This tool lets you do a lot more with your PDF files than just view them

Viewing a PDF in your browser is as easy as 1-2-3. But for years since Adobe released this file format, there wasn’t much that you could do with it.

Then came apps and extensions that allow you to do a lot more with your PDF files such as Notable PDF.

Notable PDF is a cloud-based Google Chrome app and extension that lets users collaborate around PDF files.

Let’s look at how it works. Once installed in your browser, the Notable PDF icon appears on your omnibar. Just click on the icon to access the extension.



If you’re using the tool for the first time, you may sign in using your Google account or sign up using your email.



Once logged in, drag a file from your computer or load one using your Google Drive.



View, add or highlight text, draw on your file, sign and share it using a bunch of buttons floating on the top-right area of the window. Notable PDF also allows you to print the edited file, download it, or save it in your preferred cloud storage account.



“The PDF is one of the most widely used file formats in the world, if not number one. And as users move onto the cloud, we want to offer them a powerful but easy to use software to help them do more with their files and solve the problems they encounter with the traditional PDF software,” says Alliv Samson, co-founder and COO of the New Zealand-based startup that built the tool.

Samson, a Filipina, and her co-founders Hengjie Wang (CEO) and Jordan Thoms (CTO) have been working together since they were students at the University of Auckland. Back then, they had a different product called Notable.ac, a note-taking web app for students and professors. But Notable.ac didn’t grow as much as they wanted so they moved on to build Notable PDF.

“The idea came about from the lessons we learned from Notable.ac. The interaction we had and the data we gathered led us to create Notable PDF,” Samson recalls.

Since its launch in March 2014, Notable PDF has had 1.3 million installs on the Chrome Store. Samson says they aim to reach five million installs by the end of this year.

Helping the team reach this goal is a group of investors based in New Zealand and in the US.

In February, Notable PDF raised its latest seed round of NZ$500,000 (US$385,000) from Flying Kiwi Angels, the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund, Sparkbox Venture Group, EFU Investments Limited, and individual angel investors. US investors, including Scott Nolan, a partner at Founders Fund, and Sam Altman, president of Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator, also participated in the funding round, Samson tells Tech in Asia.

(Disclosure: Tech in Asia is part of Y Combinator winter 2015 batch. See our ethics page for more information.)

“We want to spend the raised money hiring more engineers and developing more features,” she notes, adding that this will help them stay ahead of rivals such as DocHub. “We want to make sure we’re building a product that everyone wants, something that’s easy to use and helps our users work faster and smarter.”

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