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Create Scanned PDFs On The Go With ScanR

nospam@example.com (Reena) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:34:11 -0400

Reading PDFs on your mobile device is one thing. But being able to create them is another. If you’ve got a cell phone or PDA that has a built in digital camera, then you’ve got the essential tools needed for creating a PDF file on the go.

What Is scanR?

With the online service of US based company, scanR, you can create scanned PDFs from photos of whiteboards, business cards and paper documents taken with your cell phone camera or a digital camera.

So instead of manually recording information, copying out complex whiteboard diagrams or relying on scanning devices and desktop software, you can simply take a picture of it.

Before and after shots of a document conversion

(Images from scanr.com)

After you take the picture, all you have to do is send in your digital image to scanR via the scanR Mobile application, email, or MMS (multi media messaging), and you’ll be sent an email containing your scanned PDF file.

If you're interested, the scanR service provides support for scanning letter and A4 sized documents, colour PDF creation, 15 photos per message processing, auto-tagging and more PDF handling options (eg. online sharing) through the scanR mobile website. You can even have your documents faxed to both national and international numbers.

Getting Mobile PDF Creation On Your Phone

In order to start creating your scanned PDFs on the go, you can download the scanR mobile application onto your phone. Or you can start by signing up for an account. A simple trial plan is available in addition to the scanR Pro plan that offers monthly and annual subscription options.

For a listing of supported platforms and devices, you can check out the scanR site and blog for more downloading and application details.

If you want to get more productivity, convenience and functionality out of your mobile device, a mobile PDF creation app is definitely one handy tool to have.

Adobe PDF Now An Official ISO Standard

nospam@example.com (Reena) — Tue, 8 Jul 2008 09:57:35 -0400

Get ready to celebrate because the PDF industry has reached a major milestone.

If you haven’t heard the news yet, on July 2^nd, 2008, after more than 10 years on the market as a de facto standard, the Portable Document Format (PDF) was approved for ISO certification as an international standard.

PDF standardization, as everyone knows, has been long overdue. In 15 years, 9 generations of technology have come and gone (we’re at Acrobat 9 now!). The fact that the PDF has made it through the long years and has improved steadily from version to version is a testament to its capabilities and uses as a format.

Glancing Back To A Present Moment

Of course, as a standard as it will mean the significant changes PDF critics and experts have been talking about for over a year now. I remember in a February 2007 posting, I threw up a few questions that were aimed at the moment when PDF 1.7 got its certification:

“Yet, aside from the competition with the ISO approval for OOXML, Adobe is also seeing competition with itself. When the PDF 1.7 spec gets its ISO certification, changes will have to be made in software already being used for PDF files. How will pre-ISO PDF files be handled as opposed to post-ISO PDF files? This also means changes for third party vendors-- their products, their market and their projects. There’ll be a ripple to accommodate the adjustments, but just how big?”

I guess we can start fully answering those questions now . . . .

Are you looking forward to working with PDF files? Hope so. Because there’s no time like the present to be a PDF user.

Cheers!

Acrobat 9 Released, Adobe App Vulnerability Detected

nospam@example.com (Reena) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:15:08 -0400

Major news in the PDF world this week is a mixed bag of releases and vulnerabilities.

First off, the Acrobat 9 family has now been officially released. The upgrade version everyone’s been waiting for is available for purchase and includes a number of buzz worthy goodies such as Flash integration and document synchronization. Acrobat 9 also has the ability to compare different versions of a single PDF and an enhanced webpage to PDF conversion feature.

If you want to check out the features in depth, free trials for all three versions are available on the Adobe site.

The other announcement this week—a new Adobe Reader and Acrobat vulnerability has been discovered. The security bulletin on the Adobe site claims that the vulnerabilities found in the current Reader and Acrobat versions 8.0 through 8.1.2 have the ability to crash the applications, which could allow malicious users to take over your system.

This probably has you worried if your PDF apps are prone to stalling and then crashing moments later. Fortunately, patches are available for the affected software versions. For more information on this security threat visit the Adobe Security Bulletin.

Acrobat.com Reviews You Can Use

nospam@example.com (Reena) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:16:14 -0400

Everyone is looking for software alternatives these days. It’s a given fact with postings in the blogosphere like ”10 Alternatives to (enter software here)”. Well, Adobe has been busy this month with new releases and one of them is Acrobat.com, a website that may be the alternative you’re looking for.

Acrobat.com is a bundle of online services of Adobe software tools you use every day- file sharing and storage, PDF converter, online word processor and even web conferencing. So how does Acrobat.com online stack up against Adobe
desktop software?

If you haven’t gotten around to checking it out or committing to it with an account, here are some links on resources, user reviews and commentaries to see what users are saying about this major online alternative and what it’s all about.

*TechCrunch gives you a brief rundown of Acrobat.com.

*See what other blogs on Technorati had to say about the news.

*A few user weaknesses you should know about Acrobat.com that ars technica made note of.

*If you need a bit of orientation on what the major components of Acrobat.com do, PC Advisor looks at each of them in turn: Buzzword, ConnectNow, Adobe Share and access to online PDF creator.

*Check out the Acrobat.com blog written by the Acrobat.com designers themselves. See what they have in mind for the site.

*Don Fluckinger, writing for PDFZone, takes an interesting look at the implications of Acrobat.com as Adobe’s competition against. . .itself?

*And no online service is complete without an Acrobat.com forum to connect with other users. The discussions and questions have already started.

Whether you look at Acrobat.com as a godsend, a competition killer, or a reason to change the way you work, you have to admit you can’t get any better alternative to Adobe desktop software than Adobe software online.

GOLD BAR GIVEAWAY

nospam@example.com (Reena) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:31:13 -0400

Investintech.com – PDF Solutions, The GOLD STANDARD of PDF Developer Tools, is happy to announce the winner of our exclusive TechEd 2008 Gold Bar Giveaway contest. The grand prize for this contest is a 1 Ounce Troy solid gold bar, which was on display at our exhibit booth during the TechEd 2008 Developer week.

Our random selection algorithm has chosen:Thomas B Soeder of Arrow Electronics

Congratulations Thomas! We will be in contact with you shortly to arrange delivery for the gold bar.

Thank you to all who entered – we appreciate your interest and good will in entering our contest!

Bill Gates Outlines Future of Software in Final Public Speech as CSA

nospam@example.com (Reena) — Wed, 4 Jun 2008 14:19:10 -0400

The Tech Ed Conference is in full swing, and Investintech is already seeing –and hearing, some interesting things from the conference floor.

Bill Gates walks down memory lane at the Tech Ed Conference

In his last public speech as Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect (CSA), Bill Gates took over 6,000 software developers at Microsoft Tech Ed 2008 in Orlando on a walk down memory lane and then outlined his vision for the future of application development.

Describing himself as a developer at heart, Gates provided a brief look back at how far software development has come since he co-founded Microsoft over 30 years ago. He recalled fondly the days of working in DOS and writing software programs that only required 6k of memory.

Those days are of course long past now and with Gates transitioning out of a full time role at Microsoft on July 1, he devoted the majority of his keynote to the future.

The central theme here and for all of Tech Ed for that matter, is that cloud computing is the next big thing.

Microsoft is betting on this in a big way and Gates made it clear that this is driving a lot of what Microsoft is doing on the application development and services front.

Within the application development realm , Gates pointed to Project Oslo, Microsoft’s application-development plan for making it easier for developers to build SOAs (service-oriented architectures). SOAs allow the underlying software running a company’s network to communicate with software and pieces of software outside the firewall using standard network and application interfaces to create composite applications.

On the services side, Gates made mention of the fact that Microsoft is embracing the hosted services business model by investing in building the industry’s largest data centers for services.

Gates noted: “We’re taking everything we do at the server level and saying we will have a service that mirrors that exactly,”

If you didn’t get a chance to get out to Orlando, don’t worry about missing a thing. You can get all the latest scoops right here.

Stay tuned!

Investintech @ Microsoft Tech ED 2008 (Developer)

nospam@example.com (Reena) — Tue, 27 May 2008 09:36:36 -0400

The Investintech PDF Developer Tools team is going to be exhibiting live on location at the Microsoft Tech Ed 2008 Developer Conference in Orlando from June 2-6.

Will you be there? If so, come find us on the exhibition floor in Booth D1132 .

Regardless of whether you can be there or not, we have some great things in store for you here at Investintech.com and on our blog for the week of the conference, including:

Our Pure Gold Giveaway – Enter for your chance to Win a 1-Ounce Gold Bar (more on that below).
Daily blog wrap-ups from Tech-Ed, including Bill Gates’ keynote session.
Instant updates from the conference floor and conference sessions via Twitter.

Investintech Pure Gold Giveaway

Check in over the next few days here at our blog, as we will have more details on how you can enter for your chance to win a 99% pure 1-ounce Gold Bar, valued at the daily current market price (roughly US$900 as of this writing).

Microsoft Adds Native PDF Creation To Office 2007

nospam@example.com (Reena) — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:16:44 -0400

Microsoft made an announcement this week that the Office 2007 Service Pack 2, scheduled for early 2009, will finally provide users with native support for ODF and PDF.

Its own XPS OOXML format (aka “PDF Killer”), which caused so much controversy with ISO committees and users, has anticlimactically been put on the back burner. Native support for XPS will be included within the next version of the Office suite.

As to the PDF, it seems that since Adobe’s PDF is now standardized, Microsoft can include the native support for the format it had initially mapped out for the Office 2007 suite. But while you’ll be able to create PDFs natively, chances are you still won’t have full access to the heavy duty features which stand alone products like Acrobat and Sonic PDF Creator can offer. So, don’t recycle bin those applications just yet.

By going one step further than the export feature for these major formats, Microsoft is finally opening itself up to adopting and adapting to non-Microsoft ways. With integration for different vendor formats, could Microsoft finally be co-operating?

. . . Or, equipped with a wide user-base, a solid application suite and support for open source and final document formats, could they be pulling out all the stops to overtake its biggest competitors?

Speeding Up Adobe with Adobe Reader SpeedUp

nospam@example.com (Reena) — Tue, 20 May 2008 09:41:52 -0400

If asked to name your number one pet peeve about Adobe Reader or Acrobat, chances are you’d single out the large download size and slow start up speed for both.

Acrobat with all its advanced features is crammed into 320 MB. The Adobe Reader size itself is currently at 22.4 MB from the Adobe download page (and that’s without the Adobe Media Player addition of 12.3 MB). These sizes can mean the difference between a quick couple of seconds or a couple of seconds to get a cup of coffee.

For those of you who are looking to speed up the launch time of your Adobe Acrobat and Reader applications, there’s a handy utility you might want to take a look at—Adobe Reader SpeedUp.

This utility is designed to help speed up your Adobe PDF software by disabling the plugins that are irrelevant, useless or otherwise unneeded. Basically, the less you have to download, the faster your PDF applications work.

Here’s a quick look at what to expect.

When you download the utility, it’ll come in zip file format. So, you’ll need to extract the files into a new individual folder and execute the Reader SpeedUp.exe file, which should start the set up process.

When it begins, the Welcome dialogue box that appears will give you the option of a quick briefer with an included Readme txt file. If you want, you can skip it and begin customizing the functions of your applications by setting up changes in both the Tweaks and Change Settings options at the bottom of the dialogue box.

In the next few steps, you can then view and select the plugins and the SpeedUp Mode you want to enable. Once that’s done, your applications should be launching faster than a speeding bullet—or something near to it.

The utility supports Adobe Reader v.6.0-8.0 and Acrobat v.3.0-8.0, and will also allow you to switch back to your old configurations if needed.

To check it out or try it out, you can find the download on BootBlock.co.uk.

How The PDF Works

nospam@example.com (Reena) — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:15:08 -0400

A key issue for both PDF users and Word users alike is the ability to edit. While the PDF user is concerned with preventing it, a Word user demands it. Whether it’s concern for saving the content of a file or for accessing it, Investintech.com tries to assist both.

However, sometimes we get questions and issues that can’t be resolved, which actually make for a good opportunity to clarify a few things about the PDF format itself. For instance, one Able2Extract-PDF-Word user sent in a question that reads:

When a PDF is converted back into a MS Word Document, can the changes that were made to the Word Document (before it was converted to a PDF initially) be seen?

In other words, if you’re not the creator of either the source document or the PDF document itself, could you determine who, when and what changes were made during the original editing of the Word Document?

Unfortunately, no. The PDF preserves only the look-and-feel of Word Documents. It doesn’t preserve anything else. There is no hidden Word data in the PDF file, no information of recorded changes. Hence, there is nothing for a PDF converter to recover. The information which you don’t see on the paper area is lost during PDF creation.

In fact, when you create a PDF file, the actual paragraphs and words you do see aren’t preserved either. All a PDF does is preserve the look and position of each letter individually (that’s why the conversion for PDF back to Word is complicated—our application has to “figure out” which letters combine to make certain words and other elements).

If you think about it, the PDF really is a form of “electronic paper”. That is, it generates the same effect as a printed page held in your hand—just by looking at it, you can’t figure out how many edits or changes were made to it to get it to that final version you hold in your hand. What gets lost in translation, stays lost.

How To Make Your PDF Forms Into Fill-able Word Docs

nospam@example.com (Reena) — Mon, 5 May 2008 13:10:56 -0400

Further details on the upcoming Acrobat 9 have been rising to the surface. And highlighted among the rumoured additions is integration with a new forms data-tracking service.The feature will give companies and PDF form creators an efficient way of handling the inputted data they collect.

Yet, as a user who fills those PDF forms out, you may be concerned with a simpler, more fundamental issue: can you transform those PDF forms into fill-able Word Documents?

The Investintech answer is yes. If you have a native PDF containing genuine PDF form elements (radio buttons, checkboxes, text fields, etc.), all our PDF conversion products (Able2Doc and Able2Extract in either Standard or Professional versions) can convert the PDF form to editable Word Documents.

Here’s how:

Open Able2Extract or Able2Doc
Open your PDF form
Select the PDF form pages or content you wish to convert
Click on the Word conversion icon in the toolbar
When the Convert to Word dialogue box appears, click on Forms. (Note: Unlike the other conversion options where you can choose either Text or RTF outputs, the Forms option will convert to the Word format by default)
Select your target directory and Save your file

In sum, this conversion should allow you to click and type within your Word form with the ability to save the inputted data afterwards.

Convert from this PDF. . .

It may seem counter-intuitive to do a PDF Form to Word conversion with newer PDF form, Reader and Acrobat functionalities coming out.

. . . to this fill-able Word Form

However, if you can’t save your data in the PDF form itself, are sending it to someone without Adobe software, or have a static PDF Form, converting your PDF form to Word may be the solution you need.

Give it a try.

Adobe Acrobat 9 Is On The Way

nospam@example.com (Reena) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:38:03 -0400

The PDF world this week is buzzing with the release of early details on the next version of Acrobat that were reported on eWeek.com.

With the recent onslaught of Adobe TV, Photoshop Express, the AMP media player and Adobe’s push for an open format for Digital Cinema files, Adobe has been busy. But they still haven’t lost sight of its hallmark product, Adobe Acrobat.

Moreover, they haven’t lost site of the product as a single out-of-the-box solution for your desktop. And the Adobe PDF makers are making the next upgrade just that. From the sparse details, Acrobat 9 is merging separate already existing PDF functionalities into Acrobat.

If you haven’t heard about them yet, the expected upgrade includes:

-Forms creation in the Standard version that can be electronically completed

-Added Acrobat 3D technology in the Professional version

-Forms routing capabilities for data collection through a hosted service provided by Adobe

-A lone Professional version for Mac

-Continued support for real-time document review and markup in shared spaces

-New GUI update

Were any of these on your Acrobat 9 wish list of must-have features?

It looks as if Acrobat 9 is slated to be the PDF product release of summer 2008, fully loaded with PDF capabilities. With separate standalone product functionalities rolled into one, you should expect to get more for your money with this release.

How To Animate Your PDF Content

nospam@example.com (Reena) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:01:19 -0400

When you want to convert your PDF content, you want it coming out clean and crisp, as accurate as the original file. Yet, imagine for a moment, the possibility that your converted content can turn out better than the original.

Thus, being able to do something like animate static content is definitely a plus. Able2Extract has the ability to do this with its support for PDF to GIF conversion.

Alongside the usual image conversion options, Able2Extract has a Multipage image option available for image conversions. This can be used to animate static images by animating them in a way similar to how a flipbook animates hand drawn pictures.

To animate your static PDF images, follow these steps:

1) Open your PDF or XPS document that contains a multipage image in Able2Extract v.5.0.

2) Select the page, pages or a page range of your multipage image.

3) Click on the image conversion icon in the toolbar.

4 ) In the image conversion dialogue box, select GIF. The GIF conversion options should then be highlighted and accessible.

5) Put a check mark in the Multipage image option.

6)The next GIF option you need to set is the GIF Animation Speed. Select how fast or slow you want your animation to occur in terms of seconds per page.

7) There is a Black and White colour conversion option available as well if you want to colour convert your image.

8 ) Choose your image scaling and DPI resolution preferences.

9) Select the Destination directory where you want to save your file.

10) Then click OK to convert.

The GIF images you create with this method can be opened and viewed in Firefox 2.0 and Internet Explorer 7.0.

If you need more information on what the GIF file format is and what else it can do, you can visit our resource pages for more details. We’ve got articles specifically on image formats and PDF conversion.

How Does Adobe Help You With Your Taxes?

nospam@example.com (Reena) — Fri, 4 Apr 2008 14:07:41 -0500

It’s tax time and the 2008 deadline is fast approaching.Are you ready?

While now is the time to start worrying about your number crunching skills and your organizational skills, one thing you don’t have to worry about with Adobe around is your record keeping skills—with the help of the PDF file format.

Whether you do your taxes by hand or have someone do them for you, at one point or another, your tax forms will be touched by Adobe technology somewhere along the way. How?

There’s an interesting tax filing web tour over on the Adobe site that shows a behind the scenes look at how LiveCycle ES and other Adobe technology can play a role in your tax filing and tax form reviews.

Through a fictional scenario, it shows you:

-How Flex is used to build applications for constructing self serve tax filing and tax review
workflows

-What happens when you enter data into interactive forms or online questionnaires

-Multiple ways of processing submitted forms

-When Acrobat and Reader are used for working on your tax forms

-What security features keep your tax information secure

-The difference between a wet signature and a digital signature on your tax forms

-When and how 2D barcodes are used

-What types of organized forms processing workflows are possible with LiveCycle ES and Flex

Tax Tips and PDF Tips

No doubt, that when the deadline gets close, you’ll want to file those taxes the quickest and easiest way possible. Just remember that it won’t do you any good if you’re careless. So here are a few tax tips and PDF tips to keep in mind.

-Update all your PDF software before you even begin to open or fill out interactive forms.

-If you’re going to use tax-prep software such as TurboTax, H&R Block Taxcut or TaxACT, make sure you know how both desktop and online versions of the software export your returns in the PDF format.

-Stay linked to the IRS gateway page for PDF tax publications and forms for easy access the following year.

-When saving your tax returns as PDFs, make use of strong security features such as passwords and encryptions.

-If you have older versions of tax software that are no longer supported or compatible with other viewing software, check out TaxPrinter, an online service that will help you access old personal fax files by converting them into the PDF format for you.

-When you write a check to the IRS, be sure to write it out to the “Internal Revenue Service”. Three letters, if carelessly written, can easily be made into a “MRS.”, “MR.S--“ or “IRIS”, leaving thieves with access to your money.

Hope that when the April 15 deadline hits, you’ll be ready.

Putting The PDF Into Perspective

nospam@example.com (Reena) — Tue, 1 Apr 2008 08:35:42 -0500

When you think PDF, what comes to mind?—Adobe? Reader? Acrobat? “Oh, no”?

The format has indeed gained such a reputation for being manipulated too easily and frequently in the past that the latter probably came more naturally to you than the others. But this fact hasn’t turned the PDF into a has-been format yet.

In fact, despite the PDF hacks—or in spite of them, users and groups are still looking to the PDF as a digital solution. How come? Why is such a vulnerable format still in the picture? What keeps it going?

Check out The PDF Paradox: How Does A Risky Format Draw Us Into Its Ecosystem?--an article that tries to answer just that by putting the PDF into perspective.

With short glances and spotlights on PDF innovations, uses and technologies, the article goes beyond "Adobe”, “Reader” and “Acrobat” to look at the bigger picture—the PDF ecosystem, where the format takes centre stage.