Spartacus of Acrobat

With so many customer visits and eSeminars recently, I am noticing some trends in terms of what's high on people's agendas. Two ears, one mouth, used in that ratio have helped....

Security keeps popping up as a topic for discussion and it's one that we enjoy having since we can talk about document security from a reasonably firm basis. This has been enhanced by the latest news on how we are trying to increase trust in digital signatures.......

"Over the years, Adobe has made electronic documents and workflows easier, more efficient, and more secure. With one of the leading implementations of electronic signatures on the market, Adobe products allow you to go the last mile by eliminating the need to print a document out just to sign it. At the same time, we've also been busy behind the scenes working on ways to better deliver trust in those electronic and digital signatures so users can rely fully on these new workflows. Today, we're announcing the launch of our latest trust effort, the Adobe Approved Trust List...available now.

Read the full article here.....
http://blogs.adobe.com/security/2009/07/casting_a_wider_trust_net_anno.html

Posted by Steve Partridge at 8:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Again, we're talking about those things that have surfaced in recent meetings and eSeminars. Shared reviews still get people interested, the idea that everyone can start launching comments on a document at the same time is quite novel. It is also quite enjoyable to watch your document get commented on in real time as a load of colleagues start picking your work to bits. I've even seen virtual arguements start as people see each others comments and react, ahhh living my ife vicariously!

So a quick reminder on how to do a shared review for you.....

So, the PDF that you want to send/share for commenting includes the Comment & Markup toolbar and instructions in the document message bar.

1. Choose Comments > Send For Shared Review.
You can also start a shared review directly from other applications that use PDFMaker, such as Microsoft Word. Choose Adobe PDF > Convert To Adobe PDF And Send For Review. For Office 2007 applications, choose Acrobat > Create And Send For Review.

2. If prompted, specify a PDF.

3. Choose a delivery and collection method: you can use Acrobat.com, your own internal server, or a server profile if you have already created one.Then follow the on-screen instructions.

4. On the email screen, specify the following settings as needed:

Delivery Method
Click to specify a different delivery and collection method than what is currently selected.

To, Cc
Enter the email addresses of your reviewers. Insert a semicolon or a return between each address. Click the To or Cc button to select email addresses from your email application address book.

Subject, Message
Preview and edit the email subject and message as needed. Any changes you make are saved and appear the next time you send a document for review. To use the default email message, click Reset Default Message.

Access Level (Acrobat.com only)
Specifies who can download the file from Acrobat.com. You can limit access to only the recipients of your email, or allow open access to anyone who knows the URL.

Review Deadline
Click to specify a different date or no deadline. After the review deadline expires, reviewers cannot publish comments.
Note: If the review deadline expires while a reviewer has the document open in Acrobat, then the reviewer can publish comments before closing the document.

Allow Page View Sharing And Chat Collaboration In This Document (Acrobat.com only)
When selected, reviewers can use the Collaborate Live feature to open and share the PDF in a live chat session.

5. Click Send.

Posted by Steve Partridge at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Have I blogged before about "Save as certified"?

I'm sorry if I have but again, it's been coming up recently with all the eSeminars I've been running. It's such a simple security feature to use that I show it to most people now. May existing users have said.. "Ahh so that's what that menu item's for"

Lesson learned.... go play with the product you've already bought, it's chock full of meaty goodness.

So look, when you certify a PDF, you're indicating that you approve of its contents. You also specify the types of changes that are permitted for the document to remain certified. For example, suppose that a government agency creates a form with signature fields. When the form is complete, the agency certifies the document, allowing users to change only form fields and sign the document. Users can fill in the form and sign the document, but if they remove pages or add comments, the document doesn’t retain its certified status.

You can apply a certifying signature only if the PDF doesn’t already contain any other signatures. Certifying signatures can be visible or invisible. A blue ribbon icon in the Signatures panel indicates a valid certifying signature. A digital ID is required to add the certifying digital signature.

1. Pull down the "File" menu and select the "Save as certified option"

2. Click OK in the Save As Certified Document dialog box.

If you are certifying with Visible signatures, you can place the signature in an existing signature field or create a field for the signature. Follow the directions in the prompts to choose a location.

3. If you’re adding a visible signature, draw the signature field on the page.
Note: If you enabled View Documents In Preview Document Mode When Signing in the Security Preferences, click Sign Document in the document message bar.

4. Follow the on-screen instructions to select a digital ID, if prompted.
Specify a default ID to avoid being prompted each time you sign a PDF.

5. In the Certify Document dialog box, specify the permitted changes, type your password or PIN for your digital ID, and then click Sign.
Note: Some digital IDs are configured to ask for a password or other user authentication after you click the Sign button.

6. Save the PDF using a different filename than the original file, and then close the document without making additional changes. It is a good idea to save it as a different file so that you can keep the original unsigned document.

Posted by Steve Partridge at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hiya,

as I mentioned recently, in recent meetings with existing Acrobat users, I've been answering quite a few questions regarding accessibility. My initial answer has always been that PDF is the best place to start to create accessible documents, but why is that? Well PDF files have certain characteristics that can make them more accessible.......

Accessible PDFs have the following characteristics.

Searchable text

A document that consists of scanned images of text is inherently inaccessible because the content of the document is images, not searchable text. Assistive software cannot read or extract the words, users cannot select or edit the text, and you cannot manipulate the PDF for accessibility. Convert the scanned images of text to searchable text using optical character recognition (OCR) before you can use other accessibility features with the document.
Alternate text descriptions

Screen readers cannot read document features such as images and interactive form fields unless they have associated alternate text. Screen readers can read web links; however, you can provide more meaningful descriptions as alternate text. Alternate text and tool tips can aid many users, including users with learning disabilities.
Fonts that allow characters to be extracted to text

The fonts in an accessible PDF must contain enough information for Acrobat to extract all of the characters to text for purposes other than displaying text on the screen. Acrobat extracts characters to Unicode text when you read a PDF with a screen reader or the Read Out Loud feature. Acrobat also extracts characters to Unicode when you save as text for a braille printer. This extraction fails if Acrobat cannot determine how to map the font to Unicode characters.
Reading order and document structure tags

To read a document's text and present it in a way that makes sense to the user, a screen reader or other text-to-speech tool requires a structured document. Document structure tags in a PDF define the reading order and identify headings, paragraphs, sections, tables, and other page elements.

Interactive form fields

Some PDFs contain forms that a person is to fill out using a computer. To be accessible, form fields must be interactive—meaning that a user must be able to enter values into the form fields.
Navigational aids

Navigational aids in a PDF—such as links, bookmarks, headings, a table of contents, and a preset tab order for form fields—assist all users in understanding the document without reading completely through it. Bookmarks are especially useful and can be created from document headings.

Document language

Specifying the document language in a PDF enables some screen readers to switch to the appropriate language.
Security that doesn't interfere with assistive software

Some authors of PDFs restrict users from printing, copying, extracting, adding comments to, or editing text. The text of an accessible PDF must be available to a screen reader. You can use Acrobat to ensure that security settings don't interfere with the ability of the screen reader to convert the on-screen text to speech.

Posted by Steve Partridge at 7:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, just returned from a long weekend away in Woolacombe (see post from March)....

Spent Monday morning talking surfing over breakfast with a 79 year old woman, sh still surfs most weeks! Man do I feel like an underachiever!

Posted by Steve Partridge at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been meeting and talking with some UK Local Authorities this week and have been asked a lot about Accessibility in PDF files. (By the way, have I been piling up the miles or what?)

For me accessibility really starts with Tagging, and as luck would have it, I've just seen a great article about defining PDF accessibility from WebAIM and you can read it here...

http://www.webaim.org/techniques/acrobat/

Posted by Steve Partridge at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)