Every so often I will hear from a bio-pharma customer who will tell me something similar to this:

We can't move to a newer version of Acrobat because we have to make PDF 1.4 files for agency submissions.

Put succinctly— that just isn't true.

 

The PDF Version is not the same as the version of Acrobat.

 

Acrobat 9 (and previous versions) can easily save back to previous versions.

 

In fact, you can set Acrobat to create files in the version you want all the time, by adjusting a few simple settings.

 

I've previously written about two related topics:

 

In this article, I will discuss how to:

  1. Saving and Loading PDF Settings
    1. Save out an older PDF setting to move to a new system
    2. Load a PDF setting into Acrobat

  2. Setting the default PDF Setting for:
    1. PDF Print Driver
    2. Word, Excel and PowerPoint
    3. Creating PDF from the desktop, in batch or when combining documents

  3. Tips for Setting Defaults when deploying Acrobat

 

Read on to learn more.

Did you attend my January 22, 2010 Life Science eSeminar?

Here are the slides I promised to share.

 

Options for Getting the Slides

You can get the slide two ways:

  1. From my Acrobat.com account
    Preferred, since there is much greater bandwidth.
  2. Directly from this blog

 

Acrobat.com Method

https://acrobat.com/#d=vA3q2L8cDZuAcxmsWSDpTQ

 

Direct Download

Acrobat_Life_Science_Seminar_Blog (PDF)

Right-click and choose Save As or Save Target or just click the link to open the PDF in a browser window.

 

Enjoy!

The narrative for the slides may be found in a sticky note on each page.

Reviewing and Approving Documents

Acrobat has long had review tools and many life science companies use them.

 

However, when I talk to most firms in bio-pharma, I find that they are not always using the tools to best advantage. And, of course, I still see lots of paper-based review workflows.

 

Acrobat's Shared Review capability allows multiple people, in real time, to review a document corroboratively. That can help accelerate review and help you meet deadlines.

 

Below is a screen shot of a product label that is part of a Shared Review.

 

 

How does Shared Review Work?

So, you may be wondering . . . how does it work and what benefits does it offer me?

 

I've put together an 11-minute, narrated slide deck to help explain how it works.

 

I've titled it "Enterprise Collaboration with Adobe Acrobat 9". In the presentation, I cover the findings from a recent Forrester Consulting study on collaboration, and then show you how to collaborate better using Acrobat.

 

Read on to get it.

My colleagues Mark Middleton, Ed Chase and I offered an eSeminar today on collaborative review tools.

The eSeminar featured solutions for ad hoc review using Acrobat and also audited, workflow-based review using the Adobe eSubmissions Solutions Accelerator.

Here, you can view the slides from today's session.

I've stored these on my Acrobat.com account so you can view a Flash preview or download the PDF which includes speaker notes.

Read the rest of the entry to get to the downloadable slides.

Documents submitted to the FDA's CBER and CDER must comply with the agency's PDF specifications regarding link appearance.

Both agencies prefer blue text for hyperlinks in PDFs created from electronic source files. For scanned documents, hyperlinks should be a thin blue line.

Electronic Source File
Pic showing a link in a PDF from an electronic source.
Scanned File
Pic showing a link on a scanned PDF

If you are creating documents in Microsoft Word, it is best to style the text blue, or edit your styles to include the color, then convert to PDF.

Regulatory professionals often have to work with scanned documents, or PDFs authored outside of their control. For these documents, a post-process is required to bring link appearance into compliancy.

In this article, I'll discuss how to change link color and style.