PDF News and Tips
February, 2005

Document Solutions CEO interviewed by Planet PDF

In his latest interview, Duff offers some insights into the latest version of Adobe System's core product, Acrobat 7.0, and Adobe's new LiveCycle server products.

The discussion covers some of the new features in Acrobat 7.0, and touches on areas of interest to content managers, publishers and developers.

"The single best thing about the new Acrobat is the emergence of explicit links between server and desktop. By making users aware of the possibilities in Reader Extensions and of tools such as the Policy Server, Adobe may finally begin to access the enormous leveraging power implied by the ubiquity of Reader." (Duff Johnson, speaking with Planet PDF's Dan Shea)

Read Duff's Planet PDF interview

Accessible PDF: Before and After

The VA's Pittsburgh Healthcare System, like many organizations, produces an Annual Report. For 2004, they wanted a report that was not only fully compliant with Section 508, but was as easy as possible to use besides.
What did we do...

First, we took the original PDF and fully optimized it, including metadata, links and navigational bookmarks. We also corrected image resolution and compression, reducing the file-size by 1/3.

Finally, we added tags and article threads to the PDF to give screen-reader and other assistive technology users a smooth and streamlined experience reading the document.

How can you tell accessible PDF from inaccessible PDF? You don't need fancy software, just Adobe Reader 7.0!

Check out the Accessible PDF: Before and After Demonstration!

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The Easy Button: Acrobat 7.0's new Organizer

Organizer helps you find PDF files that you've previously opened, as well as PDF files that you've organized into collections.

You can see thumbnail images of PDF pages to quickly find files, organize related PDF files, and quickly browse, find, and sort PDF files you've recently viewed.

To display the Organizer window:

Click the Organizer button in the File toolbar, or choose File > Organizer > Open Organizer.

History contains subcategories that list all PDF files that you've opened in the past. The History is automatically updated each time you open a PDF file and as time passes. You can clear the entire history, or set the maximum length to track file history with the Remember Files In Organizer History option in the Startup preferences.

Collections are lists of PDF files that you've associated with each particular collection folder. Each collection folder can point to multiple PDF files no matter where the file is located. For example, a single collection folder can list PDF files that are actually located in different folders on your computer, on a network, and also on the web. You can change each collection folder's name, add new collection folders, and add PDF files to each collection folder.

It's not worth the price of the upgrade alone, and we can think of all kinds of ways this product could be improved and expanded, but as a free document organizer, it's got some neat tricks.