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Quick PDF wins for accountants - Part 1

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10th Jan 2007
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After a year experimenting with Adobe Acrobat, Simon Hurst offers some suggestions on how you can use PDF files to speed up your document management and work processes.

1. Fill in any form electronically with the Acrobat Typewriter
Found a PDF form on the HMRC website or elsewhere that doesn't allow for online completion? Rather than printing it out and completing it manually, you can use Acrobat's Typewriter tool to type in the required information on screen. In fact, it's even better than that. A single user with access to Adobe Acrobat can enable the Typewriter feature for a PDF form. Once enabled, any user with the free Adobe Reader will also be able to use the Typewriter for that form. Adobe Zone enthused about the Typewriter back in February 2006 and included a practical example for you to try in the privacy of your own office.

2. Add an online Acrobat form to your website in 15 minutes
It's surprising how many websites still include forms that you're expected to download, print out, complete and post. Of course, if you have the appropriate resources on hand, you can create "proper" web-based forms for completion and submission online. However, Adobe Acrobat includes tools that will enable almost anyone to produce a form that can be completed online and submitted by email. The form can be created from scratch or you can easily adapt an existing form. To quickly turn a printable form into an online form, just use the Advanced Editing submenu from the Acrobat Tools menu. The submenu includes a set of tools for adding fields to forms. To create a simple online order form, you might just need to add a few Text Fields for the name and address information, maybe a Check Box or two for the user to choose the appropriate item, you can then add a Button and set the Button action to Submit a form. This can either be used to submit the form to a web address, or you can enter "mailto:" with an email address as the link to allow the user to submit the information on the form by email. For more details, see The 15-minute online form

Whilst the Advanced Editing tools are very useful for a fairly simple, uncomplicated form, Acrobat Professional also includes an entire form design package: Adobe Designer. AccountingWEB's PDF and Adobe Zone includes a comparison of the two form design alternatives.

3. Send documents with confidence
The seemingly simple task of sending someone a file you have created with an office application, or indeed any other program, can actually be fraught with complications. Will the recipient have the right version of the right program to open the file? Will it look as you intended even if they can open it? Might they inadvertently (or otherwise) change part of it? Then of course there are all the security implications - many types of files can harbour viruses, stories are rife of embarrassing incidents involving additional user data being accidentally included in files and, of course, email is not a particularly secure way of transmitting sensitive information. Converting files into PDF can address many of these issues and, in addition, can just make things easier for the recipient. It's much less trouble to open one clearly indexed PDF file than a collection of many separate attachments, maybe produced by several different applications.

Many current programs will have the ability to create reports and documents directly in PDF format. For those that don't, there is a wide range of utilities, including Adobe's own products, that will either add the capability to specific applications, or install a PDF printer utility that enables almost anything that you can print to be captured as a PDF file. Simpler utilities will create basic PDF files, but you may find the additional features of more sophisticated PDF applications are worth the additional investment. For a look at some of the issues, and some lively user discussion on different options, have a look at the Creating a PDF file article.

4. Copy from PDF directly to a spreadsheet
If you have received a PDF file that contains rows of figures, and which has been enabled for copying, then you can extract the figures directly into a spreadsheet. If you are using Acrobat (Standard or Professional editions) then select the relevant rows of text and figures. Right-click on the selection and click on the Open Table in Spreadsheet option. This will convert the selected area into a CSV (comma separated values) file that will be opened in your spreadsheet application.

Even if you just have the free Adobe Reader you may well find that, when copied and pasted into a spreadsheet, the figures will end up in separate cells. A lot depends on how the PDF file was created in the first place - some PDF applications keep closer to the published standard than others.

PDF and Adobe Zone covered this technique in a Hints and Tips article. The Step by Step guide to scanning also showed how to transfer a table of figures from a scanned document into a spreadsheet.

5. Combine documents into a single PDF file – and mark them 'Draft'
When providing financial information, you will often need to distribute documents from different sources. Acrobat Professional makes it very straightforward to combine multiple documents into a single PDF file. Creating a professional-looking document from several different files involves a bit more than just stitching them together in the right order. Acrobat allows you to add headers and footers - such as a page number - to the combined document, and to add watermarks and backgrounds.

In addition, you can make your document a great deal more user-friendly by adding some navigation features. Acrobat will automatically create a bookmark for each of the individual files, but you can also add further bookmarks to provide immediate access to particular sections of your document. It is also possible to rename bookmarks and to adjust their order. When the user opens your combined document they can display the Bookmarks pane which will operate as an index, detailing the contents of the document and allowing them to go directly to whichever section they wish.

Two Step by Step guides are available to show the process of combining files into a single polished document: Part 1 and Part 2.

Related material in PDF and Acrobat Zone
Part 2Quick PDF wins for accountants - Part 2

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