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JohnM15141 · Mar 21, 2004, 10:01 PM

I want to use the Adobe PDF format to archive my records and documents on CD-Rom. But, "oh my!" Adobe Acrobat Professional costs $450! Ouch! The standard edition cost 300 bucks which is painful too! The upgrade editions are expensive as well, but much more reasonable at $150 and $99 accordingly. Still pricey but "do-able".

I noticed on eBay that Adobe Acrobat 4.0 versions can still be purchased at very reasonable prices. The Upgrade versions will upgrade the 4.0 and 5.0 versions of both the Professional and Standard editions. But I noticed that version 4.0 is for Mac OS 9. I use OS X Panther. Can I install and then upgrade Acrobat 4.0 on my Panther OS Macs? Would purchasing Acrobat 4.0 and upgrading to 6.0 be the best strategy? Or is there a better course(read just as cheap) to getting it to work on my Mac.

Otherwise I'll just use the scanner software that came with my HP and store it on Cd-Roms which are huge "unwieldy" files and just doesn't seem to be the best way.

cpac · Mar 21, 2004, 11:11 PM

why not just use OS X's print function to create .pdf s?

No need to buy acrobat for that (and if your scanner works with Image Capture or any other program you can print from, you don't need acrobat for that either.

JohnM15141 · Mar 21, 2004, 11:18 PM

Originally posted by cpac:
why not just use OS X's print function to create .pdf s?

No need to buy acrobat for that (and if your scanner works with Image Capture or any other program you can print from, you don't need acrobat for that either.

So what you're saying is all I have to do is scan my Doc's into my Mac using my HP Scanner, than print is using the print to PDF function and then I will have an Archive in PDF format. I did not realize it could be that simple? I'll have to go try it out....

cpac · Mar 21, 2004, 11:28 PM

Yep. It's that simple. If you can see them on your mac, you can make them a .pdf via the print to .pdf function that's built in. Unless you mean something besides "convert and save as .pdf" by "archive as .pdf" then you're all set - no need to pay Adobe anything.

veryniceguy2002 · Mar 27, 2004, 12:31 AM

Originally posted by cpac:
why not just use OS X's print function to create .pdf s?

No need to buy acrobat for that (and if your scanner works with Image Capture or any other program you can print from, you don't need acrobat for that either.

No... not neccessary a good idea (especially if it is for archival reasons)

The OS X print function does not produce very good pdf (good enough for occasional use if you send something to someone use for information use). If you want to archive documents and records (especially if there is any formatting or layout etc) than Acrobat would be good. Acrobat does produce searchable text (which can be handy in the years to come, especially it you searching records) and it preserves all font proprties (you can embedded fonts and the same font is displayed when you take it to another computer in a few years time).

One thing that Adobe tends to do well for PostScript (and I would guess same applies to PDF) is that ensure the format you use would not go obsolute in a few yearss time.

I would definitely give the scanner method a miss... why turn your document from deigital format to analog format and then back to digital format? Resultant format is big in filesize, bitmap text (OK, you can OCR it, but not 100% accurate) and more painful exercise than acrobat.

If you don't want to pay leaps of $$$ to get Acrobat, why don't you try create PDF online only $9.99 per month. You can try it out and create first 5 PDF for free.

Developer · Mar 27, 2004, 01:12 AM

Originally posted by veryniceguy2002:
One thing that Adobe tends to do well for PostScript (and I would guess same applies to PDF) is that ensure the format you use would not go obsolute in a few yearss time.

The format is the same regardless whether it was created with Acrobat or Quartz.

cpac · Mar 27, 2004, 03:39 AM

Originally posted by veryniceguy2002:
Acrobat does produce searchable text (which can be handy in the years to come, especially it you searching records) and it preserves all font proprties (you can embedded fonts and the same font is displayed when you take it to another computer in a few years time).

Ummm - the built in print also produces searchable text, and I've never had any problem with missing fonts even when I send a .pdf to a windows box that doesn't have (e.g.) Lucida Grande

Yes, the built-in .pdf maker is not the best on the planet - it could be more compressed, e.g., but that doesn't necessarily make the $450 for Acrobat worth it.

Rest assured that if you create .pdfs with the print function now, you'll be able to open, search, and print them for years to come.

solitere · Mar 27, 2004, 03:54 AM

Originally posted by JohnM15141:
I want to use the Adobe PDF format to archive my records and documents on CD-Rom. But, "oh my!" Adobe Acrobat Professional costs $450! Ouch! The standard edition cost 300 bucks which is painful too! The upgrade editions are expensive as well, but much more reasonable at $150 and $99 accordingly. Still pricey but "do-able".

I noticed on eBay that Adobe Acrobat 4.0 versions can still be purchased at very reasonable prices. The Upgrade versions will upgrade the 4.0 and 5.0 versions of both the Professional and Standard editions. But I noticed that version 4.0 is for Mac OS 9. I use OS X Panther. Can I install and then upgrade Acrobat 4.0 on my Panther OS Macs? Would purchasing Acrobat 4.0 and upgrading to 6.0 be the best strategy? Or is there a better course(read just as cheap) to getting it to work on my Mac.

Otherwise I'll just use the scanner software that came with my HP and store it on Cd-Roms which are huge "unwieldy" files and just doesn't seem to be the best way.

http://www.jawspdf.com/

Check them out! Great price and the JAWS distiller is very compitable!

selowitch · Nov 14, 2004, 01:08 PM

Originally posted by solitere:
http://www.jawspdf.com/

Check them out! Great price and the JAWS distiller is very compatible!

I checked the website. Can you scan directly to PDF with this thing (no second step)?

Cadaver · Nov 15, 2004, 07:22 PM

Correct me if I'm wrong, but unless the scanned image is OCR'd, then the resulting PDF will not be searchable, even with Acrobat 6 Professional.

Mithras · Nov 15, 2004, 09:52 PM

Originally posted by Cadaver:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but unless the scanned image is OCR'd, then the resulting PDF will not be searchable, even with Acrobat 6 Professional.

Right, but Acrobat 6 has an OCR function.
Apple's "print to PDF", Preview, and that JawsPDF thing do not OCR.

veryniceguy2002 · Nov 15, 2004, 10:10 PM

Originally posted by Mithras:
Right, but Acrobat 6 has an OCR function.
Apple's "print to PDF", Preview, and that JawsPDF thing do not OCR.

In Acrobat 6 (I have Professional, not sure if the Standard version has the same feature) the "OCR" feature is called Paper Capture. I have done it once whether I do a screen dump of web page with flash within it, use Photoshop to reduce the size / increase the resolution (Paper capture needs an image of 150 dpi minimum to work), and then Paper capture... and it works!