If you use the program only rarely for individual tasks, it remains free of charge. If you exceed the daily limit (up to three tasks per hour), you get referred to the subscription or purchase licenses. The developers have transferred the exact design of the web application to the desktop program. The only difference: Sejda PDF Desktop processes all tasks locally on your PC whereas Sejda Cloud stores documents on the Sejda servers and deletes them automatically after two hours.
The range of functions is quite adequate for a free tool. The user interface is well organized. At the top of the screen, you can see the main page, where all functions are sorted by topic. Clicking on one of the buttons takes you to the respective task area. For example, if you select the PDF editor, you will be prompted to load a PDF file. For editing, you can then use limited functions such as markups (highlight and strikethrough), redaction (without deleting meta data), signatures, or inserting text. However, the abundance of tools on the homepage is no longer there.
For example, if you want to save a Word document as a PDF and sign it digitally, select “Word to PDF” under “Convert to PDF”. Save the file separately. Under “Edit & Sign” you upload the PDF file again and then sign it in the tool. Do you want to add Bates numbering? Then save the document again, click on the “Bates Numbering” option under “Other” and add the desired parameters.
Advantages | Disadvantages |
✔ Can be used either as a web application or as a desktop app | ✘ No ribbon menu bar |
✔ Clear user interface | ✘ Need to save after each task, not suitable for long projects |
✔ Suitable for single tasks on-the-go | ✘ Limited functionality |