|
Messages: 5 of 5. Pages: 1
Comments/Replies (4) appear below in chronological order. Comment form is at bottom of page.
|
|
|
I've just installed version 7 of Adobe Acrobat, the best-selling tool for creating Adobe's proprietary PDF (portable document format) files. PDFs have some nifty uses but most of its functions don't interest me. There are also some things I really don't like -- such as putting PDFs on the web when an HTML file will do the job just as well and with a lot less hassle. I hate clicking an unmarked URL that suddenly clogs up my browser with Acrobat (excuse me, Adobe) Reader and starts hogging memory and cpu cycles. But I digress.
 With Version 7 Adobe has, at long last, made a much-needed feature available to anyone with the free Adobe Reader -- commenting. This is a big deal. Sending MSWord files to clients is a terrifying experience and yet, if you're going to have clients or colleagues review a document in progress you have had little choice.
It is inconceivable to me that Microsoft thinks it's a good idea to have a word processing program with no definitive way to remove all hidden and meta data. But they've done (and continue to do) stupider things.
Having deleted or hidden data show up in a file at someone else's desktop can be embarrassing. If you work in highly political, confidential, or competitive situations the effects of such "accidents" can be devastating.
Adobe has finally recognized this problem as a market opportunity. With Acrobat 7 they have made it possible to create a PDF file with commenting enabled so that anyone using Adobe Reader 7 can delete text, insert text, or simply add editorial comments. When finished the entire PDF can be sent back to the originator or, even better, the comments can be exported into a separate file. The originator can combine comment files from multiple reviewers and import them back into MSWord to form the basis of revisions. This is a substantial improvement over the old "track changes and pray" routine inherent in MSWord document reviews.
Getting this capability isn't cheap. You have to buy the $400 Professional version of Acrobat to get it. But at least it's a one-time expense. Anyone using Reader 7 can then become part of the editorial review cycle. If you're in the consulting business or have to worry about sanitizing docs before they go out for review this is definitely something you want to check out.
|
|
|
On 1/27/05, Terry Frazier said:
>The originator can combine comment files from multiple reviewers and
>import them back into MSWord to form the basis of revisions.
Did you mean, "import them back into Acrobat"?
Seth
|
|
Seth said:
Did you mean "import them back into Acrobat"?
You can do that, but I meant MSWord. With 7 you can combine all the comments then export the comments list as an XML file that can be pushed back into Word. It's not formatted or anything, but it gets all the keystroking done.
Very few, if any, of my customers are using Reader 7 yet so I haven't had much opportunity to experiment with this. But it's a promising development and one I think will become more useful over time.
|
|
I bet there are some other, interesting things you can do with that XML file, as well, like pump it into a web page for group review - everyone gets to see all the other comments to build consensus. I'll have to think about this.
|
|
|
Terry
There is a way to cost effectively, safely, and efficiently share and review work in progress native office documents. This is enabled by Workshare's product suite. I don't want to make this a commercial, and yes I do work for Workshare in marketing. Just want to point out that there is an alternative to constantly moving from one format to another. Enough said, if you want to learn more, go to www.workshare.com
Ken
ken.rutsky@workshare.com
|
|
|
Total Messages: 5. Pages: 1
|
|
|
Trackbacks
What other weblogs are saying about this topic. Trackback URL: http://www.terryfrazier.com/1567/trackback
|
|
