Last week I wrote about How to upload a PDF file to Facebook. Because both Facebook and Twitter don’t allow you to directly upload PDF files, instead you need to upload the PDF to a free cloud service like Acrobat.com and then link to the file. However, when posting a link or URL, you may also want to include an image from your PDF file to make the post more visual. You can use Acrobat (not the free Reader) to create an image of any page within your PDF file that you can upload to Facebook or Twitter.
How to upload a PDF file to Facebook
Quite often I see questions about how to upload or share PDF files on Facebook. At this time, Facebook doesn’t support direct uploading of PDF files, but they do support linking to existing content. So, using this technique you can share all your PDF content – from annual reports to forms.
Creating a PDF from within or outside of Acrobat
Acrobat provides so many ways to create PDF files. You can use the PDFMaker Add-on in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint or you can simply open files (like .tiff, .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx) from the Open dialog in Acrobat. The Adobe PDF printer may also be used to create a PDF file from any application that can print. On Windows, you have the option to select a file, right-click, and choose Convert to Adobe PDF from the context-sensitive menu or simply drag any supported file format right into the Acrobat pane. With all these different ways to create PDF files, you should be aware that Acrobat makes a distinction between the creation settings you use inside applications like Word and Excel and the creation settings when you open a file from within Acrobat.
Stitching together custom dynamic stamp content
Numerous questions come up about dynamic stamps on AcrobatUsers.com – everything from what they are to how to build your own. Unfortunately there is precious little information on the subject, and what there is needs stitching together. So, I’ll take a moment to pull the pieces together by first discussing what a dynamic stamp is, how to create your own or modify an existing one, then finally how to prompt the user for information to display inside a custom dynamic stamp.
How to center an image in a PDF
This post was recently made on AcrobatUsers.com.
I am using Adobe Acrobat XI, and need to center a picture horizontally on a page. How can I do this?
At first I thought, this can’t be too hard, especially with the new editing tools in Acrobat XI. Then, after I tried it, I realized that although it isn’t hard, it’s not intuitive either because Acrobat doesn’t have the bells and whistles of other layout tools like InDesign.
Converting an Excel file with multiple worksheets to individual PDF files
When I came across this post on AcrobatUsers.com the other day, I thought this would be a straightforward task.
I have an Excel workbook (excel 2007) with multiple worksheets and want to convert each worksheet to a separate pdf file.
In the end it wasn’t exactly straightforward, but there is a convenient workaround.
Export PDF to Word tips
A while back this question came up on AcrobatUsers.com.
Users in our office using Adobe Acrobat X are converting a PDF to Word and getting paragraphs in text boxes instead of regular Word, free-flowing paragraphs. I have the same product they do, and when I convert to Word, I don’t get the text boxes. We are all using the File | Save As | Microsoft Word | Word Document method to convert. Are there any other settings that might explain why the behavior is different on my copy of Acrobat as opposed to others in my office?
In Acrobat XI, there is a little known button in the File > Save As Other > Microsoft Word (or File > Save As > Microsoft Word in Acrobat X) dialog in labelled Settings.
How to make a link or button to open PDF attachments
How do I create a link within the document, to a file attachment saved in the ‘attachments’ of the PDF?
This is another question that comes up with some regularity on AcrobatUsers.com and it doesn’t require any special scripting – as long as the attachments are PDF files. But first, let’s take a step back and look at why you might want to do this.
Typing in online homework and quizzes
This comment came up recently on one of the editing tutorials on AcrobatUsers.com.
I am new to Adobe Acrobat XI Pro for Students and Teachers and am attending a medical transcription course online. I downloaded my lessons to Acrobat, but when I convert them to Word for typing out my written answers and quizzes, the format is all messed up. How do I get them to stay in the same format as the class requirements.
My first reaction was to point out that there is a setting in the Word export from Acrobat that can correct this. Then, I thought, why are they going through the hassle of converting to Word when you can add the text in both Acrobat and Adobe Reader XI? Then I realized that these particular PDF files must not have any form fields on them, so it isn’t obvious at all how to add text to them. In fact, the handy little tools for adding text to PDF files aren’t even located in the Tools pane.
Commenting on a secured PDF file
This comment came up recently on AcrobatUsers.com.
I am a scientist who uses (or would like to) PDFs of journal papers. The problem is that some journals lock their PDFs so folks can not copy or change them (fair enough). The problem with locked PDFs is that you can not highlight important sections or add notes. For those of us without a photographic memory of everything we have read – these are really great tools.
My question then, is Adode considering developing a security level that would lock a PDF for copying/changing, but would allow for highlighting and note taking?
The good news is that it’s easy to allow recipients of your document to comment, but not copy or change a PDF document in Acrobat (not the free Reader). The bad news is that the original creator of the file needs to set this because you cannot change the security, unless you’re given the password of course.
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