Bluebeam vs. KDAN PDF

As stated before, the mobile application is a great companion to the desktop version. Either one works great in viewing, editing and saving documents. While the measurement tool is handy to have, we have found the precision to be lacking when measuring scaled drawings (construction design drawings). While it is a good rough place to start for measurements, we wouldn't recommend relying on the precision of the measurements taken on something with a very large scale.

Incentivized

I don't think that the laptop version is good for reading/looking over documents and even though the software works fine with files of large sizes, the interface isn't convenient enough for the reading part. Apart from that, the app is really useful in all kinds of other ways when it comes to editing, splitting/combining and so on. It's also great for highlighting and editing texts, faxing, converting and adding e-signatures.

• Overlaying pdf drawings to identify changes made by architects.
• Scaling dimensions when the architect has not provided required dimensions to proceed with work in the field.
• Hyperlinking construction documents with required information makes it much easier to look through multiple sheets in less time.

Incentivized

• The app is great for signing documents after they are edited - it works well on all devices and e-signatures can be added without any additional tools and you're not attached to a particular device either.
• Editing PDFs is also incredibly easy - there are plenty of tools for that, as well as being able to view all kinds of other documents formats, not just PDFs.
• Sharing documents is also something that is quite easy with PDF Reader - sending out signed contracts and agreements, collaborating on document editing and so on. This tool is quite versatile, in general.

• If you have several tabs open and you try to drag one out for a side by side view then you do not have all the modification options and you have to combine them back together.
• There is a lag time when hitting the print option.
• There is also a lag time when opening files, sometimes I think the window is frozen.
• I wish the basic version also had basic file editing, as in editing a document as Adobe does.

Incentivized

• In my opinion, the tools/features work well, but the interface should be updated in terms of being simpler and more intuitive. All the features are useful, but it isn't always easy to understand how they work - most are easy to figure out, but a few take time.
• Moreover, I'd like to see some kind of uniformity of the features in different versions of the software. The apps vary depending on what OS the app version is designed for, which isn't always convenient. Personally, I use windows at home and Mac at the office, but I work from home too and don't like that I have to keep in mind what features are accessible and which aren't - can be quite confusing.

Bluebeam is a powerful PDF viewer and mark-up tool. We are more familiar with it than Adobe Acrobat Pro or other viewers, and it has more features geared towards construction document managers than Acrobat Pro does.

Incentivized

I'm constantly finding that Bluebeam Revu does more than I knew it could. And when I find something that it can't do, I've found that Bluebeam truly listens to its user base and will work to incorporate any good suggestion when feasible.

Incentivized

Its hard for me to give a rating on this one as we rarely have to use the support feature for Bluebeam. However, when we have used it, they have been ultra supportive in helping us get exactly what we needed. I know another engineer was trying to figure out a feature and the rep gave a detailed tutorial on how to complete the task

Incentivized

In general I was satisfied with customer support every time when I needed help, only once there was a small issue - I had to wait a little longer than usually.

Bluebeam is a diverse program with many functions and tools, whereas competitive programs only specialize in one or few tasks. Although there are many tools within the program, users can still quickly learn how to use the program to best fit their needs. There is always a help tab for any assistance needed.

Incentivized

The app wasn't great, in my opinion. The interface wasn't as good as PDF Reader, while the features were not that advanced.

• A major positive aspect is being able to take your computer home without taking the entire set of paper drawings. They have made it so easy to navigate a set of drawings that I can work at home using only the digital drawings.
• Collaboration with owners and architects has been a great feature. Setting up a Bluebeam studio and having everyone get in and mark things up, then having the architect be able to go in and see what markups have been added, has made the constructability review process much much better.
• Even when not working on drawings, Bluebeam is a very good tool for working with standard PDF documents. The markup tools are very easy to use.
• The negative aspect is the takeoff function because some people would like estimators to use the Bluebeam takeoff because it would make their job easier down the road; however, the actual act of doing a full scale takeoff in Bluebeam would require much more time.

Incentivized

• Speed up our team communication on PDF files.
• Build a paperless workplace.

Incentivized