Musings on the topic: "Should I Edit this PDF?"

This is discussion from the Acrobat forums, where I helped a user make PDF edits.

I'm editing a PDF. I don't have the original Word document. My client provided me with Word documents that were converted from the PDFs. I'm inserting into the main document. I have be 4 document that I am combining portions into my main document. te Word documents were so messed up that I chose to edit the main PDF. For the most part, things are going well, though much slower than if I were working in Word. I have one big issue, and a couple of smaller one. 

1. When I paste into my main document, some letters are bold, though when I try to unbold them, they don't. Usually, it's a few letters in a paragraph. Other times, it's most of the letters in a paragraph.
2. How to get a hanging indent on a numbered list. Or indenting an entire paragraph?
3. Changing a number or letter in a ordered list?
4. And, when converting to Word, is there a way to stop the text from being put in boxes. Even editing a PDF, everything is broken up into nonsensical boxes.

Thanks. Stephanie

Honestly, editing a PDF in Acrobat is rather unpredictable, to put it gently. Acrobat is great at a lot of things, but precise formatting is not one of those things. I reccomend you recreate the documents from scratch in a proper program, such as Word or InDesign, that will give you control over the formatting. But if you must just continue using Acrobat to edit the PDF, here are some things to try.

1. When getting weird bolding issues, try pasting the text first into a plain text editor. Sometimes, I even paste into the subject line of an email (as it strips out the formatting). Then I copy and paste again into whatever program I needed the text for in the first place.
2. Hanging indent: Make a separate text box for the numbered list. To indent an entire paragraph, use the Edit tool to resize the text box. It's worth noting that Acrobat doesn't treat text editing like a word processing program, where you can set precise measurements for things like indents, margins, tabs, etc., and expect to be able to use them document-wide. Think of editing in Acrobat more like each individual text box is a separate piece piece of paper, cut out and pasted onto the page. Each text box has absolutely nothing to do with the other text boxes.
   
3. To change a bullet or number in an ordered list: sometimes, Acrobat treats the bullet or number as a separate text box. You'll be able to edit the text in the hanging indent, but it won't move with the main body of the text. Again, this is another reason to create the document from scratch in Word or InDesign because Acrobat will never behave the way you want or expect when trying to edit ordered lists.
4. The boxes you're experiencing aren't form the document getting created in Word. That's just the way Acrobat handles text editing. It does it's best shot at figuring out which boxes go together. 
   

My final words of advice are to think of text editing in Acrobat like using white-out on a printed copy. If the change in your text is small enough that it can be done with white-out, then its appropriate to do that change in Acrobat. If the changes will require half the document to be whited-out, then Acrobat is not the place to make those changes. Go back to the original source document. If you don't have the original document, recreate it, or at least recreate just those pages (in your word processing tool of choice) and then replace those pages in the PDF.

Making Sense of the Color Panels in Adobe Acrobat

Since the introduction of Acrobat DC, users have been lamenting the fact that there is seemingly no way to have a shape with "No Fill." I wrote about that extensively here: How to Make a PDF Drawing markup with "No Fill"

The issue stems from Acrobat DC's redesign of the way that users choose colors. This redesign didn't make it's way into the other two places where users can choose colors but was an introduction of the Color Picker tool with a paint bucket icon. At some point is was changed to a large colored dot renamed "Change Color"). No matter what the icon, and what it was named, this tool seemed to oblivious the other two methods of choosing colors.

Color Picker tool: paint bucket icon

 In responding to a post on the Acrobat forums, I did a little digging to the color pane that Acrobat uses to choose colors. By clicking on the sprocket Options icon of the Choose Colors tool, the Properties dialog box opens. In 2018, it looked like this. By click on one of the swatches (either Color or Fill Color), a second dialog box would open. This used to be an Acrobat-specific swatch panel, but at some point was changed to use the OS-specific color picker. This is what it looks like on a Mac.

Sometime between 2018 and September 2019, the Color picker changed. Now it has a "Transparent" checkbox.

I took a look at the Colors panel in a couple of other Apple programs, and that checkbox is not there.

I don't know if Apple gives developers the ability to customize the built-in color panel of the Apple OS. So I don't know who is responsible for adding it. Regardless, this checkbox solves a problem that has been plaguing its users since Acrobat DC was introduced.

It actually allows users to make a drawing markup with no fill. One might think that "No Fill" would be a better term to use here. Or even better, the swatch with a red line through it, as Acrobat used to have, and as still exists in the deprecated Properties panel.

The issue with the word "Transparent"

The issue with the word "Transparent" is that has varying degrees implied to it. Like a slider. The transparent object can be partially transparent, or fully transparent, and anywhere in between. Plus, one can see through transparent objects, but the word implies that a viewer can also see the object itself, in addition to seeing the object behind the transparent object; Like what happens when you look through a window or a water glass.

Not so with the "Transparent" checkbox shown above. It's an all or nothing. This confusion is compounded but the fact that Acrobat annotations also have an opacity setting, which is a slider (as it should be). This opacity slider has nothing to do with the "Transparent" checkbox in the Colors pane. But the average Acrobat user isn't going to know that.

Plus, the nature of transparency is that in order to see if something is transparent, you'd have to also have another object behind it. Again, that's not how it works with the checkbox in Acrobat. 

In the graphic design industry, transparency also implies that there are multiple layers or objects, all stacked on top of each other. And in printing workflows, how one handles transparency can determine the success or failure of a print job. So among designers, transparency is something to be handled delicately.

In order to have a No Fill using the Properties dialog box, Acrobat users are expected to know that:

• Transparent means see-through, even if there is nothing behind the object. 
• Transparency has nothing to do with Opacity.
• They need to stop looking for the industry standard term of "No Fill".
• They cannot click on the red diagonal line in the swatch panel.  Because unless they click the "Transparent" checkbox, that swatch UI doesn't exist.

To make matters even more confusing, Adobe decided in DC to redesign the way users can choose colors. But they only did it in one place, by introducing the Choose Picker which resides in the toolbar. For most users, this is the only place they are aware of. And guess what? There is no "Transparent" checkbox.

The new Color Picker offers additional ambiguity with it's UI in that it actually does show when an object has no fill. "How?" you ask? It's the absence of the checkmark from any of the swatches.

No Fill

If all of this wasn't confusing enough, keep in mind that the old UI of the Properties toolbar was simple and worked without confusion. But most users don't know to look there.

Please vote for this feature on the Acrobat User Voice page: https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/suggestions/38699296-change-name-of-transparent-checkbox-to-no-fill

How to Install a Script to Acrobat's Menu

This post goes along with an Acrobat script: An Easier Way to Mark Comments as Checked in Acrobat DC.

If you would like to purchase this script, visit the Try67 website.

Scripts I've added to the Acrobat Menu Bar

1. Check the following settings in Acrobat - Edit menu (or under the Acrobat menu on a Mac computer)- Preferences, JavaScript:

• Enable Acrobat JavaScript - should be checked
• Enable menu items JavaScript execution privileges - should be checked
• Enable interactive console - should be checked
• Show console on errors and messages - should be checked

How to install the script:

1. Close Acrobat.
2. Copy your javascript to the following folder:

• Windows (32 bit): C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat <VERSION NUMBER>\Acrobat\JavaScripts
• Windows (64 bit):  C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat <VERSION NUMBER>\Acrobat\JavaScripts
• Mac:  /Users/<USERNAME>/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Acrobat/<VERSION>/JavaScripts
• or /Applications/Adobe Acrobat <VERSION>/Adobe Acrobat Pro.app/Contents/Resources/JavaScripts

(To find it go to Applications > Adobe > Adobe Acrobat <VERSION> Pro > then right-click the Adobe Acrobat application itself and select "show package contents", then go to Contents > Resources > JavaScripts

If you find the Resources folder but there's no JavaScripts folder within it, then create it yourself and the place the script there.)

1. Open Acrobat.
2. Open a PDF.

There should be new item/s under the "Tools" menu (under "Add-on Tools"). They will be the names of your scripts. If you have Acrobat DC you might need to search for it in the Tools panel.

Dropbox Commenting is No longer in a Silo!

Previously, I had written a couple of lengthy and frustrated posts about Dropbox commenting, and how it should be avoided at all costs. Because (at the time, it existed in a silo, and once you removed your documents from Dropbox, all your comments would be gone.

Beware of Dropbox Commenting
More Reasons to Hate Dropbox Commenting

Well no more, my friends! We are one step closer to a solution to group collaboration. A client of mine made comments in the dropbox web app, and I was notified. When I took a look at the comments, I was shocked to see that they also appear now in Acrobat!

Dropbox Comment Notification

Acrobat Comments Pane

File Names are automatically appended with "See Comments"

• I tried adding a comment in Acrobat to see if the comment would then show up in the web interface of Dropbox. Sadly, it doesn't. 

• I also don't view a web interface as an acceptable solution for commenting on long documents, since there is so much scrolling involved. And the tools are limited to boxes and sticky notes (no text annotation).

But at least now I don't have to warn my clients to NEVER use dropbox commenting. 

After More Than a Decade, a New Comment Icon in Acrobat!

Many Acrobat users don't know that there is more than one type of sticky note icon in Acrobat. I wrote about those here: The Case for Still Using the Deprecated Features in Acrobat, Part 1: The Properties Toolbar

Acrobat list of Icon types

It seems to be that the icons are at least somewhat standardized across PDF viewers. Bluebeam Revu has the same icons (minus "Insert Text").

Bluebeam Revu list of Icon types

I noticed that Acrobat recently added a new icon! The reason for it has to do with the latest (and hugely unpopular) changes to the Acrobat commenting tools. But at least now one of the issues is sort of addresses. It's been very difficult to see which comments are selected in the desktop version of the program, as I demonstrated in this feature request: Comments and Annotations need marching ants

Adobe has heard our requests, and although they didn't implement the solution as I would have, they at least made it easier to see the various comments now. When you mouse over one of them, it gets enlarged. Sadly, it only works with the speech bubble type comment. So if you use any of the other 16 icons, this feature doesn't work. At least it works, with different colors so we're not limited to yellow.

This new icon is called "Selected Comment." It should really be named "Hovered Over", since it works when a comment is hover over, not when it's selected.

Hover over the speech bubble icon and it will enlarge

New Acrobat list of Icon Types

Icon Confusion

Adobe seems to really be steering its user towards the "speech bubble" icon and away from all other comment icons. They failed to incorporate the different icons into the tools panel at all. One has to know about the deprecated "Properties Toolbar" to utilize the different icons. But the new releases of Acrobat ignore the various icons.

Here are the commenting tool options in Acrobat DC web.

Only a Few commenting tools were included in the web version of Acrobat DC

To make things more confusing, while the "comment" icon at the top is a rectangular speech bubble, all the comments within the body of the document are displayed as round speech bubbles.

All the icons are displayed as speech bubbles

Unless of course, you view it in Acrobat desktop version. Then the icon types get changed to the Reviewer's Adobe avatar (which is ridiculously hard to change, by the way). And I have no idea why the comment icon is red.

Look, my Document Geek logo has replaced the icon type! WTH?

Also, when I click on the comment, there are no no properties associated with it. At. All. ???

Look ma! No properties!

If a reviewer hasn't given themselves an Adobe avatar, they get a generic one. So that means that instead of useful icons, all of my documents will now have the same generic gray avatar in every single comment.

Generic Head Avatar

Commenting Tool Differences

The list of commenting tools available is robust in the desktop version. The way it should be!

Acrobat DC Desktop Version commenting tools

The toolset is very limited in the web version. And the icons are different

Acrobat DC for web commenting tools

If you open a document review from the web, into Acrobat, the toolset is now limited to those tools available in the web version of Acrobat. But the icons are slightly different.

Acrobat DC tools: desktop version, but Document opened from a shared review

Stick with one type of Review

In my opinion, it's best to stick with one type of review method. If you use the desktop version and some sort of cloud sharing method (like dropbox), stick with it. You'll have the full range of tools available to you. But if all you want to do is add a few sticky notes (as was done in the Adobe demo files for the Acrobat DC for web videos), then by all means, use the Shared Review and comment in your documents in your web browser of choice.

Commenting Panes: a Comparison Between Acrobat DC and Bluebeam Revu

I've been an Acrobat user for nearly 20 years. I also daily monitor the Adobe Acrobat forums and answer questions from other Acrobat users. I've even recorded a LinkedInLearning course on Acrobat. I've pushed Acrobat as far as I can take it for my PDF commenting needs. I still use Acrobat daily for other functions, but for nearly all my PDF commenting, I now use Bluebeam Revu.

Bluebeam Revu was designed by engineers, for reviewing engineering drawings. And since much of my work involves doing just that, I've found that Bluebeam Revu meets my needs like no other PDF editing software. Today, I'd like to show in detail one of the reasons I like it so much.

I have an 11x17 mechanical arrangement which I've color coded by system. At first, the two programs don't look that much different.

Comments Sorted By Color: Acrobat DC

Comments Sorted By Color: Bluebeam Revu

While both sets of comments are listed in collapsable groups, the comments in Revu also display important categories in columns, much like a spreadsheet.

Here they are expanded. Notice how the color and a checkbox are both displayed in each and every comment. Because the comments pane is totally customizable, I've chosen to hide the irrelevant information, such as author name and date.

Expanded Comments: Bluebeam Revu

Now take a look at the same set of comments in Acrobat DC. Notice how prominent the author name and date are in the Acrobat comments pane. The icons are also huge, and gray (and unpopular). And the checkboxes are not there. (If you want to mark something as checked, you first have to click on the comment to have the checkbox display, then you have to click on the checkbox. Each. And. Every. Time.

Expanded Comments: Acrobat DC

Now let's take a look at how the comments display when additional information is added. I've chosen to display the author name, page, and comments. Again, all the content is displayed in a handy grid, making it very simple to scroll through the list and look for the information I need. Easy!

Expanded comment detail: Bluebeam Revu

Here is the same information displayed in Acrobat. Since the Comments pane is not customizable, it still displays information which is irrelevant to me for this document: the date and the author name. And the text in the comment pop-ups are not displayed in a grid view, but rather, tucked underneath the author name, making it harder to find them. And since the icons are gray (And not the comment color), it's easy to scroll down an no longer be able to see which color the comment actually is.

Expanded comment detail: Acrobat DC

According to Adobe, you can resize the Comments pane, but it's basically useless, since the information isn't listed in a grid view. So much wasted space!

Acrobat DC Comments Pane Resized

 Here is the comment pane in Revu, resized, with lots if useful information displayed. Great stuff! You can customize not only which columns to display, but their order and width.

Customized Comment Pane: Revu

Here are the same comments viewed in Acrobat. Making the panel wider serves no benefit. The panel cannot be customized, and important information is left out. It does not display the subject, the status names, or who set the status.

Comments Pane: Acrobat DC

One must hover over each status icon (which is the green thumbs up, green checkmark, red X, and yellow thumbs down. Only when you hover over each status icon does it say what the status is and who set the status.

Comments Pane: Acrobat DC, hovering over a Status icon

If that wasn't confusing enough, the "Completed By" status icon is a green checkmark, not to be confused with the regular checkmark (the blue one on the right).

Acrobat DC: Two checkmarks are confusing

Another noteworthy difference between the comments panes of Revu and Acrobat is how easier it is to see the selected comment in a list. In Acrobat, when you click on a comment, it expands, and takes up even more space, assuming that you want to type something in the comment box. The third comment down is selected, and the fourth one down is simply hovered over.

Acrobat DC: One selected comment, one hovered over

In Revu, it's WAY easier to see which comment is selected (because it's blue, the way it used to be in earlier versions of Acrobat). There is no change in comment appearance when it's hovered over.

Bluebeam Revu: One selected comment

It's worthwhile to note that Acrobat 9 has a very similar layout to Bluebeam Revu. Each comment icon is colored, and the information is somewhat listed in a grid.

• The status is written out, as opposed to being an icon
• The Subject is listed (in this case, "Electrical").
• Each comment has a checkbox.
• The author name and date are still displayed, and that can't be changed.
• The selected comment has a thick black border, making it easy to see which comment is selected.
• Acrobat 9 also has a handy commenting pane which displays all kinds of useful functions. 

While I prefer the layout of Acrobat 9 Comments pane when compared to later versions of Acrobat, it's still not as useful or user friendly as that of Revu.

Acrobat 9 Comments Pane with Handy Commenting Toolbar

PDF comments in Revu can be exported as three different formats:

Export Comments As: Revu

PDF Comments in Acrobat can be exported as FDF or XFDF files, but not as CSV, or PDF Files.

Export Comments As: Acrobat

It's clear that the difference between Bluebeam Revu and Acrobat is HUGE! Plus, Revu has the added benefit of sold as box software, meaning that there are no monthly subscriptions fees to pay. Pay once, use forever.

If you like'd to learn more about Bluebeam Revu check out these articles:

• Introducing my Favorite Features of Bluebeam Revu PDF Editing and Markup Software
• Things I Love About Bluebeam Revu: Part 2 
• How to Email a PDF using Bluebeam Revu
• How to Make a Multiple Color Highlighting Palette in Bluebeam Revu

Dropbox now Integrates with Online PDF Editing Software

Awhile back, I posted my thoughts about Dropbox commenting in a lengthy 2-part series.
 Part 1: Beware of Dropbox Commenting
Part 2: More Reasons to Hate Dropbox Commenting

I stated:

"I think that in addition to the big blue Share and Download buttons in the top right, Dropbox should have a button labeled 'Open in Acrobat." 

Well, I still don't use Dropbox commenting features, but it appears that Dropbox is raising their game! Here's what I came across today: a big "Open with" button.

It appears that Dropbox is working with PDF editors to allow for online editing of PDFs stored in Dropbox. But guess who's missing from this list? That's right! Acrobat!

That's not surprising, seeing how Adobe Document Cloud is a direct competitor with Dropbox for online storage, editing, and commenting of PDF files. It's interesting to note that Adobe Sign is in the list, however. Stay tuned to see what develops next!

If Dropbox users didn't know about Acrobat's competitors, they sure will now, since they are in a beautiful dropdown list right inside what's probably the world's most popular file sharing service.

Will Dropbox allow for their comments to be embedded? Will Adobe allow for their technology to be integrated into the Dropbox ecosystem? Who knows...? 

How to Get the Old Version of Acrobat back

Earlier this week, my Acrobat updated it self without any intervention on my part. What the heck?! If you are like me and are disappointed with the user interface changes, there is a way to get the 2018 version of Acrobat back.

Why should we be limited to just one version of Acrobat? Keep them all!

1. Uninstall CC2019
I tried uninstalling through the Creative Cloud app and it didn't work, so I had to navigate to Acrobat CC in my applications folder and uninstall it there (double click on "Acrobat Uninstaller.")

2. Download CC 2018
I didn't see the 2018 download link on the Adobe website, but I was able to find it here:
https://prodesigntools.com/acrobat-dc-2017-2018-direct-download-links.html

3. Install Acrobat CC 2018.

4. Move CC2018 to the desktop and rename the folder (only if you want to also install CC 2019)
This is important because if the 2018 version is still in your app folder, it may just update to 2019 and you'd have to start this process over again.

5. Download and install CC 2019 (if you feel so inclined). Rename it's folder.
https://cloud.acrobat.com/acrobat
The latest two version of my Acrobat installations were a little buggy after this process. I don't know if that's because I was running both 2018 and 2019, or if they are just buggy. Acrobat does crash pretty regularly for me (even prior to this update), and I've read complaints from other users that 2019 crashes frequently, so I suspect the program is just buggy. Just be forewarned.

6. Turn off automatic updates for Pete's sake!
If you don't want automatic updates, be sure to turn off automatic updates in Acrobat Preferences > Updater.

Turn o
ff automatic updates if you don't want Acrobat updating on its own!

If you are using Adobe Reader, there is no option in the UI to turn off automatic updates; which means that you are stuck with the new version. Sorry!

For little bit of insight as to why people might want to revert to the earlier version, visit this thread in the Adobe forums: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2541730

You can also visit the Acrobat User Voice forum here and share your thoughts with Adobe.

Please check this page containing the known issues of Acrobat and Reader.