In order to view a PDF file, you need a PDF reader (theoretically you could use Solid Converter PDF to Word to convert it to DOC and view it, but this is not needed if you just need to view the document and not edit it).
Most customers we work with are using the free Adobe Reader, but we've heard a great deal about some alternate readers out there. The two most commonly mentioned alternatives are Foxit Reader and Sumatra PDF.
Why would you want to use a PDF reader other than Adobe Reader? Unfortunately, Adobe Reader isn't the fastest program on earth and it can take up more memory than you'd like. The alternative programs available try to provide a PDF with a smaller footprint on your computer.
There are workarounds to improve this (If you're curious try googling "speed up Adobe Reader"), but most people just want to install a program and go.
With the introduction out of the way, let's see how the readers compare:
Training tips:
(you can download the PDF at http://www.soliddocuments.com/samples/pdf_cadtips.pdf)
- Viewed in Adobe Reader 8
(click image for full size)
Memory used on our test machine: ~34MB.
- Viewed in Foxit
(click image for full size)
Memory used on our test machine: ~11MB.
- Viewed in Sumatra PDF
(click image for full size)
Memory used on our test machine: ~14MB.
Foxit Reader is almost as good as Adobe in this case, but Sumatra fails to render the tables correctly.
Legal document:
(you can download the PDF at http://www.soliddocuments.com/samples/pdf_dmca.pdf)
- Viewed in Adobe Reader 8
(click image for full size)
Memory used on our test machine: ~42MB.
- Viewed in Foxit
(click image for full size)
Memory used on our test machine: ~10MB.
- Viewed in Sumatra PDF
(click image for full size)
Memory used on our test machine: ~20MB.
In this case neither Sumatra nor Foxit rendered the text correctly.
Product information sheet:
You can download the PDF at http://www.soliddocuments.com/samples/pdf_turbocad.pdf)
- Viewed in Adobe Reader 8
(click image for full size)
Memory used on our test machine: ~54MB.
- Viewed in Foxit
(click image for full size)
Memory used on our test machine: ~21MB.
- Viewed in Sumatra PDF
(click image for full size)
Memory used on our test machine: ~38MB.
The image in this PDF is rendered correctly by Adobe Reader and Foxit, but not by Sumatra PDF.
Clearly Foxit Reader and Sumatra PDF are more lightweight programs than Adobe Reader. Although neither program felt significantly more responsive to us than Adobe Reader did, your mileage may vary. On a computer with 256-512MBs of RAM, either one might be a good alternative if you really need to squeeze out as much performance as possible.
If you have RAM to spare, we'd honestly recommend sticking with Adobe Reader. If you want to ensure that a PDF file looks and prints as it should we don't see an alternative to Adobe Reader at this point.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Comparing Adobe Reader to Foxit Reader and Sumatra PDF
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Optimizing Your Conversion Output Using Solid Converter PDF
When it comes to PDF conversions, one size does not fit all. Converting a 100-page long document that you want to revise extensively is different from converting a two-page form. Solid Converter PDF to Word provides numerous conversion output choices that help you get the results you need.
Why Should You Care?
Let's say you're converting a 20-page document and want to remove many paragraphs and large sections of text. If the text is in text boxes (what is made when using Exact Reconstruction mode), that means that content won't automatically "flow" once you've made your edits. If you want to move the contents of page 19 in your converted Word DOC to page 5, this could take you a very long time.
Reconstruction Modes
- Flowing. Recovers page layout, columns, formatting, and graphics, and preserves text flow. This is the best selection for most documents, particularly for those to which you want to make extensive revisions.
- Continuous. Does not retain the exact layout of the document. the Continuous mode correctly reconstructs the text order but will only recover paragraph formatting, graphics, and text flow.
- Plain Text. Displays text without any formatting or layout (as in a .txt file) . This mode will not recover formatting or graphics but will recover text flow using column and page layout analysis. (Note: You must use the wizard when converting a PDF file to plain text.)
- Exact. Uses Word text boxes to ensure that the text and graphic layout in the Word document is the same as the PDF file. It is most useful for short artistic or brochure-like documents. This is also your best choice if you want to convert a fill-in form and type entries into the form using Word. If you n
Other Options The vast majority of the documents we work with will convert correctly using the above settings. When you really need to be particular about how our software converts a document, you'll want to look at the extra settings below:
- Recover or Remove Images. You can choose how you want your images anchored in the document - automatically, with the page, or with the paragraph. If you wish, images can be removed entirely.
- Detect Tables. Solid Converter PDF can automatically recognize tables and convert them into table objects in the Word document. (Note: this option only works in Flowing or Continuous modes.)
- Select Page Range. Need pages 10-20 from a 100 page PDF converted to DOC? This feature will quickly become your friend.
- Convert Headers and Footers. If the PDF contains headers and footers you can convert them to Word headers and footers, convert them as normal text, or have them removed.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Converting Faxes and Scanned Images to DOC using MODI
Need to extract text from a scanned document? Chances are that doing this is a lot easier than you think, and you may even have the software to do it already. In this post we explore how to use Microsoft® Office Document Imaging (This comes with Office 2003 and 2007).
Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI)
Microsoft Office Document Imaging performs text recognition using optical character recognition (OCR) and comes with Office 2003 and 2007.
What makes a scanned document different from other documents? A scanned document does not contain actual text, but rather a “snapshot” of text much in the same manner as a digital camera takes a photo.
OCR recognizes characters from images of text and converts them into actual text characters. This process makes it possible to edit that text by sending it to Microsoft Word or to find the file later using a keyword search. The results generally are not perfect, but this process can save considerable time and labor over having to re-create an entire document.
(Image created using Solid Capture Screen Capture)
The quality of the text created by created by MODI depends in large part on the quality of the scanned document. If you have a poor quality image to work with, you may get poor results in your DOC file.In many cases it will help to get a better scanner (or purchase better OCR software), but it never hurts to try the tools you already have before spending additional money.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Visualizing Tasks using Solid Capture and Google Image Search
Google offers many different search tools, and one of our favorites is Google Image Search (http://images.google.com). This search tool is designed to find images across the Internet.
This can be useful for visualizing tasks at work. For example, if you are trying to decide what style of desk you want for your new office, you can use Google Image Search to find examples of them. Once you've found some relevant images, you can use Solid Capture Screen Capture software to easily reuse them.
Using Google Image Search more Effectively.
In a nutshell, Google Image Search displays a list of images from the Internet based on what you put into the search engine. Search for "desk" and you'll find all of the images related to the word desk.
This can be useful, but what about when you want to search for images on a particular site? (in our example, ikea.com comes to mind) In your search, add "site:site_you_are_searching.com" and you'll only get images from that one site.
Continuing with our example, the search will look like this:
(click here to see the search in action)
The page that appears will have many small thumbnail versions of the images that Google found. You can click the images to see them in context of the website they're in (and in full size). In many cases you just need the smaller version to get your point across.
Using Solid Capture to Reuse the Images.
Once you're looking at an image that you want to use, open Solid Capture and click the Rectangle Capture button:
Click and drag over the image (or images, or part of an image) that you wish to capture, and the capture will be saved inside Solid Capture.
You can drag these files from Solid Capture into a folder, or copy and paste them into an e-mail (or a Word DOC, or whatever application you're working with that can use images). To complete the example, an e-mail with some of the images we captured might look like this:
Finally, make sure to follow all copyright laws when using Solid Capture (or any other computer program for that matter).
