Time for a fresh look Last March we reviewed a crop of free PDF readers available for Windows. This time, we add a new contender to the list (Nitro’s PDF Reader) and check for updates to the software reviewed in our previous survey. Bloatware? Really? It’s a sad fact that the quality of PDF files […]
View Postby Duff Johnson Over nine years ago, we were first in the world to offer tagging and Section 508 compliance services for PDF files. So you can imagine that we’ve been very, very interested in the subject of accessibility checker software for PDF files for a very long time. Until recently, Adobe Acrobat Professional’s Accessibility […]
View PostThere are many ways to extract text from a PDF file for use in other documents. Choose carefully; not all PDF viewers are alike! Here we provide a quick review of how the leading free PDF viewers get the job done. To select text that spans columns PDF files sometimes seem REALLY stupid because a […]
View PostFULL DISCLOSURE: While Duff Johnson was an occasional consultant to Adobe Systems (among others), this review is objective. NOTE: This review has been superseded by an expanded review of 5 PDF Readers Cutting through the Bloatware Bloviation Almost every review of PDF software (some examples are at Brush Technology, Make Use Of, and CNET Download.com) starts […]
View PostAs the iPhone continues to grow in popularity, business applications for the iPhone OS are proliferating. Inevitably, a number of these applications focus on electronic documents, which is another way of saying (whether their developers recognize it or not) that they focus on PDF files. This article surveys a few of the current crop of […]
View PostI hear some version of the following question over and over: “Which software accurately converts PDF to Word?” Converting PDF to Word (or other word-processing applications, HTML or whatever) is not a simple, push-button affair, as almost everyone who has ever tried it knows (thus the questions). Even so, most people are looking for a […]
View PostIntroduction What are bookmarks? We’re not talking about strips of cardboard or dog-eared pages. When present, PDF bookmarks appear to the left of the page (the F4 key toggles the bookmarks “panel” on and off). In the most common application, bookmarks allow users to instantly skip to other locations in the document. That’s VERY handy, […]
View PostI’ve been working on “live” files using Acrobat 8 Professional for some time now, so my initial reactions to the latest version of Acrobat are a little more seasoned. I had this in mind during a recent interview for MacAddict magazine. Since I went on at greater length than they could possibly print, I thought […]
View PostI was sufficiently intrigued by the Adobe Document Center to put it to the test with a real document distributed to a reasonably savvy group of people. I’m one of those people who finds Flash more than a little overused. Once the initial buzz from the soft-focus feel of the all-Flash UI wore off, the […]
View PostEver since it became possible to view PDF files online via the Adobe Reader plug-in to a Web browser, a debate has raged about whether and how one should take advantage of this fact. While for many this debate appears to be over – Google now counts 1.2 billion hits for “pdf” – a fierce […]
View PostOne of the new features in Acrobat 8.0 Professional garnering significant comment is redaction. This handy tool allowing users to permanently eliminate text or graphics from a PDF page. Solid, simple idea – what’s not to like? Thus far, Acrobat 8’s redaction tool has been generally well received in principle, although a few discriminating reviewers […]
View PostIntroduction For years now, ARTS PDF has carved a niche as a top-shelf Acrobat plug-in developer, augmenting the native capabilities of Adobe Systems’ flagship desktop software with a broad array of tools to help professional Acrobat users get the most out of PDF technology. Historically, ARTS PDF has tended to focus on desktop publishing and […]
View PostAdobe’s Current Strategy (as described on access.adobe.com) Enhance the PDF format with MSAA-aware capabilities (tags) that document developers may use to improve accessibility. This approach is rooted in the belief that accessibility is operationally defined as the ability to interact with the user’s choice of screen reader software. Usability is not part of this definition. […]
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