Home Forums Discussions Problems pdf viewers

I had to run a system restore on my computer last night because some update screwed up my internet connectivity. I think I now have everything working except suddenly acrobat reader 8 doesn't work and I can't simply uninstall it (the adobe site has a lengthy procedure that may work or may "damage other programs on the computer"). I was thinking I might just download a different viewer and chnge my preferences to use it instead of adobe for PDF's. Anyone using anything besides Adobe for PDF's?

Even though I haven't used it, you might want to try Cutepdf. You can make pdf files with it too.

Here's a novice's quesstion for the gang:
I always thought (until recently) that PDF's were an "Adobe" specific format, much like Word docs are their vendor's (MS) specific format. Were they and now something has changed? Did they always leave them unprotected so that their format would have wide acceptance?

It seems that their are now many different PDF programs that create, view, and manipulate PDF's. So what's the deal with them? I like many people received a free copy of Adobe Reader with the machines here in our office. Will installing these other more complete programs mess with our Adobe programs? Same Idea, Jon and AC have installed some amount of Adobe in the AC file, I gather for reading PDF's in the imports and the like. If we activate one of these other programs would AC then use it to view and work with PDF's or again might this jam up the works? Can anyone enlighten us on this?

PDF is a "generic" format now. You can use Paperport to convert scanned TIFF files into PDF, then view (and markup) your PDF documents, but occasionally I find that it gets stuck after I markup about 3 pages. The $199 program sells for about $60 on ebay (shipping included- http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&dfsp=32&catref=C6&from=R10&_trksid=m37&satitle=paperport+11&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=ZIP%2FPostal&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=32%26fsoo%3D2). Overall, for the price it's a good archiving tool based on the PDF format.

I now use a cheap program called "MyPDF" that is made by VCom. You can place it on as many computers as you want and is sold for $24 for now (sale price if you use the codename "EASYPDF"). The URL is http://vcom.avanquest.com/cat/prod.php?pid=2478&tr1=VC_US_EM_MPD_0208RE_24. I kind of like it also because it can switch from Word to PDF and back, keeping all the formatting intact. It is not a PDF viewer, though... but you can look at your documents via Word if you wish.

I think that CutePDF didn't retain the formatting last time that I used it. I was using PDFCreatorPlus, but their "1 license" is for one computer only and it costs $40. It does work well in Word to PDF conversions, but it has no viewer.

Did you have just the Adobe viewer or the whole version 8 Adobe program?

Yes, they are an Adobe-specific format, and Adobe has the patent on it. I believe these companies license it, then give away a free version of their software hoping you will upgrade to the "Pro" (or whatever) version of their software.

The other questions are a little bit too technical for me these days.

I had Adobe reader 8, kind of slow to start up. Was reading about Foxit pdf viewer, but I had never heard of them before today.....but their ads sound good! I have an e-mail out to tech support about using other PDF viewers too.

Tech support said it didn't matter what PDF reader I used, but I lucked out and found a disk for adobe acrobat that came with another computer and was able to install it today. So far so good.

I bought the full version of Adobe Acrobat 8.0 Standard Ed.
Yes, it's a bit pricy but not prohibitively so. Whereas I markup alot of my incoming faxes, I find this tool invaluable.
The sign-off feature is good also. It allows me to answer faxes by typing right on the sender's fax, sign-off, then e-fax it directly back at the sender.

Standard comes w/ 2 licenses, and since I've got 4 computers that I need it for, I bought two copies of Standard.