Planet PDF In-Depth

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!

Sponsor Spotlight: Drumlin Security

Dan Shea — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Drumlin has been designed to strongly encrypt standard PDF files so that they can only be read by individuals you have authorized and cannot be read if copied from machine to machine.

Bates-Stamping documents the easy way

Ernest Svenson — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Bates-Stamping documents can be a tricky proposition, but, as outlined in this article by PDFforLawyers.com's Ernest Svenson, there's an easier way than going through the effort of doing this manually.

How e-signatures empower the Web 2.0 business

Nettie Hartsock — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT

As the technology of e-signatures continues to grow and as the use expands, more and more companies are turning to this affordable signature automation application as a way to "virtually ink" all their business documents.

EDITORIAL: Joost "leaks" partnership plans

Dan Shea — Thu, 24 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Due to a security-related faux pas, it seems that Joost has inadvertently "leaked" details of its strategic planning.

Christopher Smith on Adobe, Gore and eco-friendly PDF

Nettie Hartsock — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT

We had a chance to catch up with AGI's Christopher Smith, director of the upcoming PDF 2007 conference, to find out the latest on this "must-PDF" conference and all that it will provide.

The ten questions I want to ask Al Gore at the upcoming PDF 2007 Conference

Nettie Hartsock — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT

We're all going to have our favorite sessions to pick from at the upcoming and power-packed PDF 2007 conference and this year's conference features over 80 sessions in two days as well as the opportunity to attend pre-conference and post-conference training sessions.

PDF goes to ISO: The road ahead

Duff Johnson — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT

In his second of two articles on the topic, Duff Johnson looks at the consequences of PDF's adoption as a formal standard, drawing on input from 3rd-party PDF gurus and PDF originator, Adobe Systems.

PDF goes to ISO: Some background

Duff Johnson — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

In his first of two articles on the topic, Duff Johnson delivers some background and context on Adobe's new move to push PDF towards publication as an ISO Standard.

Jaeggi on standards, training and PDF University

Nettie Hartsock — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Planet PDF's Nettie Hartsock interviews noted PDF figure Stephan Jaeggi, who spoke about the upcoming PDF conference that he'll chair, his work with standards body the Ghent PDF Workgroup (GWG) and the world of PDF training.

EDITORIAL: Adobe Reader rollercoaster slows to a halt

Dan Shea — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

After such headlines as "Adobe flaw may be 'worst' bug of 2007", one could perhaps be forgiven for feeling a little nervous. As it turns out however, this latest flaw now seems more like a falling acorn than a piece of sky. Dan Shea examines the latest PDF-related security scare.

EDITORIAL: How 'open' is PDF?

Dan Shea — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Adobe may not have directly threatened a lawsuit over Microsoft's inclusion of PDF creation functionality with the pending version of Office, but it is clearly unhappy with the feature. Given the 'openness' of the PDF format, what does this really mean? Dan Shea discusses the issue.

Overpriced Acrobat upgrade

Thad McIlroy — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Thad McIlroy talks about the pricing for Adobe's latest version of Acrobat and discusses whether this expense is justified for existing customers. McIlroy also assesses Adobe's "Top 10" reasons for making the switch.

Acrobat still suffering from schizophrenia

Thad McIlroy — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Thad McIlroy examines Acrobat's enduring case of "schizophrenia" -- it's appeal to the disparate users in the creative professional and knowledge worker spaces -- and evaluates the release of the expanded Adobe Acrobat 8 product family.

Creating custom 3D PDF templates inside Acrobat 3D with Right Hemisphere's PDF Publishing and PMI Modules

Lars Olson — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This is the third in a series of three tutorials from Right Hemisphere's Lars Olson. This tutorial will focus on creating custom 3D PDF templates inside Acrobat 3D with Right Hemisphere's PDF Publishing and PMI Modules.

REVIEW: PitStop Professional 7

Julie Shaffer — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Speaker, author and educator Julie Shaffer puts in her (expert) 2 cents on the new release of Enfocus's flagship preflight, editing and automation plug-in for Acrobat, Enfocus PitStop Professional.

Easily Create Interactive 3D PDFs that Include Product Manufacturing Information

Lars Olson — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This is the second in a series of three tutorials from Right Hemisphere's Lars Olson. This tutorial will focus on sharing a 3D model with PMI specifications, and is aimed at anyone involved in a manufacturing workflow.

Creating Interactive 3D PDFs with Acrobat 3D and the Right Hemisphere PDF Publishing Module

Lars Olson — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This is the first in a series of three tutorials from Right Hemisphere's Lars Olson. This tutorial will focus on creating a fully interactive 3D PDF from CAD data to demonstrate a simple disassembly procedure for repair or maintenance.

The Trouble with Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Office 2007

Richard Crocker — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMT

The interesting if not troubling thing I've found after using the Microsoft Office 2007 beta is that Adobe Acrobat's PDF creation tools are now well and truly hidden away and hard to find. This creates multiple problems for Adobe: less people will successfully create PDFs, and more people will be asking, "Where did my 'Create PDF' button go?" Adobe needs to develop a solution for previous versions of Acrobat before the new Microsoft Office is launched.

OPINION: Clash of the Titans

Karl De Abrew — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMT

BinaryThing CEO Karl De Abrew explores the pending conflict between software giants Adobe and Microsoft. Reports are coming in all across the globe that Adobe isn't content to let Microsoft shoot forth with a basic Save As PDF for Office 12. The WSJ is reporting that talks between the two software companies have reached an impasse during the past week as are The Street, Slashdot and many, many others.

OCR, PDFs, and bates-numbered documents

Ernest Svenson — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Finding the interplay of PDF creation, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and bates numbering a little confusing? PDFforLawyers.com's Ernest Svenson explains in this piece on just that topic.

Unauthorized access to secure PDF content: Everywhere you look?

Dan Shea — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Is PDF living up to Adobe's one-time claim of being "Everywhere you look"? At first glance, it looks as though that statement may be truer than was originally intended, thanks to the 500-pound gorilla of Internet search. The most public "private" beta this writer has ever encountered -- Google's "Gmail" email service -- offers a "View as HTML" function that may circumvent usage restrictions on some PDF documents.

CVISION's PdfCompressor: Squeeze your PDFs, and more

Duff Johnson — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT

In this piece, Duff Johnson takes an in-depth look at CVISION's PdfCompressor software, designed for compressing PDF files and much more. Where relevant, the review also makes comparisons between similar functionality in this application and Adobe's flagship software, Adobe Acrobat.

Review: Adobe Acrobat 3D

Filipe Pereira Martins and Anna Kobylinska — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT

With Acrobat 3D, its newest addition to the Acrobat family, Adobe pushed the envelope of PDF capabilities. Adobe Acrobat 3D expands next-generation PDF workflow into the 3D worlds of Manufacturing and AEC (architecture, engineering and construction). This review by Filipe Pereira Martins and Anna Kobylinska of Soft1T Consulting provides an in-depth look at the youngest Acrobat.

How To Create a PDF of an Entire Website

David Fishel — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT

For whatever reason, we can find ourselves needing offline access to entire websites, be it for evidence, research or archival purposes. The good news is that this is a simple task in Adobe Acrobat, as PDFforLawyers.com's Dave Fishel explains.