This is where I will provide reviews for programs and products that I have tried personally.  Within each review I will share whether I paid for it out of my own pocket or whether I got a free NFR copy from the developer or seller.  I intend to be very objective in my reviews and I will post things that are not necessarily good about the product or program as well.

What is it?

The Able2Extract Professional Program is a program which will let you take an existing PDF file and convert it back to an Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OpenOffice Document, HTML, DXF/DWG, Text, or to Images.  This is a very powerful program which does a very difficult job with great ease.

Pros:

I've played around with this program a bit and have found it to be extremely easy to use.  It guides you through the process and it also allows you to select parts of pdf documents to convert.  You do not need to convert a whole document if you do not wish to do so.  Plus the conversion is very quick.  A single page pdf takes no more than a few seconds to convert.

So far, all of the conversions I have done have come out amazingly well done.  And, other Microsoft MVPs who have tried this program report similar results.

Cons:

So far I have found none.  I will add any if I find any but so far none to be found.

Other Information:

Should you find yourself needing this program and you only need it for a very short period of time, they also have a 30 day license available at a US $34.95 price (which I would consider a "steal").  If you find that you have some pdf files you need converted but aren't likely going to need to do this on a consistent basis, this is a good way to do it.  No other software program I've seen offers such a license.

Do I Recommend?

I give this program a thumbs up and highly suggest this program for purchase.  It is a great tool to have if you need to be able to extract workable information from pdf files.

Where to get it:

http://www.investintech.com/

What is it?

This program lets you find words and phrases in almost any location in your database.  It then can do a replace on those words or phrases or you can get a report out of where things are being used.  It lets you define your searches (where you want to search) and then you can save those definitions if you want to be able to quickly load them up again. 

Pros:

Very detailed and allows you to do multiple searches at the same time.  In other words, I can load a set of words or phrases up by adding a word into the interface and clicking the Add button.  It will let me continue to add words or phrases so you can do a search once and not have to do things over and over again.

It will search in every location imaginable within the database file.  You can search for things in tables, queries, forms, reports, macros, modules, properties, custom properties, and more. 

The control you have to define where you look and how it gets returned is very detailed.  It is extremely powerful.

Cons:

The interface is a bit busy and it does take a bit of doing to get used to it.  Also, saving results to a report and then opening the report is not a very straightforward, or user intuitive action.  It is great once you get to know how to do it, but it is not a very straighforward procedure.

Do I Recommend?

Yes, wholeheartedly.  It is a great program which, from what I've seen, has no equal out there.  The price is reasonable and it works just like it should.  Yes it is a bit difficult to get to learn, at first, but it is well worth the effort.

Where to get it:

http://www.rickworld.com/