is still relatively small but this is a new product and , based on the FAQ and forum activity for more established Foxit programs, I have no doubt that it will grow comparatively. The bottom line is that this program is not only excellent but a bargain at $129.00—especially when compared to the $449.00 for Adobe Acrobat that does essentially the same thing. I have used Foxit Reader for a number of years and found the company and their product to be exemplary, and in the four or five months I have been using Foxit Phantom I have found no reason to change my opinion. There is a Free 30- day trial that I would recommend for those with any need or interest in creating or editing PDF documents. Reviewer 2 – Dana Bostick: Foxit Phantom is designed for "heavy lifting" when it comes to PDF handling. I was able to open any PDF I tried with it, it transformed all the file types I attempted to use with it into PDF files, it scanned documents into the PDF format for filing and created interactive PDF documents for use in my business. I use the PDF format exclusively to transmit inspection reports to my clients for security reasons. Without special software, PDF files cannot be altered and they retain all of the original formatting and graphics. The software that I use to generate these reports has some built-in (although limited) annotation features for the photographs I insert. I found that I could forgo using those features and just print straight to PDF after inserting my pictures, open it with Foxit Phantom and use it’s much more useful and configurable annotation features. I was also not limited to only annotating the pictures, but I could highlight, call attention to or point out specific text paragraphs with "call-out" text boxes in the report to make sure that they were noticed. I often have the need to combine several PDF files when creating these reports. Foxit Phantom made this process easy by using the “insert pages” function found on the “Organize” menu dropdown. It appends the second PDF in a selectable location. A “wizard’ is called up that walks through the process and gives many options for the job. The Foxit Software main support home page, called "Support Center", prominently displays, in red text, some news release items referring to some false AVG antivirus warning messages when installing Foxit Phantom PDF suite. The left side panel menu buttons list security advisories, instructional videos, Technical FAQs, Sales FAQs, user manuals, support ticket, something called "ECCN" (dealing with Export Compliance Information) and a User Forum. A number of support solutions are offered: e-mail trouble tickets, phone support, FAQs and a user forum. Reviewer 3 – Peter Royle: Instead of using the Adobe PDF Reader program to display PDF files on my computer, I have used Foxit Reader for many years. However, it is just that: a PDF reader. It allows one to read PDF files that have been created by other software programs have received as an e-mail attachment or ones viewed in a browser while online on the Internet. These cannot be edited or manipulated in any way. Foxit Phantom allows one to do this without having to invest in an expensive program such as Adobe Acrobat. It offers a good range of features that make it competitive to the Adobe Acrobat 9 Standard program, and includes features available in the even more costly Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro. As many of the files that I send to clients by email contain confidential information, I first tried out the password-encryption function in Foxit Phantom. I used passwords supplied by my clients and sent the encrypted files as email attachments. My clients are not businesses, and typically do not own the newest and greatest computer equipment; they have a variety of PCs and Macs. The only issue anyone encountered was a password mismatch; otherwise, whatever PDF program they used was able to decrypt the files. The comment tools have also proved to be extremely useful. These allow me to write or draw on an already-existing PDF file. Most of these documents were not created using Foxit but by other programs or even PDF files that have been downloaded from the Internet and saved on my own computer. An almost silly example of the comment tools: many of the documents for my clients are faxes, prepared in PDF format and sent directly from my computer. My clients need to sign them and fax them back to me. As these are usually dense official documents with reams of jargon in small print, most people cannot find where they have to put their signature. Foxit Phantom provides me with the ability to draw an arrow on the document, which I use to show them where to sign -- a simple but very useful feature. This is only one of the “Comment Tools” of Foxit Phantom: others include text boxes, callouts, a typewriter, lines, rectangles, Stamp Tools ("Confidential", Approved", "Reviewed" etc.) and so on. There is a complete Menu item dedicated to the Comments features. I have tried out several other PDF readers to be sure that what I have added will be reproduced on the files sent to others. No one has had any difficulty in reading the comments that I have added to those documents. I found the Foxit support to be excellent. There is an active users' forum where one can post questions, answer questions of others, or provide other tips. There is an extensive list of FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions) on the Foxit site, and these provide answers to many of the more common questions likely to be asked. If all that fails, one can make a request to the Foxit support staff online for a rapid answer by email. The site advertises 24/7 support, and I found that to be so, with every question answered within 12 hours, including weekends. Reviewer 4 – Dana Cardwell: Foxit Phantom can perform many different tasks involving PDF files. Because of the numerous abilities of Foxit Phantom, it can be both a simple and a complex program to learn to use. It comes with a complete and detailed instruction manual in PDF format. This 198-page instruction manual can be accessed through the help button within the Foxit Phantom program; however, an Internet connection is required to download the manual from Foxit Phantom’s Web site. Once downloaded , it can be saved to the hard drive and used off-line. The manual has a nice table of contents and, with its division into sections based upon a function of the program, it is easy to find the specific instructions for the task the user is trying to learn. Foxit Phantom places brief functional descriptions of the toolbar buttons when the mouse pointer is held over the button. This helps in learning how to use the program. A user that is new to Foxit Phantom should anticipate extra time needed to read the instruction manual in order to learn how to use the program properly. Depending upon the task that the user is trying to accomplish, this could take some time. Creation of PDF files from other file formats is very easy to do with Foxit Phantom. I created numerous PDF files from DOC, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, TXT, RTF, and HTML formats. Each of these PDF files were exact duplicates of the files that they were created from and these could be opened by other PDF readers and displayed without any errors or glitches. I was impressed how Foxit Phantom converted graphic file formats into PDF form without too much deterioration of the graphic displayed in the PDF format. One function of Foxit Phantom that I enjoyed very much was the ability to combine PDF files together. I was able to combine several PDF files into one file and even create an index for it. This is an excellent way to create a book of several related topics into one single file with very little effort. The reverse of this process works just as well when I wanted a single page from the book I had created to make a small PDF file to distribute. This ability of Foxit Phantom makes the distribution of information in PDF format a snap and a better option than distribution in other formats. This and the small file size of the PDF makes for a winning combination. Foxit Phantom will allow editing of PDF files as long as the security of the file is set to allow such editing. It took a little time to learn how to quickly edit the portion I wanted edited, but soon I was able to edit as I desired. I found through using all the different tools that I was able to find different ways to accomplish what I wanted to do. I found the editing abilities of Foxit Phantom to be very good and with a little practice I was able to turn out very professional looking files with a blend of highlighted text in different colors and small concise graphic images. I tested the comment functions of Foxit Phantom and found them easy to use and stuck out very well so that it was easy to distinguish comments from the actual file. I can see how this can be a nice feature for those times when the file being created is a multi-person project. I really like the ability to protect the work I did by setting a password before editing the file, thus only those with the password could change the file. This insures that the final product being distributed will be seen as it was intended by the file’s creator. I tested making forms with Foxit Phantom and found capabilities beyond my expectations. After downloading the free blank PDF , I could make forms fields with numerous options. I created one that uses a calculation that is a conversion tool in a PDF file. The overall organization of Foxit Phantom is very good and I liked the ability to customize and display toolbars that suit my needs. Weak points. Reviewer 1 – Mark Snyder: I found no serious weaknesses in the months of testing. There were some slight annoyances and some things I felt might be improved, but this seems to be on its way to be a rock solid program already in a very early development stage. A few comments: • Installation. It would help the customer considerably if some slight explanation as to the difference between the default and custom installation is offered; • Usability. The ability to scan multiple pages needs to be improved so that one can scan long documents without the need to refeed or append each page one-by-one to the initial page. • Default printer setting. The Foxit Phantom virtual printer overrides one’s personal settings and places itself as the default printer.. It does this on installation and each time the program is used even when the user’s own printer is set as the default printer. • Support for Hire. Either support is free or it is not. Free for a year is not free unless you my license is also only good for a year and then the program will stop working. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. If you can’t afford to support your product then raise the purchase price so that you can. Otherwise, I tend to feel a bit like a hostage. And, unless, the product is inferior, what does continued support cost? If you are getting so many support requests from customers after one year that it is becoming a financial burden, then the fault is in your product and the customer should not be made to subsidize that. • My own personal experience with support was mixed. The support response was superb and the support staff tried to own the problem but, unfortunately, was not able to resolve the problem having to do with default printer settings. As this problem was more of an annoyance than a serious problem I gave up seeking a solution; however, I still must question the overall technical ability of support staff that they could not resolve the problem over a period of time. Reviewer 2 – Dana Bostick: Foxit Phantom claims to be able to "edit and modify contents". This needs to be clarified somewhat in that one can't actually "edit" in the conventional sense of opening the document and editing its contents as in a word processor. (There are programs that can do this; I have one) . One can cut and paste, rearrange text and graphics, annotate, and add stamps etc. Other than this, I really didn't have any problems using this software. Reviewer 3 – Peter Royle: I have been using the free Foxit Reader for several years. Installation of the trial version of Foxit Phantom, along with all its additional features also replaces the Reader. For some time, I used the Foxit Phantom trial version before I entered the registration key. Unfortunately, every time that I wanted to simply read a PDF file, the notice that Foxit Phantom was a trial version always popped up, instead of simply opening the Reader itself. This was an extra that I did not appreciate. It would be greatly preferable for the PDF file to open, as it always had with the Reader. If the developers feel that a reminder is necessary, it could be programmed to appear when the user first attempted to use one of the extra features not normally available to those who use only the Reader module. Of course, once the Phantom registration has been completed, this "nag message" disappeared. I have found the Stamp Tools to be very useful. However, most of the stamps provided in Foxit Phantom program are “clip-artsy”, and not particularly businesslike, so I have created some on my own. Both Standard stamps and Dynamic ones can be created; the dynamic stamps can take such information as the date and time from one’s system, for example. Creating stamps does take some time, though, and if I were not so stubborn, I would not have persevered. I would suggest that the Foxit people could do well to set up a page on their site that would allow uploading of stamps that they have created, and these could be used as is or otherwise modified by Foxit clients. This could also spur the developers to improve the Stamp Creation module, which I found to be clumsy, unintuitive and very limited in its functions. It definitely needs some work. Reviewer 4 – Dana Cardwell: The creation of a PDF file from a Word document caused a glitch in Foxit Phantom. I had Foxit Phantom configured to have multiple instances so the PDF file created from the Microsoft Word document would open in a new instance of Foxit Phantom. This process of converting a Word document file into a PDF file caused Word to open. The newly created PDF file in the second instance of Foxit Phantom could be viewed and saved. The first instance of Foxit Phantom would open a window indicating that the process of creating a PDF file from the Word document was still ongoing. This process box and Microsoft Word would remain open. Only by pressing the close button on the process box in the Foxit Phantom would close the window and thus allow Word to close. I repeated the above process numerous times with the same results. It appears that Foxit Phantom hangs open when converting a Word document to PDF. In editing text of the original PDF file, I could not change the font as the instruction indicated. I was able to display the Font toolbar but it was grayed out and non-functional. The instructions in the manual (p.76) did not match the selection choices in Foxit Phantom. I had the latest version and the manual may not have been updated with new instructions. Using other tools rather than the text viewer mode, I was able to perform the task I desired, but consider the difference between the manual and the version I had installed a major flaw that rendered this vital function of the program unavailable. Developer's Web site. Reviewer 1 – Mark Snyder: Both the home page and Foxit Phantom product page on the Web site are attractive, clear, and laid out in a way that makes for easy navigation. There are no ads and (thankfully) none of those out-of-context customer quotes praising the product and which I find so questionable. The information is presented in a straight forward, well written, and easy to understand manner. I don’t like the colors orange and purple together but that is a matter of personal taste. Reviewer 2 – Dana Bostick: The site is clean and professional without a lot of distractions. Only one flash section in the header area cycles through various offerings. Other than that, it lists the various software offerings Foxit has with a linked graphic to each. They seemed to have jumped on the eBook reader bandwagon as well with something they are calling “eSlick Reader”. Jumping to the Foxit Phantom PDF Suite page reveals a nicely laid out single page listing a few of the benefits of using this particular product. Also prominently displayed are "Get Support" phone numbers for North America, Europe, and Asia including mainland China. A 30-day free trial offer is prominently displayed at the top of the page. Reviewer 3 – Peter Royle: The Foxit Site is well-designed and easy to navigate. As there are a number of different products, and some customized services, there is quite a lot of material to present. The Free Foxit Reader is clearly listed at the top of the product list, with a direct link to its download. I prefer this approach to that of some developers who produce a free product, but do not really encourage you to find it easily. On the Home page, there is a "Help Me Choose" feature. This navigates to a page with a number of questions, in the style of “Do you want to ...?” When one has checked off the items that are of interest, different products are presented to fit the user’s needs. There are also some links to YouTube videos to help in understanding various Foxit products. Across the top of the Home page, there are three Banner Ads, highlighting Foxit products or services. This is the only place where they appear, so one is not bombarded with them throughout the site; a touch that I appreciated. Reviewer 4 – Dana Cardwell: The Foxit Phantom Web site is very pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate. New users should view the instructional videos found there. A rare thing can be found on the Foxit Web site: a toll free number. The Web site also provides support via email request to a forum that appears to very active with quick responses to direct questions. Other comments. Reviewer 1 – Mark Snyder: This is still a very new program (still on version 1) and under continual development with bug fixes coming at a steady pace. The company also seems responsive to the suggestions of its customers as can be witnessed by dialogues on the Foxit user forum. Based on this as well as my personal experience with this company for a number of years, I feel confident that this company, established in 2001—a lifetime in the software industry - will continue to not only improve its products but also find new ways to improve and enhance its commitment to customer support. Foxit Corporation is committed to sustainable and environmentally sound products and manufacturing. Reviewer 2 – Dana Bostick: It's difficult to wade through 198-page PDF manual but this is a very capable program with lots of features and to fully utilize its many and powerful features, it is necessary and worthwhile to do so. The manual did contain some superfluous information, in my view, such as; why one would want to use the PDF format and why Foxit Phantom should be used, information that is superfluous if the decision to create a PDF document has already been made. Chapter 2 is essentially a listing of "What's New" in versions 1.0 and 1.0.2. Chapters 3 through 16 contained a lot of valuable information on actually using this very capable software, including many screen shots for illustration. With a little reading of the manual and some practice, I was able to use most of the features offered within this program fairly easily. Foxit Phantom installs a “printer” which can be called from any program that supports printing. Simply use the File > Print menu and select Foxit Phantom Printer for the output in the pop-up Print Settings Dialog. It will print to a PDF file that can then be saved wherever chosen Reviewer 3 – Peter Royle: While Adobe® Acrobat® sets the industry standard for "all things PDF", it is beyond the pocketbook of many people, and is a complex and powerful program. However, Foxit is no Johnny-come-lately on the scene, and in spite of the competition, it continues to develop and improve its products and their features. I recommend first downloading and installing the free Foxit Reader as the default PDF Reader program. I have used the PDF format for many years, and over that time have used many different programs to produce PDF files. I have yet to come across a PDF file that cannot be read by the Foxit Reader. It is a small program that takes up very few resources, yet starts very quickly, and is very efficient. Between the Reader and the Phantom, there are a number programs; each one adds editing and other PDF manipulation features to the Reader. It would be worthwhile to check the product comparison page on the Foxit site and try those suiting one’s own needs. I have been able to provide much better documentation to my clients since installing Foxit Phantom, and am now using many of its features. Although it is more expensive than the Free Reader that I had used for so long, these extra features are well worth the price for me. I have no hesitation in recommending this program. Reviewer 4 – Dana Cardwell: At a price of $129.00 per user, Foxit Phantom is a bargain for a fully functional PDF program, but it is not justified for an individual user unless that user has a high need to create and edit PDF files. Will you continue to use it? Reviewer 1 – Mark Snyder: Yes. Reviewer 2 – Dana Bostick: Yes, I found several of the features of Fox it Phantom to be quite useful. I will probably not set it as the default PDF reader on my system since it needs to load many unneeded modules that can impact system resources. I have chosen to use Foxit's "bare-bones" PDF reader in place of the much more bloated offerings from Adobe as my default reader application. Reviewer 3 – Peter Royle: Yes, absolutely. Reviewer 4 – Dana Cardwell: Yes. Foxit Software, developers of Foxit Phantom, replied: The FAQ will be greatly improved and is currently being worked on. The default printer driver on installation problem will be fixed. Scanning multiple pages will be added. Stamp tools will be improved. The support is free for a year. The program will not stop working and you can continue to use that version forever. The review is … accurate and comprehensive. |
OPERATING SYSTEMS USED IN THIS REVIEW
Windows XP Pro, XP Home XP Media Center
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