Planet PDF In-Depth

Four free PDF readers reviewed

Duff Johnson — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Almost every review of PDF software starts or ends with the complaint that Adobe's Reader is bloated "for some unknown reason." As such, it is claimed, a need for alternative "lightweight" free PDF viewing software was born. In this comparison of 4 well-known free PDF viewers, Duff Johnson addresses these claims.

The disadvantages of locked PDFs

Ernest Svenson — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

One thing that makes the PDF format suited to storing and exchanging digital documents is that PDF documents can be secured against unauthorized access. Applying document security can sometimes be more of a hindrance than a help, however. PDFforLawyers.com's Ernest Svenson explains.

iPhone 3Gs as a portable scanner that creates PDFs

Ernest Svenson — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The wide range of available iPhone apps allows them to have a staggering variety of uses. Given the right app, an iPhone 3GS can even act as an effective portable scanner. PDFforLawyers.com's Ernest Svenson explains.

The Tablet: What it means for publishing

Duff Johnson — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The recent launch of the iPad, Apple's tablet device, has set the Net buzzing. The release has Appligent Document Solutions CEO Duff Johnson thinking about the future of personal computing and what he calls "the tablet economy" -- a computing ecosystem centered around tablet-based devices. Duff outlines his predictions and offers some guidance for content publishers in this feature article.

Adobe buys Omniture: The story beneath the story and what it means for users

Nettie Hartsock — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This month we had the opportunity to catch up to Thad McIlroy, editor and founder of "The Future of Publishing", a highly regarded website that monitors news on the digital publishing front and where digital publishing is heading. Thad recently released an in-depth report titled, "Adobe's Designs on Web Analytics: The Omniture Acquisition" which is available at The Future Of Publishing site.

Tutorial: Creating a better PDF viewing experience

Richard Crocker — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The suitability of PDF documents for onscreen viewing has been a controversial topic. In this tutorial, Richard Crocker argues that the negative perception of reading PDFs onscreen is largely due to the inconsistent quality of PDF files. Accordingly, his tutorial explains how to prepare PDF documents in order to optimize the onscreen viewing experience.

PDF content tracking: Could it save the publishing industry?

Don Fluckinger — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Despite tough economic times, Adobe Systems plans to spend almost $2 billion USD buying Omniture, a web-metrics tracking company. In this feature, Don Fluckinger argues that Adobe's history of canny acquisitions and the potential upside of PDF content tracking mean that the move could take commercial PDF publishing to the next level.

PDF on the iPhone: The first swipe

Duff Johnson — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

With the extreme popularity of iPhones, PDF documents are even more portable than ever -- with the appropriate applications, of course. Appligent Document Solutions' CEO Duff Johnson reviews a range of PDF-related applications for the iPhone to help you find the best way to indulge your PDF habit when you are on the move.

The PDF prescription for health care cost control

Duff Johnson — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Healthcare costs in the US have significantly outpaced inflation for several decades. Leaving aside the political questions of how care is financed or delivered, everyone agrees that controlling administrative costs is essential to bringing healthcare expenditures in-line. To treat this problem, Appligent Document Solutions CEO Duff Johnson has a prescription for the healthcare industry: PDF.

How Reader Extensions should be sold

Duff Johnson — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Reader Extensions allows the free Adobe Reader to perform functions otherwise only available in Adobe's Acrobat desktop software. Unfortunately, the current pricing model has been a barrier to the adoption of Reader Extensions by small-to-medium organizations. In this article, Duff Johnson suggests ways that Adobe could better position this useful functionality to get more "bang for its buck."

PDF is green tech for your office

Duff Johnson — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Every PDF sent, saved or submitted reduces your carbon footprint and saves money too. Appligent Document Solutions CEO Duff Johnson looks at the role PDF can play in the environmentally-aware and budget-conscious office.

PDF Standards

Karl De Abrew — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Years ago when we used to talk about PDF as being the most prominent document format, we'd always have to add a quick, under-the-breath, "de-facto standard". But when it came to being 100 percent assured that it would be around in years to come, it's always been a case of biting our collective lips and hoping for the best. What we would do if Adobe pulled the plug? Over the past two years, though, it's been nothing but standards, standards, standards when it comes to PDF. In fact, there are so many that it's easy to lose track. In this feature article, Debenu's Karl De Abrew helps to de-mystify the ever-increasing range of PDF-based standards.

PDF: The sustainable document technology

Karl De Abrew — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

What do you think of when you hear the phrase, "green technologies"? Perhaps solar panels, electric cars and carbon-neutral wind generators? In this article, Planet PDF Founder and Debenu CEO Karl De Abrew outlines ways to make offices more eco-friendly using PDF technology.

The limitations of Acrobat 9 Pro for document collaboration

John Mohan — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

PDF-based document collaboration can be a great boon to many workflows, saving time and money. When things go wrong, though, it can cause a lot of headaches. With that in mind, it's important to get the set-up right from the start. In this in-depth article, Rosebud PLM's John Mohan outlines key limitations of Acrobat 9's built-in document collaboration options.

PDF-to-Word Conversion: Why it's so hard to do

Richard Crocker — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

When a file is converted to PDF, it loses its meaning. On the surface all the information is there, and to your eyes it looks exactly the same, but underneath that, all the method, structure and intelligence used when designing the original document has been lost.† This forms the heart of the challenge faced when attempting to convert PDF files back to formats like DOC (Microsoft Word), RTF and HTML, and is not dissimilar to those faced when OCRing paper-based documents.

What do PDF and social media have in common?

Nettie Hartsock — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

In the early days of PDF, most non-PDF people did not understand how much benefit this new technology was going to bring across all verticals in terms of changing how we all use content on a daily basis. And there really still is no way to predict in the next five or ten or twenty years all the new things that are going to emerge from the PDF world.

Sponsor Article: Five interesting things you can do with PDF

Jean Haney — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Leveraging fifteen years of experience converting PDF into other formats, Visual Integrity Co-Founder Jean Haney outlines some of her favourite uses of PDF.

PDF/A Update: Exclusive interview with Dr. Hans Bärfuss, CEO, PDF Tools AG

Nettie Hartsock — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

At Planet PDF, one of our goals is to always update our readers on all the latest and greatest affecting the PDF arena and its users. So we thought it might be good to get an exclusive interview about developments in the PDF/A standard for long-term archival with Dr. Hans Bärfuss, CEO, PDF Tools AG. Planet PDF's Nettie Hartsock reports.

Sponsor Spotlight: How Visual Integrity brought the power of PDFs to technical writers

Nettie Hartsock — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

As part of the ongoing series on Planet PDF's sponsors, we wanted to commemorate Visual Integrity's contributions to PDF as the company celebrates its 15th year in the industry.

How Encryption Works

Michael Cartwright — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When you set up password security for a PDF document you are first asked to select an encryption level for the PDF file. If you're a computer geek you may immediately understand what this means, but if you're not you may be puzzled. What does encryption mean and how does it affect your security choices?

Make PDF Files Web-Friendly

Michael Cartwright — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Is PDF really "unfit for human consumption" (as Jakob Nielsen says) or just misunderstood? Actually, PDFs can definitely be Web-friendly if they are handled with care. We'll teach you how to present PDFs on the Web in a way that minimizes usability problems and unpleasant surprises.

Using Metadata to Enhance your PDF Files

Michael Cartwright — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Metadata is data about a key piece of information such as an electronic document or file. For example, consider a video of a soccer match. The metadata would be the part of that video file that says "this is a video of a soccer match" or "this video is called World Cup Playoffs" or "this video is 5,353 kilobytes in size." Programs, images, documents, 3D engineering models, databases, and even entire electronic libraries each can contain metadata which help to bring them further definition, identity, and searchability. We take a look at metadata for PDF and how it you can use it to improve the files you publish.

PDF vs Word (DOC): When to Use Each

Michael Cartwright — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

PDF and Microsoft Word DOC formats are two universally accepted document formats. Each has strengths and weaknesses. So which is the best for your documents? The answer is: It depends. Michael Cartwright takes a look at each of these two popular formats and discusses when it's appropriate to use each.

Acrobat 9: A child grows up

Thad McIlroy — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Thad McIlroy evaluates the latest version of Acrobat, and he likes what he sees. In his opinion, the Acrobat 9 product family reflects a fully mature product, with the version 9 release marking its "emergence into adulthood". Read the full review for more.

The content that endures: What to know about PDF/A

Duff Johnson — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

What is PDF/A? Why do we need it and how do we use it? Duff Johnson answers these questions and more in his in-depth look at PDF/A -- the standard for long-term document archival.

Sponsor Spotlight: LockLizard

Nettie Hartsock — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

As part of the ongoing series on Planet PDF's sponsors, we wanted to highlight LockLizard's DRM software products including Lizard Safeguard, Lizard Protector and Lizard Guardian.

Review: Adobe Acrobat 9 sets foot in Web 2.0 with web-based live collaboration

Filipe Pereira Martins and Anna Kobylinska — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

With the release of Acrobat 9, Adobe's focus is all about re-inventing collaboration to enhance efficiency and performance. Some features such as forms have been somewhat improved, others, such as preflight, have been considerably enhanced. Yet if there is one signature feature of this release, it is live collaboration with free web services on Acrobat.com. This review by Filipe Pereira Martins and Anna Kobylinska provides an in-depth look at the new version of Adobe's flagship PDF product.

Sponsor Spotlight: PDFTron

Nettie Hartsock — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

As part of the ongoing series on Planet PDF's sponsors, we wanted to highlight PDFTron and its innovative PDFNet SDK v4 which was released in February. The latest version added full Java support to the PDF library. Version 4.0 also includes a new Java interface that offers API functionality as a set of Java classes to give developers an easier and more expedient way to integrate PDFTron's PDFNet API into already existing applications.

Review: callas pdfToolbox 3 and DeviceLink-Add-on

Filipe Pereira Martins and Anna Kobylinska — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The makers of Acrobat's preflight engine, callas software, have released the third generation of callas pdfToolbox to a growing interest among industry professionals in prepress and print. This review by Filipe Pereira Martins and Anna Kobylinska of Soft1T Consulting provides an in-depth look at the new product suite from callas software.

2008 Adobe Acrobat and PDF Conference coming soon

Nettie Hartsock — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Christopher Smith, Aquent Graphics Institute, graciously made time to speak with Planet PDF in regard to the upcoming conference and giving us an insider's view on what will most likely be yet another great PDF conference for all!