Main

April 25, 2008

Acrobat and Adobe Reader Updates

One of the question/complaints I get when I tell someone I work for Adobe is how do I turn off the updates?  Most of the time it is the Adobe Reader that is in question and they are refusing to actually update, and they just close the update window each time.  What I will tell you is that the updates are very critical and will become even more critical as we advance applications like Acrobat 3D.  Only certain versions of both Acrobat and the Free Adobe Reader will support some of the new functionality.  My advice is to update when notified.  If you absolutely insist on turning off the updates, you can go through the Help - Update and then at the end of the update you can click "preferences" and uncheck the box that says automatically check for updates.  If you are IT administrator you can disable updates during the installation using the Adobe Customization Wizard.  We are having an upcoming IT eSeminar on May 1st if you would like more information.

Continue reading "Acrobat and Adobe Reader Updates " »

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 11:32 AM | | Comments (0)

March 11, 2008

Change Default: Open PDF in Acrobat versus Adobe Reader

I have been delayed in posts, recently I have been a road warrior, not to metion getting stuck and not being able to get home due to Texas snow storms in March!.  Today I was at a very large customer and we were demonstrating Adobe Acrobat.  The question came up twice in different forms. The question was when I go to open a pdf file it opens in the Free Adobe Reader by default instead of Acrobat.  They were working with older versions and depending on the order in which you originally installed the applications it would change the default.  In Acrobat 8 and the Adobe Reader 8 it does prompt you and ask you which application do you want to be your default viewer for pdf files.  If you have this issue here are the steps to be able easily change it back.

Continue reading "Change Default: Open PDF in Acrobat versus Adobe Reader" »

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 05:44 PM |

December 19, 2007

Cadalyst All-Star Award - Acrobat 3D & Photoshop Ext

It was great to receive top honors for the Cadalyst All-Star awards for both Acrobat 3D and Photoshop Extended.  We have made great strides in solving several of the interoperability issues that our customers face as it relates to their 3D applications.  The features in both applications are outstanding, but the true value proposition is that with the pdf format it enables you to extend your designs to over 89% of desktops by utilizing the Free Adobe Reader.  There is not another application on the market today that gives you this type of reach for your 3D designs. 

Continue reading "Cadalyst All-Star Award - Acrobat 3D & Photoshop Ext" »

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 01:51 PM | | Comments (0)

November 15, 2007

Round Trip Comments from Pdf to Word or AutoCad

One of the best features in Acrobat is the ability to round trip comments.  Starting in Acrobat 7 Pro we gave you the ability to enable users with the Free Adobe Reader software to fully participate in document review with complete commenting and markup tools.  The great thing about this is it give you about 90% of desktops that you are able to communicate with and solicit comments.  The two document types in the AEC industry that use this today to solicit feedback and round trip comments, is on Word documents and AutoCad drawings.  For this entry I am going to take you how to complete this process on a Word document.


Continue reading "Round Trip Comments from Pdf to Word or AutoCad" »

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 10:22 AM | | Comments (0)

September 26, 2007

Remove Comments from a PDF

To continue with the "comment" theme, there is new feature in Acrobat that will allow you to remove all the comments from a pdf as well as other items.  How I would use this in an AEC/EPC workflow, is for external communication.  Such as if I was a lead engineer or working on a team that was going through a review cycle it may come to a point in which we need to send the document to an external party such as a vendor, client, contractor, etc.  We may not want them to see the comments associated to the document.  This is where the "Examine Document" feature can aid you in simply removing all the comments with the click of a button versus deleting each individual comment.

Continue reading "Remove Comments from a PDF" »

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 03:22 PM | | Comments (0)

September 13, 2007

Flatten Comments in a PDF

I recently attended the Acrobat Users Group meeting in Dallas.  This month our guest speaker was Lori DeFurio who is the Customer and Field Enablement Evangelist for Adobe primarily focused on Acrobat.  Lori has probably forgotten more about Acrobat than I will ever know.  It was a great presentation and she showed a bunch of tips and tricks to be used with Acrobat.  One of the tips was how to flatten all comments, forms, and digital signatures on a pdf so they could no longer be edited, moved, deleted and so forth.  In this blog entry I will show you how.


Continue reading "Flatten Comments in a PDF" »

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 06:05 PM | | Comments (0)

August 24, 2007

Printing Comments in Adobe Acrobat

We have dramatically increased the number of users using Acrobat for review and commenting when we started to allow users with a full copy of Acrobat Pro to enable users of the Free Adobe Reader software to fully participate in document reviews with complete commenting and markup tools.  In turn, the number of questions I get surrounding handling review and commenting has also increased exponentially. For this entry I want to explore a couple tips and tricks in printing comments that have been placed on a pdf.

Continue reading "Printing Comments in Adobe Acrobat" »

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 05:22 PM | | Comments (1)

August 15, 2007

Adobe & Engineering News Record eSeminar recording now available!

I have had several inquiries as to where to view the recorded Adobe and Engineering News Record eSeminar.  It has now been posted to our events page under the OnDemand eSeminars section.  You can access the eSeminar here.  We have received great feedback as to the content and how it really shows how you can increase productivity, reduce cost and minimize risk using Adobe Acrobat.  The summary for the content of the eSeminar can be viewed below.

Continue reading "Adobe & Engineering News Record eSeminar recording now available!" »

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 03:19 PM | | Comments (0)

August 14, 2007

AEC Weekly eSeminar tomorrow! 8/15

Please join us for the weekly AEC eSeminar series tomorrow (8/15).  Tomorrow we will discuss how you can manage multiple destination files as well as set up batch processing to easily automate redundant tasks.  When you think about this industry it is heavily based on packages.  These could include items such as an RFP, RFQ, RFI, Transmittal, Submittal, etc.  Several different types of documents usually make up each one of these types of packages.  You could have a word document, with an excel spreadsheet, with a drawing file, etc.  Tomorrow I will take you through the new Acrobat 8 combine "package" feature and show you how you can effectively manage multiple files types in one pdf package.  Then will we discuss how you can easily automate redundant tasks by showing you how to use the batch processing features in Acrobat.  We will look at how to apply a watermark to several documents and how you can use a java script to add a signature field to several documents at once.  If you have 30 min tomorrow at 10 am PST then join us.  You can register for the event by clicking here.

Have fun,

Jonathan

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 10:28 AM | | Comments (0)

August 10, 2007

Typewriter Tool for non-fillable Acrobat pdf forms

How many times today do you receive a pdf form, and you cannot fill out the fields in the form?  It happens more than I would like to admit and it is very frustrating.  Think about the workflow that you have to go through to get the desired information back to the originator.  They expect you to print out the form, fill it out by hand and then fax, mail, or scan and email it back.  This is a very time consuming process.  I have a solution for you, which is one of our top Tips & Tricks, and that is the Typewriter Tool.


Continue reading "Typewriter Tool for non-fillable Acrobat pdf forms" »

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 03:18 PM | | Comments (2)

August 07, 2007

Acrobat - Using Stamps and Measurement Tools eSeminar tomorrow!

Join our special guest speaker John Moebes, Director of Construction, Crate and Barrel, and learn how to create and extend usage of custom, dynamic stamps as well as easily exporting data to Excel with Acrobat’s measurement tool—for quick calculations of drawing specifications.  This 30 min eSeminar will be held tomorrow, August 8th at 10:00 am PST.  To register you can click here.  To see upcoming AEC eSeminar's, continue reading below.

Continue reading "Acrobat - Using Stamps and Measurement Tools eSeminar tomorrow!" »

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 01:52 PM | | Comments (0)

June 18, 2007

How to save a PDF back to an AutoCAD dwg?

This is a very simple process.  The key is that you have to have Adobe Illustrator installed on your computer.  All you have to do is open the PDF in Adobe Illustrator and save the file as a .dxf file format.  Then you simply open the .dxf in AutoCAD.


Continue reading "How to save a PDF back to an AutoCAD dwg?" »

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 02:07 PM | | Comments (0)

April 20, 2007

Save PDF back to Excel


I have been asked this question on a regular basis, so I thought I would post how you save a pdf back to Excel. I am going to suggest two different ways. The first is to use the Selection tool that is located next to the Hand tool. Select the Excel data in the pdf and then right-click on the highlighted portion and you will have the option to save as a table or open in a spreadsheet. If the entire pdf was created in excel choose Edit from top menu and choose select all. Then right-click on the highlighted data and you will have the same options.


If the table spans multiple pages, be sure and choose the "continuous" pagination display option before selecting the data.


Have fun,


Jonathan

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 12:59 PM | | Comments (1)

April 13, 2007

Standards and Industry Initiatives


We are just getting back from the FIATECH conference and it I had to sum it up in two words it would be: Interoperability and ISO 15926. It was great to see the excitement and the vigor surrounding several efforts ongoing within the industry. FIATECH does a great job of bringing the thought leaders within the industry together to address technology and process as it relates to capital projects.

Continue reading "Standards and Industry Initiatives" »

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 10:34 AM | | Comments (0)

March 29, 2007

Convert dwg files to PDF without an AutoCAD license


A new feature in Acrobat 8 is you have the ability to create a PDF of a dwg without having an AutoCAD license! I personally know several people who have an AutoCAD license just to be able to open, view, and print a dwg. Now you just simply right-click on the dwg and choose convert to pdf. Even better you can choose multiple dwg's and right-click and choose combine into pdf. It is that simple. Customer have been clapping, cheering everything short of dancing when this feature is shown. Who knew it would cause that much excitement.....

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 05:23 PM | | Comments (1)

March 27, 2007

Weekly AEC/EPC Webinar Starts Tomorrow


Tim Huff will start a weekly webinar talking about Acrobat in the AEC/EPC industry. Not only will you gain valuable industry insight on how Acrobat is used in the AEC/EPC industry but he will be giving away an Acrobat 8 Professional each week! The registration page is listed at the link above. Take the time to register today.

Have fun,

Jonathan

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 12:59 PM | | Comments (0)

March 16, 2007

Is it a pdf or an Adobe Acrobat pdf?


We just finished an Acrobat in the AEC industry city forum tour and it seemed like we had a recurring question that popped up in every city. It seemed like at least one individual would ask question about a pdf they were having issues with. Most of the time they would have received the pdf from another company and would have problems printing the file or the quality of the drawing they converted to pdf was not up to par. What a lot of users don't understand is that just because it has a .pdf as the file extension does not mean it is created with Adobe Acrobat technology.

Continue reading "Is it a pdf or an Adobe Acrobat pdf?" »

Posted by Jonathan Bowman at 12:03 PM | | Comments (6)