Activate license even if PDF-Exchange out of business

[ohseegee]

I'm a long time Adobe Acrobat X user (PDF editor). I had a perpetual license, which I thought meant I could use it forever, reinstall if needed etc. I just upgraded my laptop to Win 11 and need to reinstall Acrobat X - and surprise, Adobe will not activate the product since it is "unsupported" (even though it is known to work fine with Win 11), even though I own a "perpetual license". Wow. Never again!!!

If I buy PDF-XChange Editor permanent license, I want to ensure I can re-install it forever. (Even if PDF-Exchange is out of business and any activation servers are gone), even if the product is unsupported, out of maintenance, etc. I asked on a chat this morning, and the answer was YES, just reinstall in a safe environment.

I've been thinking about that answer ("safe environment"), and now I'm not so sure what that meant. Can you confirm that I can reinstall my PDF-XChange editor and it will run/activate/etc. even if your licensing servers are gone? Even if the product is no longer supported? Etc.

I figure I'm not the only one in this situation, so I wanted to post this on the forum. (For obvious reasons, I am looking for an Adobe acrobat alternative).

Thanks!

[Mathew]

please don't let PDF XChange go out of business! I'll let them respond officially but I think there's an "offline" method to register which I assume means they don't have to maintain servers forever: https://help.pdf-xchange.com/pdfxe10/in ... edpub.html

I had exactly the same experience with Adobe, Autodesk and other professional analysis software that I thought I "owned": In search of ever increasing profits, greed has got in the way of customer care and they've all gone to subscription. PDF XChange are one of the few remaining bright lights.

[John - Tracker Supp]

Hi,

Well I would start out by saying we have been at this for nearly 30 years and the likelihood of us going out of business anytime soon is approximately 0.00001% according to ChatGPT - just kidding - everyone seems to be obsessed with AI right now and I just thought I would add a little humour to the subject.

Obviously we cannot predict the future, outside of the fact that if our activation servers are not available then you probably have bigger problems than just not having access to the licensed features of our software!

Joking aside, firstly, volume licenses have different conditions on the activation, starting at 25 seats the license are Pre-Activated and as such are not subject to that restriction.

These 25+ user-licenses are genuinely perpetual for the version to which you are licensed and the relevant installation package - once you have your license key (as opposed to activation code) - keep that and the the complete installer package safe and available for future use - just in case of a disaster!

There is an offline method to activation as Mathew states - see here;

https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgeba ... e-Software

However, Even offline, this does however require a connection to our severs, as you need to sign into your account during the process. Both online and Offline activation, also need to be refreshed periodically. As such, any smaller volume keys would unfortunately stop working after a few months, if the worst happened.

In over 24 years of delivering PDF-XChange to clients there are literally 100's if not 1000's of potential installation files and we no longer have a complete archive of these available ourselves and certainly don't maintain them for download - so it is essential - you keep your relevant installation package valid for your serial number for your use if you do not intend to keep your maintenance live and up to date!