SInce Acrobat X Pro was released one year ago,  It has received numerous awards across the knowledge worker industries.  I have been working with several university departmental initiatives on moving towards a more green and sustainable approach with respect to printing to paper. These faculty and students were also interested in becoming more efficient in the process of gathering and digesting more and more PDF content and want to improve the quality of their work.. PDF preserves the integrity of the original source file while making it easy to exchange and distribute information. Using Acrobat’s powerful toolset, you can do more in less time.

Based on these requests and trends, I have put together some video tutorials showing some of the top “tips and tricks” that are sure to improve your academic efforts and make you a more efficient “knowledge worker.” I have started posting them on YouTube for easy access and reference. Here’s a summary of these available now. In these videos, I have focused on the use of acrobat for annotation and mark-up as well as re-use and combining content from different sources.  There will be more to come in the new year. I hope these tips and tricks help you recover more time in your academic pursuits for doing all those other things on your list this holiday season!

Here you go.

1. An overview of Acrobat Note Taking and mark-up tools. Check out the different ways you can mark-up and annotate a typical document for improving your organization and productivity.
2. Academic Productivity with Acrobat – Learn how to enhance a PDF document with Adobe Acrobat Professional to streamline your workflow using highlighting, document snapshots, comment summary, and page combining tricks.
3. Note taking made easy part 1 – working with the essential markup tools in Acrobat. Learn about the useful markup tools that you can customize for use in your note taking and annotation of PDF documents.
4. Note taking made easy part 2 – more useful mark-up tools - Acrobat has even more tools for use in note taking such as the attachment tool, the recording tool, and the stamps tool; all great for your academic research and collaboration.

If you have any comments or requests for upcoming tips and tricks, please leave a note. In the meantime be sure to check out the Acrobat User community website.

Peace of mind: Acrobat is one of only three applications in the world that are “sandboxed”. This is a protected mode that dramatically reduces exposure from viruses and malware that may be lurking in files. Acrobat Professional X, Adobe Reader X, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Office 2010 are the only applications that offer this. This helps reduce the need for unscheduled security patches, and reduces the amount of time that you and your IT team spend on damage control in the field.

Microsoft Office 2010 64 bit support: Now Acrobat Pro X.1 supports MS office. Why is this important? Whether you use the 32 bit or 64 bit version of Office, the PDFMaker that is installed by Acrobat Pro X in the MS Office Application toolbar ribbon is the ONLY way you should be converting your Office docs into PDF. This will dramatically improve the richness of your PDFs ensuring that your documents and workflow efficiencies contain the most intelligence and are compliant with the latest PDF specifications.

Support for the latest browsers: View PDF documents directly in the most popular browsers for maximum viewing convenience and interactivity. Acrobat X.1 supports the latest versions of the most popular browsers. Supported browsers on Mac are Safari. Supported browsers on Windows are, IE, Firefox, and Google Chrome.

In conclusion: Acrobat X.1 can save you tine and money. How?

• More secure PDF viewing.
• Complete support for the Adobe Dynamic PDF environment
• Productivity gains when working with Microsoft Office Applications (Windows only).
• Easier deployment that lowers the total cost of ownership

For a detailed list of Acrobat support for PDFMaker and Web Browser support visit this link http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/333/333504.html

Get the latest Adobe updates at http://www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/

If you already own Acrobat Pro X, you definitely want to update to X.1. If you don’t own Acrobat Pro X, check out all the new features and get a free 30 day trial at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat.html

If you are using an older Adobe Reader, or a free or third party PDF reader, get peace of mind and compliance with the latest PDF specifications to take full advantage of Adobe Acrobat’s  Dynamic PDF environment. Download the Free Adobe Reader X.1 at http://get.adobe.com/reader/

To learn more about Acrobat be sure to visit AcrobatUsers.com at http:// www.acrobatusers.com

With all the great questions you have been asking about Acrobat here and via Twitter, we wanted to dedicate some time to answer your questions with a new Twitterview Q&A series we are launching. The first kicks off next week: “Ask The Xpert,” on Tuesday, January 25 from 10 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Pacific, our hosts are the Acrobat team’s own Chris French and Dave Stromfeld.

What are Twitterviews? It’s simply an interview conducted in Twitter, where you are the interviewer, and our special guests will answer your Acrobat product-related questions. Are you wondering about how to use Action Wizard? Curious about creating PDF Portfolios? It’s fair game here. We have a dedicated hashtag, #Acroview, that you can use when asking your questions in our Twitter page (@Acrobat ). As an added incentive, all users who ask a question for Tuesday’s Twitterview will be entered into a random drawing to win a free copy of Acrobat X Pro!

Try out the new powerful new Acrobat X features like guided Actions, which simplify multi-step document preparation and publishing processes. Save PDF files as Microsoft Word documents. Create amazing content using the completely new customization capabilities in PDF Portfolios to unify multiple file types into compelling presentations. And now that collaboration has been enhanced further with Microsoft SharePoint integration, institutions can be sure of the consistency of their PDF documents across their businesses. And the new, intuitive user interface is making Acrobat X a tool for everyone.

Sign up here!

What can it do for education? Here is a quick list of new and improved features:

New user interface

• The Interface tool pane brings top user needs out front
• Customizable Tool Bar
• Tools Pane reveals most useful tools to improve productivity
• Tools and Tasks are easier to access
• HUD display provides more real estate for viewing

Amazing document repurposing

• New export options allow for Word and Excel options including headers, footers, and worksheets
• New scanning engine improves accuracy and file size
• Efficient tagging and reflow ensure viewing and access on a variety of screens

A more versatile collaboration environment

• Commenting tools are in a convenient location in UI
• Markup extends to video and 3D in composite PDFs
• Reader X users can use sticky notes and highlight tools
• SharePoint is fully supported so PDFs can be checked in and out  as well as part of an Acrobat workflow.

The next generation of PDF Portfolios

• New Portfolio environment  built on Flex 4
• New Support for Accessibility and MSAA compliant devices.
• Easy to customize AX for user – background image, themes, header
• Developers can create new layouts with plug-in for Flash Builder
• Creatives can create new visual themes with Illustrator templates and Flash Pro
• Allow addition of Web content including Embed Code for video to be viewed directly in Portfolio
• Save PDF Portfolios as websites and placed on web for preview in browser before deciding to download.
• Perfect compliment to LMS/CMS systems
• Each PDF’s page can be previewed without opening actual document. When document is opened from portfolio, it is fully dynamic.

Guided Actions - Guided Actions are scriptable batch processes that can easily be made and shared so that groups of users can benefit from improved compliance and best practices

• Great for group efficiency
• Supports Java Script
• Great to ensure best practices across the institution

Enterprise deployment for Windows and Macintosh environments.

• Windows deployment is made easier with an improved customization wizard
• Macintosh clients can now be deployed using the popular Remote Desktop application.

In the coming weeks check back for more previews including tips, tricks, and tutorials!

Also be sure to visit www.AcrobatUsers.com for the latest links to everything Acrobat.

If you’re a student, educator, researcher or school administrator, discover the many ways you can use Acrobat workflows in the world of education. Find out how you can benefit from Adobe PDF workflows that simplify the creation of everything from project submissions, course packs and presentations to dissertations and portfolios. You can sign up for this Here

Acrobat,Adobe Reader,cloud computing,eSignatures,ePortfolios,Education

Adobe’s new cloud-based eSignature Service was announced recently as a convenient way to get verifiable digital signatures on PDF documents quickly, securely, and conveniently. This service is based on our LiveCycle server-side technology that supports digital signatures and workflows.

The Service is easy to set up and use. All you need is a free Adobe ID. If you already have one or an Acrobat.com account, you are ready to use the service.

Here’s how it works:

• Sign in at http:/esign.adobe.com
• Upload you PDF document to be signed(100MB max)
• Specify the email addresses of the others that need to sign the document
• Select a due date
• Enter a message in the email dialog box
• Sign the document. Recipients are notified that the document is ready for signature. Each party is able to review the document on the website and then can click to sign.

All parties will be notified when the document has been fully executed and can download a certified copy to archive. This new service has great potential for improving efficiencies and providing certified documents for a wide number of Education-specific requirements.

Uses for Education

Internal: documents that must be distributed and moved quickly through the institution can benefit from this. Documents such as agreements, contracts, course loads, requisitions, reviews, proposals, PTO requests, are just a few.

External: such things as permission slips, syllabu agreements, report cards, assignments, and research projects, anything that can benefit from a signature and accompanying certification is a good candidate.

ePortfolios: with more and more schools considering portfolio initiatives this is a great way to provide a certified copy of an artifact or submission to present to accreditation committees or potential employers. When used in conjunction Acrobat’s PDF Portfolio tool, students, administration, and faculty can now create and share a customized collection of documents including digitally signed and certified ones.

Acceptability of eSignatures:

Unlike paper documents, when a document is executed using Adobe eSignatures, it is certified to provide additional assurance that the document has not changed since it was signed. If you subsequently open the document in Adobe® Reader® or Adobe Acrobat you’ll see a blue ribbon at the top of the screen. If someone modifies a document after it has been signed, Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat will detect that something has changed and the blue ribbon will no longer appear.

Adobe eSignatures complies with both the US ESign Act of 2000 and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA). According the US ESign Act, "signatures and records cannot be denied legal validity simply because they are electronic.”

Give it a try. Adobe is interested in your feedback. You may reply to this forum or directly to the Adobe eSignatures forum.

Acrobat,PDF,ePortfolios,portfolios PDF portfolios,education,flash,flv,H264

As the school year winds down, its time to get organized and one of the best places to start is with the files on your computer. All that hard work that went into creating and submitting assignments, reports, projects, and just about anything digital shouldn’t be filed away in multiple locations or directories only to be forgotten or lost over time. Chances are you have the tool you need right on your desktop, Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional.

Many schools use Adobe’s excellent software solutions including the Creative Suite and the Digital School Collection. Both of these include Acrobat 9 Professional, one of the most unique and versatile applications at Adobe. Acrobat can do so much beyond just creating a PDF. It creates a “dynamic PDF”, one that preserves interactivity from source documents as well as enabling a PDF to become even more interactive.

One of the slickest features is the PDF Portfolio, a completely self contained “wrapper” that will allow you to drag and drop just about any file into it and produce stunning layouts with just a few clicks. You can add native source files, media files, movies, Flash content, and more. And because Acrobat 9 has native support for Flash, you and your viewers can view Flash supported content with ease.

This wrapper concept is key in understanding how Acrobat and Adobe PDF can revolutionize the way you re-purpose your digital content as you create all types of materials for use in both your professional and personal activities.

You can think of the PDF portfolio as the ultimate wrapper as this illustration shows.

Thinking About the Process

As you begin to wrap up your projects, semester, or school year, here are a few handy tips on how to get more organized and productive:

• Locate the documents you wish to organize.
• Sort out the materials you want to place in your PDF portfolio. You can drag in folders or files; either is fine.
• In Acrobat 9 Professional, choose File > Create PDF Portfolio
• Drag and drop or browse to add your files.

5 Easy Steps

Follow the 5 easy steps on the right-hand side of the Portfolio screen

• Choose a Layout (There are many to choose from. Be sure to get the latest updates at Adobe.com
• Add a Welcome Page and Header (this will give you or your reader the necessary information about the portfolio and its contents)
• Select a Color Scheme (not a graphic designer? Acrobat gives you preset color schemes as well as the ability to create your own)
• Specify File Details (this helps you view your portfolio contents more easily and allows you to organize yout contents quickly)
• Publish ( save the file, attach it to email, or share it on the free Acrobat.com (5 GB of storage as well as a whole set of free online tools.

Once you’re done you can secure the portfolio or its individual components to make sure your content is protected in just the right way. You can also securely share you documents on Acrobat.com.

Show Me More

The best way to experience this in action and to learn more is to check the examples and tutorials online. Here are some useful links.

• Sample PDF Portfolios at Adobe’s EDU portal
• Video tutorials on Acrobatusers.com
• Portfolio Galleries on Acrobatusers.com
• Adobe TV – a great resource for all things Adobe
• More details on Acrobat’s online help

Summary

Acrobat 9 Professional is one of Education’s most valuable tools. It can do so much. Portfolio creation is just one of dozens of tools that will improve the way you create, re-purpose, organize, collaborate, and communicate.

I would love to hear from you as you discover and create new ways to use it in you educational environment, whether you are an educator, student, curriculum developer, or administrator. Please leave a comment.

This feature is perfect when you need to customize a course pack, modify a handbook, or reference document, or even update lesson plans and other curriculum related material. When showing this to faculty and staff, I always get a lot of interest with this educator "power tip". Here is how it’s done.

What’s needed to learn the drag and drop technique?

• A source PDF document and a destination PDF document.
• Acrobat Professional.
• Note: AcrobatUsers.com has a recording and tutorial from Lori Defurio that you can use to follow along with.

Basic Steps

• Open up the two documents in Acrobat.
• From the file menu, choose Window > Tile vertically.
• Click the Pages tab in each document to reveal all the pages in each document.
• Select and drag the pages you wish to add from one document to the pages tab of the other document. Copies are made so you will not alter the source document.
• Close the source document and expand the destination document so you have some space to work.
• Save the document with a different name.

What’s needed to add headers and footers to your PDF?

• The document you wish to work with
• Acrobat Professional

Note: My fellow Solutions Engineer Tim Plumer has a nice video tutorial that you can reference here on acrobatusers.com.

Basic steps

• From the Acrobat Pro menu choose Document > Header and Footer > Add
• Click on the left, center, or right, header or footer placeholder and add your content. You can also insert page numbers and today’s date.
• Verify its placement in the proxy window at the bottom and adjust margins or content as needed.
• Save the setting as a template if you plan to use this header footer combination again.
• Apply this to multiple documents by selecting the button at the bottom of the Header and Footer dialog box.
• Save the document.

Note: you can always go back to the PDF and update or remove header information if you need to modify or add additional pages from the drag and drop process above.

Summary

With these techniques you can easily save valuable time by customizing materials for distribution that various sources or contributors provide. Here are some useful ideas and tips.

• Preview the placement of the header and footer and adjust the margins if necessary.
• Update the date field when you need to re-publish your materials to others in subsequent semesters or years. It will always look fresh.
• If you are going to add new pages, first remove the headers and footers, add your pages via drag and drop, and then add the headers and footers back in the document.
• You can apply different headers and footers to page ranges as well as create odd even header and footer arrangements.
• Use the advanced button in the dialog box to accommodate document pages of different physical sizes.