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The views expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
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JohnG on "30 Dirty Tricks: Attendee Materials"
I was looking for some information regarding PowerPoint conversions and the "Better PowerPoint Conversion" trick did the job! Thanks for the article. I wish for more like these!
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John on "Troubleshooting Acrobat OCR"
For the "renderable text" problem, I just now tried the remove header/footer trick but there were no headers or footers. There was, however, a date in the upper corner of the doc so I just used the object touch-up tool ...
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Jim on "Troubleshooting Acrobat OCR"
When scanning a large doc our person gets the following message when finishing a large scan "Unable to process the page because the Paper Capture feature recognition service experienced an error" They are using Acrobat 7 Standard. Any suggestions? -------- ...
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James W. Martin on "Understanding "Flavors" of PDF"
When I open a PDF in Acrobat 7 Pro and direct it to Reduce file size, it always crashes Windows. I have HotDocs installed and wonder if there is a problem having both HotDocs and Acrobat Pro installed on the ...
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Gary S. Craw on "The Typewriter Tool (semi-new!)"
Rick: I started using the typewriter tool and find its great! But one day when I tried to use it I found that the text inserted by the Typewriter was a very pale grey - and not the default black. ...
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Greta on "Troubleshooting Acrobat OCR"
Thanks for this info - very helpful with my awful assignment. I think removing headers/footers is easier than the TIf option. Still, it's possible that in some case, if the text policy is poor, then you would be able to ...
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August 13, 2008
Creating and Using Custom Redaction Patterns
Acrobat 9 introduced several new redaction enhancements, including pattern-based redaction. Using this feature, it is easy to find and redact:
- Social Security Numbers
- Email addresses
- Phone numbers
- Dates
- Credit card numbers
The five "patterns" listed above are not very comprehensive, especially if you are Canadian!
There is no out-of-the-box there is no support for Canadian Social Insurance Numbers and Postal Codes.
Fortunately, it is possible to add your own patterns with a bit of work. In this article, I'll discuss how to create and add your own patterns.
If that's too geeky for you, at the very end I've included an already customized Redaction pattern file that is ready to go for Canada.
July 30, 2008
Use Adobe Presenter to create a Flash-embedded PDF Slide Show
Last week, I conducted several Acrobat 9 eSeminars for various bar associations and legal groups.
I received a lot of requests for the presentation materials.
Normally, I would just PDF the presentation, but each slide had multiple animated graphics which just wouldn't translate well to a "flat" PDF.
Fortunately, I was able to use the new Adobe Presenter to create a Flash-embedded, narrated PDF.
Download Narrated Presentation
5.0 MB | Adobe Reader 9 Required
Downloads from my Acrobat.com Account | It's big, be patient
You may need to click the Download button in the
upper right corner of the Acrobat.com window.
| Adobe Presenter is a plug-in for PowerPoint that is included with Acrobat 9 Pro Extended. It allows you to covert your PowerPoint files— complete with animations— to narrated, compact Flash presentations that anyone can play using the free Adobe Reader 9. It's great for trainers or anyone who uses PowerPoint and needs to transfer knowledge. |
In this blog entry, I'll tell you more about Adobe Presenter and my process for creating this material. Read on . . .
July 15, 2008
Bates Numbering Across a PDF Portfolio
Bates Numbering is the consecutive numbering of legal documents.
With Acrobat 9 Pro, you can Bates number all of the files in a PDF Portfolio in a single step, even converting common Office formats automatically along the way. Keeping all the files in a PDF Portfolio is convenient and makes it easy to deliver and maintain the document set.
Want to learn more about PDF Portfolios? |
Want to know about Bates Numbering in Acrobat 9? |
| Still on Acrobat 8? See this older article on Bates Numbering | |
In this article, I'll discuss how you can Bates number across a Portfolio, and also discuss a few limitations.
June 02, 2008
Acrobat 9 Announced! New Features for the Legal Market
Acrobat 9 was announced today! The new version will ship sometime in the next month or so. Here's a link to the Acrobat 9 Press Release.
Acrobat 9 includes many new features of interest to legal professionals!
- Enhanced Redaction and Bates Numbering
- File splitting
- Better Save to Word with flowing text
- PDF Portfolios (Packages on steroids!)
- More powerful Document Comparison
You can check out demo movies I've made of the major new features . . . read on to learn more.
One thing that blew me away is that Acrobat 9 is F-A-S-T! It launches in one-third the time of previous versions and generally feels a lot snappier in use.
All versions of Acrobat can now play Flash content natively. You can embed Flash movies (SWF and FLV) files and play them right in Acrobat. That means you can embed deposition and audio interviews and know that the recipient can play them with confidence.
Adobe is also be launching a new service called Acrobat.com.
Acrobat.com is a collection of free hosted services that you can use to work with people inside and outside your organization,
across geographies and firewalls.
Acrobat 9 users can work with Acrobat.com as a central location for certain document processes such as Shared Review, Form Data Collection and more.
Acrobat.com also offers two amazing, free features:
- 5GB of hosted storage
- Free 3-person web conferencing so you can share your screen, show documents, present and even show your face on your webcam
See and learn about all the new stuff! Read on . . .
May 17, 2008
Generating TIFF and Text files from PDF for Concordance and Summation
Adobe is the custodian for both PDF and TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) formats.
While PDF is superior in many ways, TIFF remains a popular format for use in large case litigation support systems such as Concordance and Summation.
If you have a lot of PDFs in your production it can be a challenge to work with these systems as they do not robustly support PDF and conversion is necessary. These systems want to ingest a . . .
- TIFF file to represent each individual document page
- TEXT file of the text of each page
Processing several hundred documents to individual TEXT and TIFF files is a candidate for some serious automation!
Fortunately, repetitive tasks like this can be easily accomplished using Acrobat Professional. Since Acrobat can be automated using JavaScript, it is possible to string together several steps and save a lot of time.
In this article, I've included a Tiff-Text Processing Batch Script to download which handles all of this conversion automatically. Here are the results:
May 08, 2008
Extracting Non-Sequential Pages- Another Method
In my last entry, I discussed one method to Extract a Non-Sequential Range of Pages from a PDF.
One of my bosses always told us that our customers are smarter than we are.
I was reminded of this recently when I received this note from James Strupp of the Federal Office of the Public Defender:
A far easier and more direct way to do this, in my view, is to create a new PDF from "multiple files", even if you are just extracting pages from one file.
Doh! That's a great idea! Jame even sent along his detailed instructions. I've added some screen captures and additional detail of my own.
Read on to learn about this alternate method to extract pages.
April 20, 2008
Extracting Non-sequential Pages from PDFs
I received this email recently from a paralegal:
My colleague and I have been trying to extract non-sequential pages from a document to create a new document. It appears in the current version of Acrobat Professional (8.1.2) that only sequential documents can be extracted. Is there a work around for this? As an example, in a 100 page document we want to extract pages 12, 43 and 97 only. The ‘extract pages’ option (Document—>Extract Pages) indicates it will extract pages 12-97 which is way more pages than we need.
Yes, it's true that you cannot select and extract a discontinuous range of pages using the Extract Pages option and the Pages Panel.
However, you can drag and drop a non-sequential bunch of pages between two PDFs using the Pages Panel:
Read on for instructions and screen shots. Are you a really visual person? I've also included a movie that shows you how!
April 15, 2008
Creating a Non-Searchable PDF from Office Documents
Every once in a while, I receive an email that has me scratching my head a bit, such as this one:
When you PDF a document that you generate in MS Word, is there a way to produce an "image-only" PDF, with non-searchable text? The only way I know how is to print out and scan the document back into Acrobat.
Why would someone want to take a perfectly good, fully-searchable document and turn it into an image-only PDF which is just a picture of the page in a PDF wrapper?
The answer is that in the course of vigorously defending a client, some firms desire to make using documents as difficult as possible for the other side.
Of the various PDF flavors , an image-only PDF is . . .
- 3 to 5 times larger in file size
- Look worse on screen
- Print slower
- Not searchable
"Dumbing down" a PDF to an image probably doesn't cripple the other side very much. Using OCR, the other side can quickly make the document searchable.
It is not without some trepidition that I share this tip. After all, compact, searchable PDF should be what we all aspire to create.
However, since I suspect that many firms are printing out documents and rescanning them, I want to offer a greener alternative.
It's not for me to comment on whether this is fair game or not as you work with the other side, but following is a workaround that will create an image-only, non-searchable PDF from an existing PDF document.
March 01, 2008
PDF Packages for Case Analysis: Cover Sheet Bookmarks
Legal professionals are starting to use PDF Packages increasingly for Case Analysis, and that led to this email which I received from a paralegal recently:
Is it possible to add a bookmark that can point to any place in any document in a PDF package? We use bookmarks extensively in our large document files (one of the reasons I liked the print bookmark workaround you came up with), which makes it easier to navigate a lot of information.
The short is answer is Yes!
In this article, I'll discuss how you can create links from the PDF Package Cover Sheet to any document in the package.
This technique offers you a central place where you are a click away from any important passage in any document in the package.
Using this technique, you can quickly get to the document locations which describe the key characters, issues and facts in your case.
Relevant Articles: A Read Me First This is the fourth in a series of Case Analysis articles on the use of PDF Packages. Read these other articles first for background. |
February 15, 2008
Using PDF Packages Header Fields for Case Analysis
Roughly defined, case analysis is the process of looking at the documents in your case and making decisions about them.
I've written previously regarding how . . .
- Acrobat can help you winnow down the large number of documents in a case using full-text search.
- An essential list of documents may be further managed and annotated in a PDF package.
In this article, I'll discuss ways in which you can code and capture your thinking about your case in a PDF Package.
Specifically, you'll learn:
- How to create custom Header Fields
- How to fill in and use PDF Header fields to code documents, like a spreadsheet
January 31, 2008
Ensuring the PDF Comments Get Printed
Attorneys and other legal professionals use Acrobat comments and annotations to stamp their signature on documents, add highlights, circle important passages, etc.
I recently received this email message from an attorney:
I use the Stamp tool to affix a graphic of my signature to pleadings before e-filing them or sharing them with other counsel. But recipients who fail to choose to print with "Document and Markups" produce a doc that lacks my signature. So, I've taken to flattening them by printing to my PDF driver, but that produces a doc of embarassingly poor quality.
Some Background
Acrobat offers the ability to print documents with or without comments. If you choose File—>Print, you will see the following option:
If you had a heavily commented document with lots of highlights, you may wish to print a clean copy by choosing the "Document" option.
Once you select an option here, the setting is sticky for the next time you print from Acrobat.
Unfortunately, signature stamps are also a type of annotation. If your client or colleague has recently chosen the "Document" option, the important agreement you worked on won't have your signature.
Fortunately, there are some good workarounds:
- Flatten the document so that Stamps and Annotations become part of the document layer
- Embed your signature as an image, rather than a stamp
- Add a special "Print with Comments" button to your document.
In this article, I'll discuss these three workarounds. Read on to learn about them.
January 29, 2008
What's going to be in the next version of Acrobat?
Many legal users, especially those that look after technology for larger firms, have a real interest in planning ahead for new technology purchases.
Since PDF has become the de facto eFiling format and a paper replacement, use of Adobe Acrobat is nearly ubiquitous across law firms.
It is advantageous to know as much as you can about new software that will arrive in the months ahead. With that knowledge, you can plan your budget, anticipate training needs and investigate how the new product will fit into your existing infrastructure.
What new features will be in the next version of Acrobat?
I can't tell you here, but you may be able to find out yourself by signing up for Adobe's Pre-release Program.
Read on for more information about Adobe's Pre-release Program.
December 18, 2007
Materials for Today's Communication Challenges
Although I focus mainly on two markets (Legal and Life Science), I was recently asked to conduct one of Adobe's horizontal events which are not specific to any vertical market.
The eSeminar was Today's Communication Challenges. In this eSeminar, my colleague Jim Merry and I offered a high-level overview and demonstration of what Acrobat can do for Knowledge Workers.
Knowledge Workers work in many disciplines, but have several common tasks that they need to accomplish:
- Document Preparation Presentation, and Sharing
- Protecting Sensitive Information
- Electronic Forms and Data Collection
- Electronic Document Review & Approval
The slides include many helpful resources including links to tutorials, books and more.
Read on to get to the download materials.
December 16, 2007
Adding a Thumbnail of a PDF Page to a PowerPoint Presentation
PowerPoint is a tool that attorneys use to present their arguments in mediation or the courtroom.
Since documents are a key aspect of the argument, presentations may need to include large thumbnails of key pages from the case— often from PDF files.
Several methods may be used to take turn a PDF page into an image which can then be placed into PowerPoint or other applications:
- Export the PDF as a TIFF, JPEG or other image format
- Use a screen shot utility to "grab" a portion of the screen.
- Print the PDF to a TIFF file
- Use the PDF as an OLE object
I find that the methods above are multi-step and cumbersome.
In this article, I'll show you how the Snapshot Tool can place a page thumbnail into PowerPoint in one simple step!
Read on to learn how to use the Snapshot Tool.
December 10, 2007
Cleaning up Scanned Images
I recently received this message from a legal technology consultant:
I have had several clients (and have wondered myself) why there’s no way to delete something from a PDF. For example, if I scan a document and want to delete the black marks made by the staple holes in the top left corner, I can’t do that without cropping the entire image. What is the reasoning for not including a feature that would allow me to draw a box around those staple holes and delete them from the image?
Actually, Adobe did include a feature to clean up scanned images!
You can easily clean up scanned images using the Redaction tool:
Normally, redactions appear as a black box which obscures the underlying document. Did you know that Acrobat can redact to "No Color" as well?
In this article, I'll offer step-by-step instructions for cleaning up scanned PDFs using the Redaction tool in Acrobat 8 Professional.
Using this workflow, you can easily delete staple marks, hole punches, shadows, dirt and more from PDFs.
December 07, 2007
Mark Middleton's Legal Links List
Mark Middleton— Adobe's Legal Account Specialist— maintains a list of legal-related links for Adobe Acrobat.
This "cherry picked" list has some great resources which you should check out.
Go to Mark's Legal Link List
You can also read on for a description of the list and a picture of my esteemed colleague!