You got eXPert PDF 4 Pro for free. Now upgrade to eXPert PDF 6 Pro for free!

Update 7/24/2010: Everyone can now get eXPert PDF 6 Pro for free! Visit http://dottech.org/freebies/17294 for more details.

Recall how on 3/13/09 I posted about how you could get eXPert PDF 4 Pro for free. Well recently I posted about the same deal on Gizmo's and someone posted a comment on how they were able to attain eXPert PDF 5 Pro for free from the developer's website. This got me curious so I tried to install PDF 5 Pro. To my surprise PDF 5 Pro was registered once I installed it. Now I knew that the download from VisageSoft of PDf 5 Pro was a trial version so I investigated a little found out the reason PDF 5 Pro was registered is that PDF 5 Pro recognized the registration information from PDF 4 Pro. This got me curious even more so I uninstalled PDF 5 Pro and installed PDF 6 Pro (the latest version). To my  surprise (again), PDF 6 Pro also recognized the registration information from PDF 4 Pro.

Now being the self-righteous prick that I am, I emailed the developer letting him/her know about this because I feel that the original intent of the freebie did not include a free upgrade to the latest version (maybe it did, I don't know). The developer was actually lucky I even did that much because I was still pissed at the fact that the developer had yet to respond to an earlier email I sent to them. It does not seem to matter though: Judging  by the response from the developer, it does not seem like he/she plans on doing anything about this free upgrade. *Shrug* their loss. I did my fair duty and warned them; in my eyes if they don't want to plug it, it means it is okay with them to do the upgrade. So enjoy :) (keep in mind you heard it from dotTech first!).

Okay enough of my rant. How to get PDF 6 Pro?

  1. If you don't have PDF 4 Pro already, go to the Free eXPert PDF Pro 4 page and get it. Follow all the directions to the last letter (you must follow all the steps including renaming the shortcuts and replacing the help files).
  2. Uninstall eXPert PDF Pro 4. If you have RevoUninstaller do not use it; just uninstall PDF Pro 4 normally.
  3. Download eXPert PDF Pro 6 from here.
  4. Install eXPert PDF Pro 6 normally.
  5. Run eXPert PDF Pro 6 and make sure it is registered. Check under Help -> About. It should show your registration number. If it says "Trial" that means the registration did not work properly for you. If it does not work properly for you, my only advice is to try it all over again (all the way from the beginning of installing PDF 4 Pro).

This method has been confirmed to work; however some people have trouble with it. As I said above, if it does not work for you, the only advice I have is to try it all over again. Or if you are happy with PDF 4 Pro, just stick with that. Good luck.

Update1:

If you are having trouble getting eXPert PDF 6 Pro to register, try installing eXPert PDF 4 Pro with the following method (thx Paul) and then upgrading to eXPert PDF 6 Pro:

  • Download the archived last version of eXPert PDF 4 Pro: click here.
  • Goto your local temp directory (if using windows should be here C:\Documents and Settings\**substitute you login account here**\Local Settings\Temp\)
  • Now clean this dir up and delete all useless stuff. Don’t worry if you try to delete a temp file that is actively being used, the system will not let you delete it. This will all make sense in the end.
  • Now go to install the archived last version, but stop at the first screen.
  • Now go back to the temp directory and find the directory that was just created to unpack the files to.
  • Copy the file inside that directory called english.cab to another directory (doesn’t matter) BEFORE you cancel this install. YOU NEED THAT FILE.
  • Now cancel this install. The install prog deletes this file, but leaves some others behind. You can delete these left over files to clean the directory up again.
  • Now run the French version to install it (you should already have gotten the French version by following the directions printed here). Do the same as before and wait for it to unpack into the temp directory.
  • Find this newly created temp directory and copy all the files in this directory to another drive. After this is done, you can now cancel the french install.
  • Now goto where you saved these files and delete these two files: expertpdf_v4_fra.mst and french.cab
  • After this is done, copy the file you got from the archived version (english.cab) to this same directory.
  • Now you can install your ENGLISH version of the software. To install the program run expertpdf_v4_enu.msi

Update2:

by littled (see comment below)

SOLUTION FOR VISTA Users of XP are reporting it works also! So XP and Vista.

Hey… I got it working after having many failures. Those who have VISTA/XP may have to do the following:
(see the main instruction above)

1. Before you uninstall ver4, open RegEdit and go to the following:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SOFTWARE>Visage Software>PDF Printer>Options

2. Take note of all the keys and values because you will need to recreate the missing ones once you install ver6.

3. Once you install ver6, open RegEdit and go to the following:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SOFTWARE>Visage Software>PDF Printer>Options

THEN add these keys (by right-clicking, then NEW):

i. String Value (Value Name: Serial and Value Data: “YOUR ver4 SERIAL”)
ii. DWORD (32-bit) Value (Value Name: ProductID and Value Data: “YOUR ver4 PRODUCT ID”)

All the best! Hope it works for you now!

About the Author, Ashraf:

Ashraf is the founder of dotTech. Ashraf spends insane hours on dotTech (usually writing articles but sometimes doing absolutely nothing except staring). Yes he is weird, but he is also very friendly.

109 Responses to “ You got eXPert PDF 4 Pro for free. Now upgrade to eXPert PDF 6 Pro for free! ”

  1. 101
    May 17 2009 at 12:50 PM
    Arthur

    Hello,

    I tied the registry work around for upgrading from version 4 to the English version 6, but I get an invalid serial error when I try to run the PDF Editor. When I start the PDF Creator and go to help it says nothing about a trial version. Has anyone experienced this? Did I need to change the registry URL to the French site to have the serial work?

  2. 102
    May 24 2009 at 6:56 PM
    Jon

    Hey Ashraf,

    Thanks for this awsome opportunity. However, I am having a problem downloading version 4. After I sign up and hit “Telecharger” to donwload the software, it asks me to log into the FTP which I can not seem to do.

    Any help would be appreciated.

    Jon

  3. 103
    June 1 2009 at 11:35 AM
    Luke

    Hi, I found that it was easiest to do the following:

    1. Install eXPertPDF5 using your instructions
    2. Open RegEdit and find and Export the following (right click and select Export on the folder – choose a location and file name that is easy to remember):
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SOFTWARE>Visage Software>PDF Printer>Options
    3. Uninstall eXPertPDF5
    4. Download and install eXPertPDF6
    5. Double click on the registry file created in step 2 and choose Yes to import it to your registry

    That is it. You will have a successfully registered program. This should work with XP, Vista and Windows 7

    Thanks.

    Luke

  4. 104
    June 12 2009 at 2:07 PM
    Jon

    Just wanted to say that Luke’s suggestion worked perfectly. Thanks Luke for the advice.

  5. 105
    June 19 2009 at 2:56 AM
    Farrukh

    Aoa Ashraf
    Very nice :).
    I installed V5 from http://dottech.org/freebies/6301 and then registered as guided.

    Then I uninstalled it and installed V6 and it is showing the registration number in About Dialog Box of Editor.

    I didn’t touched registry key as mentioned by Luke.

    So is that fine if it is showing my registration key for V5 in V6′s About Dialog?
    Very Genius :).

    Thanks

  6. 106
    October 30 2009 at 12:13 AM
    MicroLabrat

    Thanks Luke!
    Method worked perfectly!

  7. 107
    November 11 2009 at 7:58 AM
    Su B

    I am not the authority to say this but is fiddling with registry an approved method to force an upgrade?
    Personally I’ll be happy with either version 5 or simply not use it.

  8. 108
    January 22 2010 at 10:50 AM
    Thom Porter

    First off, Asharf, you are the man! Every since finding dottech.org it has become my first stop when looking for some new software. Your reviews are extensive, informative and down-right fun to read! =) Thanks so much for all the time and effort you put into your site!

    Next, this is for any Windows 7 users (I’m on 64bit, but maybe 32bit will have the same issue.) When I first installed eXPert PDF Pro 4 & 6 I got an error message about not being able to install the printer driver (something about it being invalid, I can’t recall the exact message.) Ignore the error completely for version 4 and just un-install it and install eXPert PDF Pro 6. When the install completes, if you got the same error message, re-run the installer. It will have a repair option, choose that, the driver should get setup just fine!

    Also, if you find that the installation is hanging on “Installing Printer Driver” for a long time, try looking for a window BEHIND the installer window. That was where I got the Invalid Printer Driver message, but it was hidden so it took a while for me to even realize it was there!

    Thanks,
    Thom Porter

  9. 109
    January 23 2010 at 1:52 PM
    Melatonin

    I am receiving a watermark as well…
    anon (#92) mentioned this, has anyone found a solution?
    Everything else seems to be the full version…

    (Windows 7 64-bit)

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