Doing Somersaults for Adobe Acrobat LEGALTECH
by John J. Cord Adobe Acrobat is as familiar to most of
us as a favorite restaurant. The danger of favorite restaurants, however, is that pa- trons may order the same meal over and over instead of venturing into new menu options. And Adobe regularly updates its menu, listening to all of its users (includ-
ing lawyers), and addressing their specific needs. If you have not examined these new offerings, you are missing out on the best Adobe has to offer.
Adobe Basics There are four basic types of Adobe Acrobat: Reader, Stan-
dard, Pro (formerly known as Professional), and Pro Extended. The most recent version of these products is 9 (i.e., Acrobat 9 Standard, Acrobat 9 Pro, etc.). Reader is downloadable from the Adobe website for free,1
any document created by any other type of Acrobat. Standard ($299 per license2
and allows users download and manage ) allows users to create and distribute PDF
files and forms, and to mark up documents with comments, albeit to a limited degree. Pro ($449 per license) is the typical choice for the legal profession, and version 9 features redaction, metadata options, enhanced ability to convert other documents into PDF, additional collaboration tools, and the ability to com- pare PDF documents. Pro Extended ($699 per license) features more multimedia capabilities, including Adobe Presenter, which incorporates audio and video into a PowerPoint presentation and saves the whole package as a PDF capable of being viewed by anyone with Adobe Reader.
Common Features Available in Acrobat Though the availability of these features (and the specific steps
to use them) may depend on the type and version of Acrobat you possess (all are available with Pro), lawyers and their staff should be familiar with these fundamental Acrobat applications:
1) Add/Remove Pages Users can add or remove pages to their PDF files. This is especially useful after downloading documents from the Electronic Court Filing (ECF) system in federal court— frequently users start with separate documents, for instance a motion, memorandum, exhibits and proposed order. With Acrobat, it is a cinch to combine them all into one document. a) From the ‘File’ drop-down menu, select ‘Create PDF’ and select ‘From Multiple Files’
1 2
http://get.adobe.com/reader/.
Upgrades from prior versions for all Acrobat products are less expensive.
60 Trial Reporter
b) Click ‘Browse’ and search for the files you wish to combine (if they are all in the same folder, hold the control button at the same time you click on the files) and click ‘Add’
c) Arrange the order of the files by clicking on them and clicking ‘Move up’ or ‘Move down’
d) Click ‘OK’ and name the new file Alternatively, with multiple PDFs open at the same
time, you can click on the side tab ‘Pages’ and move any individual page within a PDF or to another PDF by click- ing and dragging it to its new position. Similarly, you can delete individual pages by clicking on them in the Pages area and striking the Delete key.
2) Optical Character Recognition (OCR) This is one of the best and most useful features of Acrobat. Optical character recognition gives users the ability to search a PDF document, even one saved to your computer by way of a scanner. Of course, it cannot read all text, but typewritten text is typically recognizable. It is a terrific way to quickly locate specific information in medical records and pleadings, especially while at trial or deposition. a) From the ‘Document’ drop-down menu, select ‘Rec- ognize Text Using OCR’
b) Click ‘Start,’ ‘All Pages,’ and ‘OK’ c) Be sure to save the PDF (using the toolbar, or clicking ‘Cntrl-S’)
d) Search the document using ‘Cntrl-F’ or ‘Cntrl-Shift- F’
3) Convert to PDF Most Microsoft documents (for instance, Word, Excel) and non-Microsoft documents (WordPerfect, TIF, web- pages) can be easily converted to PDF without the use of a scanner. Furthermore, directly converting a document from another application frequently obviates the need for OCR, as these documents can automatically convert to recognizable text. a) From the ‘File’ drop-down menu, select ‘Print” b) Select the printer called ‘Adobe PDF’ c) Click ‘OK’ and name the file
4) Copy and Paste Material within a PDF file is typically copied in two ways: a) Copying OCR’d text: i) In the PDF document, click on the ‘Select Tool’ from the toolbar (or, click the ‘Tools’ drop-down menu, click ‘Basic’ and click ‘Select’)
ii) Click and drag the cursor over any text; click ‘Cntrl- C’ to copy
Winter 2009
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