PDFelement is an alternative application to Adobe Acrobat. It allows you to create, edit, sign, convert, and OCR documents. We are currently testing this application with a limited number of licenses. Here are some common questions that will help current users.

What is the difference between PDFelement and Acrobat?

The main difference is that Acrobat is a product of Adobe and PDFelement is provided through a company called Wondershare. Wondershare has created PDFelement as a low-cost alternative to Acrobat while providing all of the same features that Acrobat provides. Anything that you’ve been able to do in Acrobat, you will be able to do with PDFelement.

I need to add my signature to documents. Can I get a PDFelement license?

Not necessarily. Since we have limited licenses, we can only provide it to faculty and staff who do a lot of editing of PDFs. You do not need PDFelement to add signatures to a document. Adobe Reader provides that functionality as well as commenting and some editing features. If you’re not sure if Adobe Reader will do everything you need, please contact the Help Desk for guidance.

I get a message about a watermark when I try to save a document? How do I fix this?

You could be getting this message because PDFelement is unable to verify the license. Please check the upper right corner to make sure that your username is listed. If it states “Log in” then your license isn’t applied. Click the Log In button and enter your Wondershare ID and password. Note: This is different from your Goucher username and password.

My Goucher username and password aren’t working to login. Do I need to reset my password?

Your Goucher username and password will not work with PDFelement. When the license was first assigned to you, you should have received an email with your Wondershare ID and your initial password. Your Wondershare ID will always be your Goucher email address in the format firstname.lastname@goucher.edu. You should always change your initial password to prevent anyone else from logging in as you. If you can’t remember your Wondershare password, click Log In to access the Account window. Then click the Forgot Password? link and follow the steps to reset your password.

I get an error when I try to add a signature after combining PDFs? What am I doing wrong?

You are doing the steps correctly. There is a known bug that is causing the error. Here is a workaround until the bug is fixed:

1. Open the first document in PDFelement.
2. Click the thumbnail view.
3. Right-click the document and choose Insert pages and select From PDF and select the second document.
4. Click OK to complete the insert process.
5. Follow steps 2-4 again for any additional documents that need to be inserted.
6. Select the document in thumbnail view go through the steps of applying the signature.

How can I find out how to use PDFelement?

Wondershare has an extensive video library on their YouTube channel. You can access it by going to Wondershare PDFelement.

Can I install PDFelement on more than one computer?

You can install PDFelement on as many computers as you like. However, Wondershare only allows you to be logged in on two computers at a time. So, if you want to use a different computer then you’ll need to log off one or the license will be revoked as soon as you sign in on another computer.

PDFelement takes a while to load on my computer. Why is that?

We’ve noticed that this happens mainly on Windows computers for some reason. Although Wondershare stated that they improved the performance, it still opens slower than expected. One reason why it could take longer is because once PDFelement launches, it has to check in with the Wondershare licensing server to make sure that a) your license is valid and b) your license is not active on more than two devices. Once it does that, any subsequent documents that you open or save tend to process much quicker.

I’m getting errors for things I’ve done before. What could be causing this?

Make sure you’re running the latest version of PDFelement. Wondershare will usually prompt if there’s an update. You can select “Later” but then you’re also be delaying a fix that you need. Take the time to run the updates as they come quite regularly. If after installing the latest updates and you still get an error, please open a ticket with our Help Desk so we can reach out to Wondershare support for a possible fix.