The Adobe PDF format is extremely versatile. It’s a swiss army knife format that can help you out in a number of tight situations.
But are you still asking just how versatile the PDF is and how that versatility can help you? Let’s show you what the PDF can do.
Here are 7 real-life problems you can solve with just this one format.
Problem #1 – Data Security
I’m worried about data being stolen from my computer or someone reading a file that they shouldn’t. How can the PDF help me?
Well Adobe Acrobat 9 has improved document security built right into it. So you don’t need to worry about the secret company information getting into the wrong hands or the wrong eyes seeing it. It allows you to set a password for everything from opening to changing. You can control whether or not a document can be printed and even permanently remove specific information or meta information. You can even prevent files from copying, editing and commenting (according to the Adobe Acrobat website).
At work alone you can go through a number of health risks–both mental and physical. Banging your head on the keyboard, getting annoyed by repetitive clicking, gaining weight from sitting in front of the computer, having had the sanity beaten out of you with the slowness of your computer–sound familiar?
That’s an average day for all computer users, no doubt. Well, believe it or not, PDF users can experience all that while working with ONE PDF file!
While PDF creators may neglect to create a stress-free, picture perfect PDF to work with, you, on the other hand, can actively prevent the usual stress bugs and unhealthy habits that are associated with every file. By simply adhering to these 10 basic PDF rules you can start leading a healthier life in front of a computer.
1. Deal with large PDF Files in short glances.
The number one frustration with the PDF is file size. They open slowly, they download slowly and they can even cause your browser or reader to crash. Unfortunately, not everyone takes the time to compress images, unembed fonts, optimize scanned pages or remove unused elements in their PDFs.
However, if you’re on the receiving end, take advantage of the wait time to get a cup of coffee, check your inbox or survey your RSS feeds. Believe me, checking in with the download in short glances is way less frustrating than one long wait session.
2. Add security to your PDF.
Have you been worried about the contents of your file? For the most part, your daily frustration includes being concerned about your work, making sure everything is done properly and that confidential information remains confidential.
For peace of mind, always add security features. Encrypt your PDF, add a self-signed digital ID or assign user and master-level passwords. This will go a long way to reducing the worry that causes sleepless nights.
3. Have good PDF tools.
A good idea for PDF users is to have a good list of third party tools handy. Working with the PDF file often involves manipulating the content more than anything else, and for the most part basic copying and pasting or quality printing are restricted. Consequently, working with PDF files can be extremely stressful.
You need to use more than one tool to be efficient with the format. While there are many task specific PDF tools online, the basic tools to have include a good PDF viewer, a fully loaded PDF creator and a versatile PDF file converter that outputs to more than one format. Having the right tools will make your life easier.
4. Add bookmarks to your PDFs.
Bookmark lengthy PDFs. There’s nothing more irritating than having to blindly scroll and “Ctrl + G” your way through a PDF you just created. Toggling back between the TOC page and the rest of the file means eyestrain, permanent frowns and headaches–the most common and most fatiguing ailments in the workplace. Having your pages visually indexed on the side, will save you and your recipients a bottle of Aspirin.
5. Redact your files.
Something close to a heart attack will usually come when, despite having set and re-checked your PDF security settings, you realize that confidential information has just been sent out. A pounding heart and high levels of stress due to that “uh-oh” feeling are definitely unpleasant reactions to have.
One cure to this: redaction. Redacting your PDF files can block out and even eliminate text and graphics from your PDF completely. There are redaction tools easily available online and should be added to your PDF toolbox before you heart gives out in a panic.
6. Update your PDF software.
You might be using older versions of Acrobat or Reader. While there’s nothing wrong with sticking to the tools you’re used to, you should worry about PDF hacks that have been developed using those versions. Being caught unaware by viruses and trojans can take years off your life as you try to restore your old system.
As a rule, you should update your software on a yearly basis. There are too many PDF hacks out there to leave it to chance. If you’re dead set on older versions, you might take heart in the fact that most newer versions do retain older features while developing newer ones.
7. Follow PDF/X and PDF/A subset standards.
There’s nothing more disappointing like preparing a PDF only to find out that you haven’t prepared it as well as you should have. Having to redo your work can heighten the stress levels when you’re already swamped with a million other things to do.
When preparing a PDF for any type of publication or archiving, whether it be on a large or small scale, use pre-flighting tools and refer to archival standards. They’ll help you create a PDF that won’t add to your to-do list.
8. Make PDF forms fillable online.
To users, this is now a necessity. And if you’re using the PDF to distribute forms over the Web, it should be a necessity for you too. If you want to do away with the long hours of mind numbing data collection and processing, make your PDF forms interactive and fillable online.
Using Adobe LiveCycle can integrate and automate the process with your company’s back end systems. Why burden yourself with extra work and effort that can be solved with technology already out on the market?
9. Stockpile on multimedia PDFs.
Working constantly with PDF files can amount to a daily 9-5 drone of routine with a 10 minute smoke break every 2 hours. Indeed, not a good way to cope with your day. Instead, break the monotony and low morale with an inspiring multimedia PDF. If complete with animation, sounds and visually compelling material, multimedia PDFs can provide a good mental break from your work. A really good multimedia PDF could help you reset your mentality and prevent you from leaving the desk for another cigarette.
10. Find comfort in knowing there are others who can help.
There’s always comfort in numbers. When in doubt of your PDF skills and in danger of developing low self-esteem, visit a PDF user community. These sites are usually equipped with a forum and network of users who, like you, are looking for simple camaraderie and support. PDF tips and tricks, industry news and software resource lists are also usual staples of user communities, but they can differ from site to site. Overall, they’re an asset to your PDF resource list.
Everyone’s had a bad experience with the PDF at one point or another. Having them repeatedly, though, isn’t all that great for your health. If you can’t avoid them, the best you can do is to improve the ways in which you cope with them.
What makes the PDF so enticing to malicious users? There are more reasons than you think.
With the recent headlines about Adobe PDF vulnerabilities being taken advantage of, just about anyone who used a PC was on the alert. PDF files have the potential to do some serious damage to systems and data when infected.
Because the PDF is not without its weaknesses, anticipating ways in which attackers can use the format can be the best way to defend against it.
Below is a brief look at 13 ways—both technical and simple, in which the PDF is vulnerable and can be manipulated by malicious users.
1) JavaScript
Online PDFs are designated with open parameters that can be injected with malicious JavaScript code. Because of the flexibility of JavaScript, hackers have a broad range of what can be done using the PDF file as their hacking tool of choice.
2) Spam
The recent spamming attacks this year demonstrated a way of exploiting the nature of the PDF as file format. Until recently, the PDF never really got caught at the anti-spam gates. Thus, although most anti-spam products now check PDFs and other forms of image spam, PDF containing spam made it into millions of inboxes everywhere. Although not immediately threatening as code executions, spam is still spam and has the ability to deliver Trojans, viruses, and malware.
When you’re considering whether to buy a PDF converter program or not, making the right choice is difficult, especially if you’re sitting on the fence about why you should purchase a conversion product or not to begin with.
You may think that since you’re not a heavy PDF user you don’t really need one, or that you’ll pay a bundle for one then rarely use the program, or that you can get along fine without one since there are other methods that can save you the money.
Well, if you need a little encouragement to justify the purchase of a PDF converter (and do away with the lingering doubt), here it is—ten reasons for you to buy a PDF converter (in no specific order):
1) PDFs Aren’t Editable
PDF converters are primarily used for making PDF content accessible. Major editing or analysis is what most PDF content requires if the format is used for transmission. PDF converters can save you all the retyping and data input. You can extract PDF content into other editable formats where you can perform the needed analysis easily.
2) Access, Generate And Work In Different Formats
Freeing up the locked down PDF content leads into another benefit that PDF converters provide: choice of format. There are many diverse formats to which the PDF format can now be converted. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, RTF and HTML are just a short list of the common ones which you can generate. It’s ultimately up to you and your work.
3) Going Paperless With Your Files
PDF converters are a simple solution for creating a personal e-filing system. With a PDF converter, you can manage PDF files and document information more effectively. A PDF converter is a good way to keep down the paper consumption and keep your edited work in digital files with the least amount of hassle.
4) The PDF Is A De Facto Standard
What does that mean? By common and popular usage, the PDF is the format professionals turn to when data needs to be kept in tact while being transmitted for review. The PDF is being used across industries, and converting PDF content is inevitably part of that usage. Having a PDF converter will allow you to integrate into such workflows effortlessly.
5) PDF Popularity
Take into consideration that PDFs are now created not just by professionals, but by ordinary end users for ordinary purposes. PDFs are being used on personal webpages for posting documents and miscellaneous content that are impractical as HTML pages. And at one point, you might need to convert those documents in order to use them.
6) Repurposing That PDF Data Completely
Opening PDFs in Adobe Acrobat Professional, you can perform minor editing. However, doing that won’t give you the ability to completely repurpose the content; PDF converters will. You can eliminate those makeshift extractions that constantly leave you frustrated in the end.
7) PDF Converters As A Long Term Solution
Admittedly, free online converters are great for quick, one time conversions. Free trials are also great for trying out products. Yet, neither are great for long term solutions. These converters are oftentimes limited, or will restrict your PDF conversions to being done online. With a proper PDF converter, you’ll have unlimited access and the ability to work offline whenever you choose.
8 ) An Investment That’s Worth The Time And Money
Time matters. The money you spend matters. Yet, if you don’t have a PDF converter, you’ll find yourself spending a lot of both looking for other alternatives, alternatives that are perhaps not the best choice. Buying a good PDF converter is a worthwhile investment. Even if you occasionally use PDFs for research or collaboration, it makes working with those PDFs a lot easier.
9) PDF Converters As Learning Tools
It’s general knowledge that you can benefit from everything you do. Expand on what you know about the PDF by learning how to convert one. You’ll learn more about the ins and outs of the PDF than you normally would without a proper PDF converter.
10) PDF Converter Features
PDF conversion features in most applications go beyond the basic one-time quick conversion, and even increase the quality of your conversions. Batch conversions, OCR technology, page extractions, conversion settings—customize your PDF extractions with versatile features and get more out of the conversions you need.
So if you’re now convinced and ready to buy a PDF converter, start looking!
The holidays are over for this year and it’s time to get back to work—and back to learning. Here’s the second posting on the ABCs of the PDF and, as promised, a few tidbits behind the day to day elements you use in your PDF work.
Data
The most important thing about a PDF is the data— its printability, its transmission and its integrity. Of course, this last point is the driving force behind the inability to edit PDF content, a quality with which the PDF world is familiar.
There have been notable rants and raves about this and, consequently, about the “usability” of the PDF format, citing issues such as document size and on-screen behaviour as annoyances. And yet, there are strong arguments defending the PDF and the working needs it fulfills with its “set-in-stone” data.
What do we make of this PDF usage debate? What’s the bottom line for PDF users, makers and shakers?
Fantasy: digital documents that aren’t easily manipulated by malicious users.
Reality: file integrity and data extraction go hand-in-hand with the PDF format. The only way to change or work with the data is to extract (aka “convert”) the content.
Conclusion: when working with a PDF, work with conversion in mind —which conversion software is practical for daily use, which format conversions you need, what kinds of PDFs you’re working with (scanned or native), what security features restrict the data you need, etc.
Encryption
And speaking of security, you’ll more than likely encrypt the PDF documents you create yourself. So, here are a few knick-knacks surrounding the encryption you’ll use:
• You may see the word “bit-encryption” when creating a PDF. Bit-encryption, which secure your documents, is based on the use of binary digits
• The higher the bit-number, the more secure your files are because of the increased probability of possible decryption keys. A 128-bit encryption, for instance, has a key length of 128 bits long, meaning that there 2128 possible keys
• Sonic PDF Creator v.1.2 includes 40- and 128-bit encryption
• The DES (Data Encryption Standard) was based on 58-bit encryption and adopted by US Federal government in the 1970’s. The current AES (Advanced Encryption Standard, 2000) is based on the RijnDael algorithm which makes use of128- to 256 -bit keys. It was adopted after winning a 3-year competition against other algorithms
• The concept of the computer, in fact, was based upon “cracking codes.” It was developed during WWII while trying to decode encrypted messages through the use of an “Enigma” machine
Fonts
As a PDF user, you know that part of maintaining the document’s appearance is retaining the textual font within the PDF. Yet, there is more to fonts than just a pretty face.
• There are about 20 components in the anatomy of a letter that define one typeface from another
• There are 3 different types of hyphen/dashes and, of course, vary in usage— and in look, from typeface to typeface (Three? Yes, three. Who would’ve thought?)
• Which fonts are best used for on-screen (PDF) presentation?
• The fonts used in a document affect the way you read the textual information. Serif fonts help to guide a reader’s eye along the lines in large blocks of text. Thus, Times New Roman, for instance, is generally used for printed text. Sans-serif fonts are used ideally for on-screen text because it presents a legible rendition on-screen
• Do you know the history behind the letters and fonts you use in your PDFs?
Hopefully, next time you read or create a PDF, you’ll look and think differently about the extraction, the encryption and the fonts you use on a daily basis. And, who knows, with a little tinkering, you just might create that ultimate PDF!
The Adobe PDF format is extremely versatile. It’s a swiss army knife format that can help you out in a number of tight situations.
What makes the PDF so enticing to malicious users? There are more reasons than you think. 