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August 29, 2009
It's Conference Season again...
I always look forward to fall -- back to school for the kids, and extended learning opportunities for Acrobat users as conference season begins.
First, we have the Acrobat and PDF Central Conference, hosted this year in Minneapolis, September 22-24. Acrobat Experts from around the globe are "in the house" -- from our own Ali Hanyaloglu, Lisa Croft, and Paul Gilbertson to PDF gurus like Ted Padova, Duff Johnson, Angie Okamoto, Bob Connolly, and Thom Parker.
Here's a tip -- if you are (or become) a member of the Acrobat User Community, you'll get $100 off the 2-day registration fee (regularly $395).
Next up -- Adobe MAX. This year, we'll be in Los Angeles. I'll be hosting my hands-on lab "I didn't know Acrobat could do that!" and there is so much more. Take a look at this episode of Lori's Corner where Joel Geraci interviews Ted Patrick and Doug Winnie about what's happening at MAX.
If you're aware of other conferences this fall where Acrobat will be a topic, let me know.
August 7, 2009
Acrobat & Xcelsius - a match made in ...
I could say heaven, but really its a match due to Adobe Flash. Acrobat 9 and Adobe Reader 9 both include Adobe Flash reducing the need for additional viewers.Xcelsius Present, an SAP offering, allows you to take data from Microsoft Excel and turn it into something much more useful for presentations -- charts, graphs, etc. -- and with the latest version you can now export to PDF directly, allowing for rich, engaging, yet portable information.
I created a short intro to match the format of Lori's Corner on Adobe TV, which will direct you to a demonstration I prepared showing multiple examples of how you can use the two products together.
Please let me know if you've created examples and I'll post them here or on AcrobatUsers.com
Enjoy your summer!
June 15, 2009
Announcement: Acrobat.com now 'shipping'
I'm so excited that Acrobat.com has moved from 'beta' to 'shipping' today. In addition to the free services which have been available for the past year, there are premium services increasing meeting and file size, and support.
Please visit http://blogs.adobe.com/acom/2009/06/hello_business_world_welcome_t.html for a full description of what's new, what's improved, and pre-release tools for business productivity.
May 14, 2009
Announcing Lori's Corner on Adobe TV
As many of my readers know, I've been hosting a 'tech corner' on AcrobatUsers.com for the past few years entitled "Lori's Corner" with tips & tricks and a 'Dear Lori' section where people can ask me Acrobat questions. During the redesign of AcrobatUsers.com (December 2008) the information in the tech corner was integrated into the tutorials section.
It is important for me to continue a relationship with the Acrobat Community and therefore, I would like to announce a new Lori's Corner - now on Adobe TV. The first episode is a book review of titles on Acrobat 9. My guest is Ali Hanyaloglu.
Enjoy- and if you want to send me a "Dear Lori" -- I'll welcome your question.
April 25, 2009
TIP: Converting Excel to Adobe PDF Options
A customer asked me if it was possible to convert an Excel workbook with multiple worksheets into individual PDF documents, each named by the worksheet tab.
Well... it is... and here's how:
1. Select Create PDF and in the Acrobat PDFMaker dialog box select all worksheets
2. Open the resulting file and notice there are now bookmarks that match the worksheet names
3. Select Document > Split Document.
a.Select Top-level bookmarks; select Output Options
b. Select Use bookmark names for file names
And now with just 2 actions (Create PDF & Split Document), you have your individual files.
March 19, 2009
The Ultimate Tourney Guide
On Sunday night, the NCAA (men's college basketball in US) announced the 64 teams participating in their yearly tournament to determine the best basketball team in the country. Adobe along with ESPN have partnered to bring an interactive PDF document to your desktop to allow you to learn about the teams (via streaming video), watch the progress of the tournament bracket, and participate in daily polls.
This document is a great example of what's possible with Acrobat (and Reader) 9 now that we have Adobe Flash run-time in the product.
Let me know your experience, and I hope your team wins!
March 9, 2009
Acrobat & Adobe Reader 9.1 Update Available
An update to Adobe Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 is now available. In addition to a security update, there are a few more items:
Updated Software Support
To ensure compatibility with the latest software releases, this update includes support for:
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008
- IBM Lotus Notes 8.5 (specifically for Acrobat PDFMaker in email and using Notes for collaboration)
- Autodesk AutoCAD 2009: Acrobat PDFMaker installed in AutoCAD and Acrobat’s 3D Import options
Additionally, there’s support for:
- Catalan and Basque languages
- Using the Pencil tool to add an electronic signature if you’re using a TabletPC or tablet/stylus device
The PDF Portfolio templates posted in August are now included in the update, and of course, some bug fixes.
Where's the software?
Here's the direct links to the software updates.Adobe Reader 9.1 is a full install; Acrobat 9.1 is an update:
Adobe Reader 9.1 : Full install
Acrobat 9.1 Standard : Update
Acrobat 9.1 Pro (Win) : Update
Acrobat 9.1 Pro (Mac) : Update
Acrobat 9.1 Pro Extended : Update
February 26, 2009
Volume Licensing for Acrobat
I'm happy to say that Adobe has launched a new page today -- entitled Volume Licensing programs for Adobe Acrobat software.
This page compares and contrasts the savings and benefits under the TLP (Transactional Licensing) with CLP (Cumulative Licensing) volume license programs; has links to detailed information and a link to subscribe to the Acrobat IT Tips and Tricks Newsletter.
Protecting Planet Earth - one PDF document at a time...
A new white paper featuring Adobe Acrobat has been published outlining how organizations have moved from paper to electronic, with PDF as the core -- to reduce their carbon footprint on Planet Earth.
For example, Bureau Veritas, a global engineering consulting firm, estimates that by eliminating paper and reducing work hours, they saved approximately 50 trees and 22,000 gallons of potable water on a typical power plant project.
January 20, 2009
TIP: Using Auto-Complete in Acrobat & Reader
Acrobat and Adobe Reader have a preference for allowing auto-complete of form fields. You just select Edit > Preferences > Forms and then you can select Off, Basic, or Advanced. Once you've select Basic or Advanced, then Acrobat will remember what you've input so that you'll have those words, numbers, etc. available in subsequent fields. There's one exception -- if the form was created with Adobe LiveCycle Designer, *and* is a dynamic form -- auto-complete will work, but you'll have to double-click to get the auto-complete drop-down with all your saved values.
January 11, 2009
Announcement: Survey for Adobe Reader Users
The Adobe Reader Team has posted a survey today asking what you want most in the next versions of Adobe Reader. The survey should take 5 minutes or less to complete and is available until January 31, 2009.
December 15, 2008
Addressing New Encryption Laws in Nevada and Massachusetts
Earlier this year, laws were passed in both Nevada and Massachusetts requiring PII (personally identifiable information) be encrypted when stored or transmitted. The Nevada law went into effect October 1, 2008. The Massachusetts law will go into effect in January 2009.
In the text of the laws no specific technology or methodology is called out, but I'm happy to say that both Acrobat and Adobe LiveCycle solutions can be used to meet these requirements.
In the text of the laws no specific technology or methodology is called out, but I'm happy to say that both Acrobat and Adobe LiveCycle solutions can be used to help you meet these requirements. For example, PDF documents that might contain PII can be encrypted using Acrobat 9's new 256-bit AES encryption or LiveCycle Rights Management; these PDF documents can certified and secured using digital signatures; and Acrobat 9 can examine documents for hidden information and PII can be searched and permanently removed using redaction tools.
I'll continue to update this post as new information surfaces around the laws and specific solutions that will address these two laws, and of course, any new mandates in 2009.
PDF Portfolios created by Adobe Employees
As part of an internal contest at Adobe, a few employees took the plunge and created some great PDF Portfolios using the built-in templates. These are now posted in the PDF Portfolio Gallery at AcrobatUsers.com. Take a look!
Video Formats Supported by Acrobat/Reader 9
In researching a Dear Lori I discovered this great table outlining formats and usage in Acrobat and Adobe Reader 9.
December 10, 2008
Announcement: Acrobat Channel on Adobe TV
I am very happy to announce that we now have an Acrobat Channel on Adobe TV.
At this time, there are two shows - Acrobat Tips & Tricks and Customer Stories. Each show will continue to build out new episodes.
Stay Tuned!
November 24, 2008
TIP: Editing PDF documents with hyperlinks
A customer recently asked me "I tried editing a sentence in a PDF document which had a hyperlink. I used the TouchUp Text tool to delete the sentence. However, I was left with a blue line which I could not eliminate. I used every tool on the drop down menu incl the Link tool but to no avail. Can you tell me what I can do?"
And my answer: "Links are “on top” of the PDF page, and often the original application will generate the text as well as a link (in your case a blue line) the PDF document. You’ll need to use the TouchUp Object Tool to delete the line as it is an object vs. text. The TouchUp Object tool is in the Advanced Editing toolbar (Acrobat 8 Professional or Acrobat 9 Pro/Pro Extended)
August 15, 2008
PDF Portfolios on the Web
Adobe Reader 9 was released at the beginning of July, and now, just a few weeks later, we're seeing PDF Portfolios on the Web. PDF Portfolios allow the content creator to wrap the information in customized PDF Portfolio template that leverages the Flash Player runtime which is part of Acrobat & Adobe Reader 9. To best view these portfolios, I recommend using Adobe Reader 9 or Acrobat 9. You can download Adobe Reader 9 or a trial of Acrobat 9 for viewing.
For example BNET posted today 4 PDF Portfolios in their Business Library section:
a. BNET Energy: The Green Enterprise
b. BNET BookBriefs: Own Your Job, Don't Let It Own You
c. BNET BookBriefs: Make Your Business Stand Out From the Crowd
d. BNET Best Practices to Managing Employees
PCWorld has highlighted this PDF Portfolio, entitled PC World's Guide to Mobile Living on their home page.
And I was alerted to 2 more from Nikkei Business Publications (both in Japanese):
An example of an on-line magazine with examples of embedded 3D, images, and multimedia and tips for How to Conduct Effective Presentations
I hope you enjoy these great examples of what you can do with PDF Portfolios. If you know of some PDF Portfolios on the Web - let me know!
August 14, 2008
What are the differences between Acrobat products?
Everyday someone asks me "is [name some functionality] in Standard? or Pro? or Pro Extended?" and typically I point them to the product comparison matrix on Adobe.com. This is great for some of the questions, but then I'll have people ask me more detailed differences. So... we've created a detailed product comparison matrix. This will be posted on Adobe.com shortly, but I wanted to get it to my audience as soon as possible.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Acrobat 9 PDF Portfolio Contest
Come one, come all…. AcrobatUsers.com is hosting a contest for the best PDF Portfolio. Entries will be judged based on use of Acrobat 9 features, originality & creativity, and overall polish & aesthetics. All entries will be displayed in the new PDF Portfolio Gallery on Acrobatusers.com (coming soon). First place will be a box of Acrobat 9 Pro Extended (Windows) or Acrobat 9 Pro (Mac); 2nd place is an iPod Nano; and 3rd place is a T-shirt.
The contest is open now, and will run through October 7th, 2008. I’ve already submitted my entry – made up of Adobe literature. I encourage you to take a stab at it. Creating a PDF Portfolio template is fun.
Also – please note -- you do not need to buy Acrobat 9 to participate – just download the free 30 day trial – http://www.adobe.com/tryacrobat.
July 19, 2008
How do I create document previews of my Adobe Presenter 7 presentations?
I posted a tip on my tech corner over at AcrobatUsers.com. It shows you how to ensure that there will be a preview available when viewing an Adobe Presenter-created PDF document in a PDF Portfolio or using the preview function of your operating system.
There's another option for doing this as well: open the output in Acrobat 9 Pro or Pro Extended and select the Flash Tool. Then select a poster from your desktop -- Acrobat support bmp, pdf, gif, jpg, or png as options.
July 1, 2008
WooHoo! Adobe Reader 9 is here!
Adobe Reader 9 is now freely available from Adobe.com. It is currently available in English, French, German, and Japanese for Windows (2000 SP4 and higher) or Mac OS X (10.4.11 and higher).
Get a copy, and then download these examples of documents created with Acrobat 9:
- this PDF Portfolio, which contains some of the Acrobat 9 marketing materials and a Flash movie.
- this Flash application which includes a flash controller, flash playbar, flash movie and captions which can be useful for accessibility requirements, or subtitles for localization.
and, let me know if you have some samples created with Acrobat 9 that I can showcase here.
June 25, 2008
Adobe Product Improvement Program - What is it?
Now that Acrobat 9 is available, once you install any of the windows versions of the product, you will notice a new option called the Adobe Product Improvement Program (APIP). Oh, and when Adobe Reader 9 is available, it will also have this functionality.
APIP is an opportunity for you to help us improve Acrobat, in a similar fashion to the product improvement programs run by others in our industry — like those from Microsoft, Google and Intuit.
You might wonder why Adobe has decided to go down this path. Well... we're just opening up a new channel for customers to provide us feedback. Today, we have multiple venues to gather feedback from our customers — user groups, focus groups, participation in pre-release programs, and so on. This is another way for you to provide feedback to help us improve Acrobat and our goal is that the information collected will help us create a better Acrobat/Adobe Reader in the future.
So what happens when you participate?
#1 information about how you're using the product, for example, how you use certain features and functions within the application are sent to Adobe, but no personal information is collected — it is 100% anonymous.
#2 participating will not affect user experience or performance of Acrobat (or Adobe Reader) and will be virtually invisible to you. Basically, when you quit Acrobat or Adobe Reader the collected information is sent to Adobe (no 3rd party is involved)
Please be aware - and this is important - this is an "opt-in" program — what does that mean? It means, by default the opportunity to participate is turned off. You have to consciously make the choice to elect to participate. You will be prompted one time only — typically on the 5th launch of the product.
You'll see a screen similar to this (Figure 1) and as seen in the screenshot - the default is "No, thank you".
Figure 1. Adobe Product Improvement Program dialog box in Acrobat/Reader 9
You need to select “Yes, I would like to help make Acrobat even better” to participate. If you decide to go with the default of "No, thank you" now, and you change your mind later, it's easy to participate — just select Help > Improvement Program Options (Figure 2) and you'll see the Adobe Product Improvement Program dialog box (Figure 1) again. This time, just select "Yes, I would like to help make Acrobat even better", and you're in!
Figure 2. To recall the APIP dialog box or to learn more, select Help > Improvement Program Options
I'm sure you're wondering, what's next? Will Adobe use this in other products? Sure. Again, this is another great way for customers to provide us feedback and for us to incorporate that feedback into products moving forward. Stay tuned. The feedback from our Acrobat and Adobe Reader users will help us determine the "what's next" and "when".
If you need or want more information on this program, you have two options:
- Select More details... from the APIP dialog box (Figure 1) or,
- Visit the APIP site where you'll find the FAQ and any additional information as it becomes relevant.
I encourage you to take a look - and participate if you want to be a part of Acrobat's future development.
June 23, 2008
Reminder -- Acrobat 9 eSeminar
I will be presenting Redefine the Way You Communicate, a one-hour eSeminar on Thursday, June 26th at 9:00 am Pacific and will repeat the content again at 12:00 noon Pacific. If you're not based in the Pacific time zone, you can visit http://www.timeanddate.com/ to do a time zone conversion.
The topic will be Acrobat 9 — how can Acrobat and PDF help you be more productive in your day-to-day tasks. I will cover quite a range of topics including Acrobat's built-in workflows for collecting feedback — either feedback in a fillable PDF form, or feedback on documents as part of a review.
As you may have heard, or read earlier, we've added Adobe Flash to Acrobat and Adobe Reader 9, so I will review how you can use Adobe Flash to punch up presentations, create PDF Portfolios to deliver your information, and embed multimedia in your documents to help your reader understand exactly what you're trying to convey.
And, as a final treat... I will go over improvements for creating PDF documents — from web pages, from your clipboard, or by scanning paper to PDF.
Hope you can make it!
Click here to register/attend.
June 2, 2008
Acrobat 9: A revolutionary release
Yes, I've been "dark" for a few weeks. I've been preparing for today! I truly believe that this release of Acrobat (and Adobe Reader) will be a "game changing" event -- just like desktop publishing in the 1980's and web publishing in the 1990's.The marriage of Flash and PDF (just like the marriage of Macromedia and Adobe) creates a union stronger than the separate parts. That’s right – the Adobe Flash runtime (based on version 9) is baked right into Acrobat and Reader. That means that any Flash content you’ve added to a PDF document on your computer – either Flash Video (FLV) or a Flash animation or application (SWF) – will just work on anyone else’s computer – as long as they’re using Acrobat or Adobe Reader 9.
The Acrobat Family.
We have three products in the family now -- Acrobat 9 Standard, Acrobat 9 Pro, and Acrobat 9 Pro Extended. Each product fulfills a certain market segment – for example, Acrobat 9 Standard is great for creating and distributing PDF documents and forms! That’s right – Acrobat 9 Standard has the ability to create fillable PDF forms, distribute these forms, and collect the information in a simple and streamlined fashion. I’ve included a quick demonstration of this process.
Acrobat 9 Pro (formerly Acrobat Professional) continues to be our workhorse product for people who need to work with PDF documents – either to work more closely with others, like using the commenting tools and workflows to collect feedback, to ensuring your documents are sanitized, to working with PDF documents for print production. If you want to learn more about improvements and updates to collaboration, take a look at The Same Page – a blog focused on Acrobat and Collaboration.
And the newest addition – Acrobat 9 Pro Extended – is the ultimate toolset for working with PDF documents. Acrobat 9 Pro Extended has all the capabilities of Acrobat 3D version 8, but also so much more… There’s a Video-to-Flash transcoder which allows drag-and-drop of any type of multimedia format onto Acrobat 9 Pro Extended, and it’s converted to Flash video automatically. And, Adobe Presenter – a powerful add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint, is included! This technology is so cool. It allows you to add audio, video, and SWF in a PowerPoint presentation and then save it to PDF for viewing offline. If you want a deeper look at the differences between the products check out the feature matrix.
Oh.. and one more thing... Acrobat 9 is now available in 28 languages! To see the full list you can refer to the Language Support page.
I expect to share more with you this week, and please feel free to send me comments so that I can help you understand the Acrobat 9 family.
If you want more information...
Take a look at the blogs and articles on AcrobatUsers.com. These contributors have been in the Acrobat pre-release program and can share their first-hand experience with the product family.
Also.. feel free to sign up to be notified when the free Acrobat 9 trial download will be available.
June 13, 2007
Font Packs to use with Acrobat or Reader 8
If you're having trouble finding the Asian Font Packs and/or the European Extended Font Pack for Acrobat/Reader 8 on Adobe.com - not to worry. They're on our FTP site now as MSI files, and will be posted on Adobe.com later this summer as full installers (similar to Acrobat 7).
The Eastern European Font Pack includes Thai, Hebrew, and Arabic.
The Asian fonts - Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Japanese, and Korean are each in their own MSI file.
Please note: with these MSI files - you must copy the MSI installer to an empty directory and then run the installer from that directory. We've seen problems if there are other files in the directory. This is only an issue with the MSI files - this will not be a problem when we get the files posted on Adobe.com as full installers.
February 14, 2007
Creating a custom dynamic stamp
I've had a tip on creating a custom dynamic stamp posted since the release of Acrobat 6. However, I continue get additional questions on configuration, different versions, when to place the dynamic content, etc. I've updated the written tip to include Acrobat 6, 7, and 8 configuration and I've just added a brief video presentation to demonstrate the steps.
Look for more interactive tips in coming weeks, and if you have a suggestion for a tip, let me know.
March 14, 2006
New article on Redaction
Adobe's developer technologies team has posted a document on how to remove sensitive information from a PDF: http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/acrobat/Redaction.pdf
December 10, 2005
Controlling formatting in a text field
Question: I want to be able to have multiple fonts in a single field. Is this possible?
Answer: Yes, of course. When you create a text field you indicate it can contain Rich Text.
Fields created with Acrobat: Create a Text Field. In the Text Field Properties dialog box, select "Allow Rich Text Formatting" from the Options tab.
Fields created with LiveCycle Designer: Create a Text Field Object. In the Object palette, uncheck "Allow Plain Text Only" in the Field Tab, and select Data Format - XHTML in the Binding Tab.
Once you've enabled this, your form field can contain a variety of formatting options, which are controlled by the Properties Bar in Acrobat/Reader.
Adding parameters while linking to a PDF
As Mike Potter mentioned in his blog of November 24, parameters are available that you can add to a weblink to a PDF to pass Acrobat/Reader additional instructions. For example, if you have a multi-page PDF and you would like to have your user go directly to page 34 when the PDF is launched the URL could be http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15.pdf#page=34. Another example allows you to add search words to the URL:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pub/p15.pdf#search="bracket" will launch the search window in Acrobat/Reader and highlight all instances of the word bracket in the document.
For a description of all possible parameters, please see the Acrobat documentation.
Trusting weblinks in Acrobat/Reader 7.0.5
If you have upgraded to Acrobat or Adobe Reader 7.0.5 you may have noticed if you 'surf' to a web address from within a PDF you will see a dialog box which requires you to select "Block" or "Allow". I've been asked where this information is stored, and how can I manage the list.
Select Edit > Preferences > Trust Manager. Under the section Resource Access, select Change Site Settings. In the Managed Sites dialog box you can review and update current settings.
October 31, 2005
Acrobat/Reader 7.0.5
I've been asked "How do we chain (or configure) the Acrobat or Reader installer to patch from 7.0 to 7.0.1, 7.0.2, 7.0.3, and 7.0.5?"
And the answer depends on the final version required:
1) 7.0.5 rolls up all the previous updates, so there isn't a need to chain if this is your final goal.
2) if you need 7.0 -> 7.0.3, there is a chaining document available.
September 7, 2005
New Acrobat Tips
I've added 3 new tips to the developer tips page:
- Connecting Document JavaScript to 3D Views
- Determining the Adobe Acrobat/Reader Version
- Working with Dynamic Images
September 6, 2005
3D in Acrobat
The 3D developer web page has been updated with a new 26-minutes webinar on how to get started with 3D JavaScript as well as a tip on how to control 3D views with document JavaScript.