Quick answers to what people ask most

A complete PDF editor for Windows that runs entirely on your PC: merge, split, compress, convert to and from Office, edit, sign and redact, OCR, and AI tools that work offline. It is built for organisations that handle Arabic and English documents and don’t want to upload them to a cloud service.

Yes — it’s why it exists. Added Arabic text is shaped, joined and laid out right-to-left, watermarks and page numbers support Arabic, Arabic fonts are bundled (Amiri, Noto Naskh, Noto Kufi and more), and OCR reads Arabic once the Tesseract OCR add-on is installed. The application interface itself is in English for now.

Yes. Every tool works offline. The app needs to reach the licence server when it is activated and once every few weeks to renew, and for fully isolated sites there is offline activation.

No. It is for 64-bit Windows 10 and 11 (x64), and ARM64 PCs on Windows 11. The OCR and AI components have no 32-bit builds. Details are in system requirements.

Tools in seven groups: Organize, Optimize (compress, repair, OCR), Convert to PDF, Convert from PDF (including PDF/A), Edit and sign, AI, and Security (protect, redact, digital signatures, compare). The full list is on the features page.

Perpetual (pay once, use every 1.x release), Annual (includes new major versions and priority support), and Tailored, where tool groups you don’t need are left out. See pricing.

Each PC the software is activated on takes one seat, however many people use it. Activating the same PC again or replacing its parts doesn’t use another seat; reinstalling Windows or renaming the PC makes it a new one. Details in licensing and activation.

Yes. Request a trial key — an ordinary key with an early expiry date that includes every tool. When you buy, enter the new key in its place; there’s no need to reinstall.

Fill in the request form with the number of PCs and the licence type, and we’ll reply with a quote within one working day.

Email us with your serial and the new number. We issue a new key for the full number that replaces the old one. Once the new key is on a PC, it activates on it automatically at the next launch, and the old key stops.

Email us from an address at your organisation and we’ll send the same key again. We don’t issue a new one for this, because that could stop working PCs.

Our licence agreement commits us to keep the licence service available for every version we still support. If we ever intend to stop it for a version you hold a perpetual licence to, we tell you at least 90 days ahead and, before it stops, provide at no charge a way for your copies to keep working without it — such as long-term activation codes or an update that doesn’t need the service. Offline activation codes stay available on request for the life of a perpetual licence.

Partly. The desktop application is proprietary, under the End User Licence Agreement. The document engine that processes your PDFs is published under the GNU AGPL, and its complete source code is installed with every copy. Details in security and data protection.

The app stops after the expiry date and shows “This key expired on …”. Documents you created stay ordinary PDF files and aren’t affected. When you renew you receive a new key to enter in its place.

For one PC: the setup (.exe). For IT with Group Policy or Configuration Manager: the MSI. Without admin rights: the portable (.zip). Choose x64 for Intel and AMD PCs, and ARM64 for Snapdragon PCs. The download page recognises your PC.

Setup: /S /LICENSE=PDFS1.... MSI: msiexec /i … /qn, with the key file deployed separately. Ready-made examples for Intune, Group Policy and Configuration Manager are in the deployment guide.

Only to install (setup and MSI). The app runs as a standard user, and the optional add-ons install inside the user’s folder. The portable version needs no admin rights at all.

Since 1.2 the home screen tells you when a newer version is out, and a copy installed with the setup installs it in one step (Install and restart). Otherwise, install the new version over the old one, in the same format. The key, activation, settings and signatures stay, and no extra seat is used. The setup and the MSI won’t install over each other, so to switch between them, uninstall the current copy first. See the release notes.

No. Before uninstalling, choose Settings ▸ Licence ▸ Deactivate this PC. If the key was deployed machine-wide, choose Release this PC's seat (version 1.0.4 and later), or send us the “This computer” ID.

That’s SmartScreen’s warning for recently published software. Check the file’s SHA-256 checksum against the download page, then choose More info, then Run anyway.

The activation renews in the background from 15 days after the last renewal whenever a network is available, and stays valid for 30 days by default. If the PC doesn’t connect for that whole time, the app asks to check its licence, and one successful connection brings it back.

Use offline activation: when the server can’t be reached, choose Activate without a network, then Show my request code, and send us the code; we reply with an activation code valid for a year. The steps are in activating without a network.

On the old PC: Settings ▸ Licence ▸ Deactivate this PC, then activate the new PC with the same key. If the old PC has failed, email us with your serial and we’ll free its seat.

Reinstalling Windows makes the PC look new, so its old seat is still taken. Email us with the serial and the PC’s name and we’ll free the old seat.

Since version 1.0.4 the app uses the Windows proxy settings and trusts the Windows certificate store, so it works behind the usual proxies and TLS-inspection appliances. Allow pdfstudio-licence.elixtechs.com:443 (and pdfstudio-licence.nmteches.com:443 for 1.2.0 and earlier) without an interactive sign-in. Older versions need direct access. See network and firewall.

No, by any tool. All processing happens on the PC, including the AI. The only required connection is the licence check, which carries no content and no file names.

The licence key, a hashed machine ID, the computer name, and the app and Windows versions. Our server doesn’t store the computer name for online activations. Details and retention periods are in security and data protection.

No. There is no usage telemetry and no analytics. Since 1.2 the app checks once a day whether a newer version exists (the version and processor type only), and sends error reports only if the user agrees, with file names, paths and names removed. Both can be turned off in Settings, or by IT policy.

No. The model runs on your PC and sends nothing, and we never receive your documents in the first place.

It adds a short record of operations to output files, including the source file names. To remove it before sharing a file outside your organisation, run Edit Metadata with Remove all metadata.

Compare the file’s SHA-256 checksum (certutil -hashfile <file> SHA256) with the one under “File and checksum” on the download page.

The built-in engine (a one-time download since 1.2) handles English and Chinese. For Arabic, install Tesseract OCR from Settings ▸ Optional upgrades, then pick Arabic under Settings ▸ OCR languages (about 110 MB, once).

Yes, both ways, with a built-in converter for .docx, .xlsx and .pptx. For legacy formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt) and higher fidelity on heavily designed files, install the LibreOffice add-on.

In Settings ▸ AI assistant: install the assistant (52 MB), then download a pack — Balanced is recommended for Arabic and English (2.3 GB, needs 4 GB of free memory). After that it works offline.

Yes: Sign Digitally signs with a certificate, and Check Signatures verifies signatures. For a drawn or typed signature, save it once under Signatures and use it with Sign PDF.

Yes, Redact PDF removes the content from the file rather than just covering it with a black box. Review the output before sharing it, and use Remove all metadata if needed.

Yes, PDF to PDF/A produces PDF/A-1b, 2b or 3b.

Write to us from the support page. We reply within one working day, and annual licences include priority support.

Your serial (K-…), the app version, the PC type and Windows version, and the exact message or a screenshot. Don’t send the whole key or confidential documents. See asking for support.

Yes, in the documentation centre: system requirements, the deployment guide, network and firewall, and security and data protection.