This week in PDF has seen updates to an established document preparation engine, and a PDF forms application. Perhaps most significantly, though, PDF has now been accepted as an international standard format by the ISO.
First up, Integrated Media Management (IMM), a document output management and automation technology provider, has updated its document preparation engine. TotaleAtlas 4.3 electronically captures signatures in-branch and merges the XML data to create secure and non-editable PDF documents for easy retrieval with IMM's search feature. The new version offers enhanced document processing, procurement and administrative capabilities.
According to the press release:
TotaleAtlas 4.3 displays document descriptions of up to 50 characters in the selection screen providing quicker recognition and understanding of the content. Search criteria have been enhanced using AJAX technology, allowing documents to be looked for by name or description including wildcard searches, and using a specified date range and sorted by column heading. This will save employees time when searching for additional documents that need to be added to an existing document set. To further speed up the process, users can now search and retrieve an individual document within a set rather than retrieving the entire set and then searching for the required document.
In other update news, UNIVERSE Software has updated its PDF form application. fdf Converter 6.0 allows form data to be imported from PDF forms and transposed to CSV format. This eliminates the need to separately export form data to FDF. fdf Converter was primarily developed in JAVA, and trial versions for Mac, Windows and Linux operating systems are available from www.pdf-office.com.
Perhaps most significantly, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has announced its approval of PDF 1.7 as an international standard, coded ISO 32000-1. According to the ISO's press release:
This move follows a decision by Adobe Systems Incorporated, original developer and copyright owner of the format, to relinquish control to ISO, who is now in charge of publishing the specifications for the current version (1.7) and for updating and developing future versions.
"By releasing the full PDF specification for ISO standardization, we are reinforcing our commitment to openness," says Kevin Lynch, Chief Technology Officer at Adobe. "As governments and organizations increasingly request open formats, maintenance of the PDF specification by an external and participatory organization will help continue to drive innovation and expand the rich PDF ecosystem that has evolved over the past 15 years."
OK, so you want to stamp your document. Maybe you need to give reviewers some advice about the document's status or sensitivity. This tip from author Ted Padova demonstrates how to add stamps with the Stamp Tool along with related comments.
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