Red Software Blog

UPDATE: Red Software is no longer affiliated with PDFescape

With all of the PDF security warnings being posted around the internet, many PDF users are wondering what the safest course of action really is. Uninstall Adobe Reader? Uninstall all PDF software?

For concerned users, PDFescape, the free PDF editor, is an excellent choice as your PDF reader! The Adobe security flaw is specific to the way in which Adobe handles its JavaScript (a common scripting language which allows PDF forms to have advanced features such as form field formatting and allow fields to calculate their values). PDFescape on the other hand (while it does support JavaScript), is based on the JavaScript engine of your internet browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc). All of these internet browsers are immune these flaws!

Instead of risking opening files in Adobe Reader which may contain a security risk, download any PDF file to your computer. Then open that PDF in PDFescape. PDFescape can view, edit, form fill, and print PDF files all without the use of Adobe Reader or Adobe Flash (both of which had scripting flaws in the past)!

If you absolutely must open PDF files from unknown sources on your computer, you can also turn off JavaScript in Adobe Reader in the preferences menu (just be sure to do this BEFORE double clicking that PDF file).