The vast majority of Acrobat users have no interest in scripting. For most, they get their money’s worth (they think) if PDFs are easy to make, work reliably, are of small file-size, are reasonably secure, and so on.
Little do most users suspect what scripting can do for their PDFs, and (thereby), their electronic document workflows. JavaScript support has been included in Acrobat and Reader for over a decade, such that few are surprised when they encounter “active” content in a PDF. Even so, distressingly (to my mind) few people ask themselves the simple question: “How can I get my PDFs to do that!”.
Well, the best-kept secret in electronic document technology may not be so secret any more. Thom Parker, one of the grandmasters of PDF scripting, has launched pdfscripting.com with the express purpose of raising awareness of the potential for scripting in Reader and Acrobat.
While I’m a vendor of scripting services, I nonetheless applaud Thom’s initiative. Far from taking business away from consultants and others who script for a living, pdfscripting.com will lead more companies to consider how many of their business objectives might well be met with Acrobat JavaScript and the Acrobat JavaScript API Reference.
In the scripting world, as in many other places, an educated customer is a better customer.
Originally posted on Duff Johnson’s PDF Perspective blog for acrobatusers.com.
By Duff Johnson