PDF Blog | Investintech PDF Solutions

Investintech Launches Able2Extract Professional 11

Get ready to see some drastic changes in how you work with PDF documents because we just released Able2Extract Professional 11 and this version is big on boosting your PDF productivity.

This latest version is aimed at making editing PDFs a simple task. Here’s a look at how the new and improved Able2Extract Professional can make PDF tasks go faster, smoother and easier.

Annotate PDF Pages While Viewing Them

If you review PDFs on a daily basis, you’ll love this new addition. You can now freely annotate your PDF documents as you go. This feature lets you mark up PDF text as you would with any hard copy document.

You can digitally add new sticky notes, links, stamps, highlights, underlines, squiggly lines, strikeouts, carets, attachments and watermarks:

Whether you’re performing PDF research or adding comments on a collaborative document, you can ensure that your notes and markup stay on the page.

In addition, if you’re working with PDFs that are being sent around to team members, you can interact, review and post replies to any existing PDF comments.

Permanently Delete Sensitive PDF Data

While PDF files are meant to make your content universally accessible, there are times when you need to keep the information in them confidential.

Now instead of converting the original PDF, deleting that information and then generating another PDF from the edited content, you can simply do it right in the interface.

The new Redaction tool can delete any sensitive page content. And much like the content selection options, Able2Extract Professional 11 allows you to selectively eliminate either lines or entire pages from your PDF documents before you send them out.

And the best part? The deleted content remains deleted.

Create Better, Richer PDF Content

Ever deal with PDF content you wish you could improve with an small image or visual? By adding eye catching elements to marketing content, learning material or company brochures you can achieve your goals more effectively. It may sound like a tedious task, but it isn’t.

The new Able2Extract Professional will let you instantly add images, text or vector graphics directly into the PDF itself. Add existing .bmp, .jpeg, .png, .gif and .tiff images right onto your PDF pages. Or select from 9 vector shapes to insert onto the displayed page:

You can improve the content of your PDF documents on the spot through the side editing panel.

Modify Your PDF Content

Get flexible editing control over your PDF content. Able2Extract Professional 11 allows for detailed modifications with the improved PDF content editor. It lets you specify fine page content object drawing properties, such as line dash style, line cap style, line join style, and miter limit.

Refining diagrams, professional headers and text for a more polished look can be done without an external graphic design software.

You get the ability to customize your PDF text and shapes by filling them with color and even customize their outline. You can even rotate PDF text, shapes and images by 90° and 180° with the newly added “Rotate” buttons. Experience a complete content editing experience right within your PDF.

Increase Your AutoCAD Productivity

Able2Extract Professional 11 is now an even more powerful addition to AutoCAD toolboxes everywhere. Because AutoCAD PDFs contain highly advanced content, not many PDF programs can deal with them head on. Well, with this latest version you can increase your PDF-AutoCAD productivity.

Able2Extract Professioanl 11 now allows CAD professionas to convert multiple PDFs to AutoCAD through the Batch conversion feature and transfer scanned AutoCAD PDF content into other CAD applications. The software can be integrated into your design workflow seamlessly.

Secure Important PDF Document Information

On top of the existing security features in Able2Extract Professional you can encrypt and decrypt existing PDF documents. So if you come across a secured PDF that needs a quick tweak or has a line or two that needs to be redacted, you can make your changes, decrypt the PDF and get it sent around.

Able2Extract Professional 11 allows you to set passwords and file permissions, allowing you to customize the security on existing PDF documents on the spot.

You can get Able2Extract Professional 11 and all the above features for $149.95 on the latest Windows, Mac and Linux (Fedora and Ubuntu) systems. If you still aren’t convinced, you can see a demo of latest version in action for yourself:

Download the 7 day free trial and discover just how much it’ll improve the way you work!

7 Tips On How To Work With Multiple Worksheets In Excel

Excel Spreadsheet Diagram

Working with MS Excel is hard enough as it is with one worksheet. But when you work with more than one, the difficulty in dealing with that data increases tenfold with every single worksheet you add on.

To help, here are a few basic tips, handy tricks and informative tutorials to make working with multiple worksheets in Excel ten times easier for you.

1. Viewing Multiple Worksheets At Once

A simple tip to start—customizing your view. It can be easy to lose track of which sheet you’re working on, especially when you have several worksheets to deal with. To put your worksheets front and center,

a) Open your workbook in Excel.

b) Click on the New Window button for every worksheet you want to view in that workbook.

c) In each new window, click on the tab of the worksheet you want to view.

d) Once the worksheets are displayed, click on the Arrange All button in the View window

e) In the following dialog, select your arrangement view. Ensure that you put a check in the Windows of active workbook option.

From there, you’ll be able to get a bird’s eye view of every worksheet in the workbook you need.

2. Viewing More Worksheet Tabs

This is another simple tip that may go unnoticed. Because the scrollbar at the bottom hogs all the space at the bottom of your window, the number of worksheet tabs you can see is limited. An annoyance when you have more than 3 worksheets.

To view more, simply hover over the 3 dots at the left of the scrollbar. Then click and drag it to the right. You’ll instantly start seeing more of your worksheet tabs displayed.

3. Grouping Your Worksheets Together

In Excel, working with your worksheets as a single group is a quicker way for applying formulas and formatting across worksheets with the same formatting. For instance, let’s say you need to change your monthly rent costs and regular bills. If you’re moving in September and need to update your budget worksheets, grouping them together will let you input the data once to update the entire group.

a) Click on the first worksheet tab you wish to edit.

b) Then Click + CTRL (for non-adjacent worksheet tabs) or Click + Shift (for adjacent worksheets) on the other worksheet tabs to add it to the group.

c) Modify the cell as needed. Click on enter.

To ungroup your worksheets, you can right click and select Ungroup Sheets option. This may seem like a basic tip, but it’s a powerful one to have!

4. Copying Formulas Between Worksheets

One handy tip for working with data across worksheets is to copy formulas that call for repetitive calculations. We’ve covered this tip before in our post, Work With Excel Data Like A Pro With 9 Simple Tips, but is a great tip worth mentioning again:

a) With the worksheet containing the formula you wish to copy opened, CTRL + clickon the tab of the worksheet you want to copy it into.

b) Click on or navigate to the cell with the formula or data you need (in the opened worksheet).

c) Press F2to activate the cell.

d) Press Enter. This will re-enter the formula or data, and it will also enter it into the same corresponding cell in the other selected worksheet as well.

5. Using Formulas to Link Worksheets

Despite what you may think, data in multiple worksheets can be more efficient. When you need to add cell values from different worksheets, it’s possible to create and use a formula that can pull data from other worksheets that are in the same workbook and formatted similarly.

This tutorial from ExcelFormulas gives you a solid easy-to-understand explanation of how this trick can make your task easier. It goes the extra mile and even shows you how the same methods can be applied to multiple workbooks, as well.

6. Consolidating Data From Multiple Worksheets

If you need to combine data from different worksheets, this tutorial from Tuts+ Computer Skills will show you step-by-step how to combine your data from multiple sheets into one pivot table.

This is perfect if you’re keeping track of different types of information that are related but are separated in individual worksheets. You can dynamically connect them into one single worksheet so you can update them all at once. Note that this tutorial uses Excel 2013, but is virtually the same for Excel 2016.

7. Importing Multiple Excel Sheets from Multiple Excel Workbooks

This following trick from ExcellsFun is a bit more advanced, but helpful for getting your Excel data from different worksheets and workbooks into an individual worksheet using PowerQuery.

Using the example of track sheets being used to analyze sales rep performance, this tutorial also links out to a resource where you can access those practice files for a good hands on learning experience to master this skill.

What tips do you have for working with multiple Excel worksheets?

Tips To Going Paperless On AIIM’s World Paper Free Day

It’s no mystery that we’re all about making your paperless transition easier. Regardless of your usual paper-based habits, businesses are increasingly adopting the practice. This slow acceptance and office-changing trend is making a nearly completely digital office more realistic.

Every small step towards a paperless workplace counts, and people are going about it at their own pace. Yet with today being World Paper Free Day, an AIIM initiative that tries to get people and businesses to go paperless for one day, there’s no time like the present to practice one full day without paper!

So we’re taking a quick, light hearted look at where you stand as a paper free advocate, and offering up a few strategies to help you take it one step further to working smarter, more efficiently in the workplace today.

Here’s what you can do if….

You Still Use Scratchpads, Notebooks & Agendas

Most of you may still using notepads, notebooks and agendas, and that’s understandable. You’re more comfortable with pen and paper. It feels more natural to you than typing on a screen. We get it. But keep in mind that comfort zones can be a disadvantage, and investing over 75% of your work in hard copy ways can make it difficult to go paper free.

For today, take baby steps. For example, to get into the habit of digitizing your schedule, start small by scheduling certain things, like face-to-face meetings or meals in Google Calendar. Or try integrating a few tools into your brainstorming sessions like mind mapping tools. Even project management tools like Trello is simple yet powerful enought to keep your task lists organized and up to date with your team or meeting objectives.

You’re Using Sticky Notes And Loving It

If you’re using sticky notes, you’re on the path towards being paperless—you don’t use entire sheets of paper or spend too much time in notebooks. A scant piece of paper is all that’s needed. While you’re on your way, there’s still the issue of getting you to do it digitally.

An easy way to turn this into a paperless habit? If you’re on a computer, you may as well use your browser. Try quick tricks like turning Chrome into a notepad or creating a Google Doc from your browser toolbar and give yourself access to a digital note with a single click. Also, consider using Sticky Notes on Windows 10 or Notes on Mac straight from the desktop itself. Now’s the time to use those apps, if you haven’t been doing so already.

You Take Pictures When You Don’t Have A Pen

A picture says a thousand words, and over time a quick digital snap can save you just as many pieces of paper. We wouldn’t be surprised if you’re already taking pictures of information and documents with your phone when there’s no pen or paper to be had. And that’s great! It’s an effective, yet simple method for jotting things down.

Quite obviously, this also comes in handy at the office. For instance, if you want a few hard copy documents on file and don’t have access to a scanner, get a scanning app on your phone. Evernote Scannable, for instance, is convenient and works on your iPhone and iPad. For Android, try CamScanner. Both have great features to work with any type of document you scan into digital form.

You Work At A Desktop Computer

You practically have no paper to work with whatsoever. Your work is all within MS Word, MS Excel or some digital file format, which are primarily on your computer. You have everything at your disposal, yet there are times when printing up a document is tempting. Trust us. We’ve been there before.

As a digital worker, you can come across PDF documents that require either conversion, editing or minor modifications. So consider the tools you use. For instance, you may want to set up a document management system complete with an all-around PDF converter tool to keep your work going smoothly no matter what the task.

You’re Mobile, Work Remotely And Completely In The Cloud

You’re more paper-free friendly than you realize! Almost all your work is stored online, shared digitally, and being mobile, well, that means gadgets are your main tool for working with documents. The one obstacle that may draw you back to paper is the limited tasks you can perform with light weight tools. If you’re working on a netbook or tablet, web-based tools and apps are your best bet to getting things done.

For this, try curating a good list of online go-to tools. For example, when you have a PDF, there are a few that let you perform PDF tasks in a web browser, no software needed. Also, ensure that you have a way to work with and access your cloud accounts effectively. They’re your main document hubs, so they’re essential to your work.

One last trick? Use the speech-to-text feature on both Android and iPhones for dictations. It’s a convenient mobile alternative to pulling out a notepad. Your keyboard, when activated in any app, will usually have a microphone icon. Tap on that, start talking and you’re good to go.

How are you going paper free today?

Speed Up Your PDF to Excel Conversion With Custom Excel Templates

Excel Spreadsheet Diagram

When working to convert PDF data into Excel, you can be swamped with the repetitive task of converting the same data everyday.

For handling large groups of PDFs, there’s the batch conversion feature in Able2Extract. Yet, this option is only ideal for full and automatic conversions.

What about multiple PDF to Excel conversions that need a bit of customization or scanned PDFs that can’t be converted in batch mode, but have the same layout per page?

Continue reading →

How To Insert A Title Block?

Part 13 of 13 in our How To Use AutoCAD series

Because AutoCAD projects are highly detailed and require accuracy, being organized with how you work is important. Imagine dealing with a dozen CAD design files with detailed information outlining a single part. If you aren’t organized in how you label each drawing for printing, then recipients won’t have the necessary information for them.

This is why inserting a Title Block in your AutoCAD drawing is essential for plotting (printing) your drawings, especially in a production environment. A Title Block is used to name the drawing part, time and author. Essentially, it provides important information for when the document is printed.

Creating AutoCAD Title Block

In AutoCAD, you can create your own Title Block template or import a pre–made template. To insert a title block, follow these steps:

1. First, locate or download a Title Block template. There are some basic templates that are already included in the AutoCAD. As the good folks at AutoDesk Knowledge note, the Title Block templates are usually the template files starting with “Tutorial-”.

2. Open up a blank drawing and click on the “Layout” tab on the bottom left corner. As you can see by the looks of it, the Layout tab is used for the plotting stage of the production. Right click on the Layout 1 and select Page Setup Manager.

AutoCAD Layout Tabs

3. Click “Modify” and you will be presented with a pop up window. The most important thing you should pay attention to is the paper size. By default, this is set at (8.5 x 11 inches), so be sure to set it up so that it matches the size of the Title Block template. Select “Landscape” on the Drawing Orientation panel and hit “OK”. We’re now ready to import the template.

4. Click on the “Insert” tab and then on the “Insert” button on the far left side.

AutoCAD Insert Block Option

From the pop up menu, click on Browse and select your template. Leave the check boxes as they are – only check the “Specify on screen” box. Hit “OK”.

AutoCAD Title Block Dialog

5. Position the Title Block and left-click to put it in place. Note that the dashed line represents the print border, so keep in mind to position the Title Block within it.

From here you can further edit the individual Title Block elements by entering the “Block Editor” on the Insert tab. This can be extremely useful for repurposing existing title block templates and even customizing your own.