Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a PDF conversion program (see article below), knowledge management software, a Web browser, an online billing application for corporate legal departments, and a task manager for iPhone. Don't miss the next issue.
King of All Documents
The PDF format reigns as the king of document sharing, but Microsoft Word has a lock on document creation. Because Adobe and Microsoft get along about as well as Oliver and Barbara did in "War of the Roses," don't expect them to work together anytime soon. You need to find another way to bridge these two formats not to mention other document formats you may encounter such as WordPerfect.
PDF Transformer 3.0 … in One Sentence
ABBYY's PDF Transformer 3.0 creates PDF files from Microsoft Office and other applications, and also converts PDF files into Microsoft Office and other document formats.
The Killer Feature
The more things change, the more they stay the same — albeit with a few new twists. ABBYY made its name with its OCR software, which can convert scanned paper documents into editable Word and Excel files with the original layout preserved.
Nowadays, lawyers are just as likely to receive a PDF file as a paper document. Maybe more likely. While you can search PDF files and make small changes, you cannot engage in significant editing.
The new version of PDF Transformer doesn't just convert PDF files into an editable Word or Excel file, but it retains all the formatting as well thanks to ABBYY's Adaptive Document Recognition Technology, which it initially developed for its OCR software. This technology preserves footnotes, tables, fonts, headers, footers, page numbers, and more.
Other Notable Features
PDF Transformer now features batch processing for converting multiple PDF files simultaneously. On the flip side, PDF Transformer also features new tools for managing PDF files. For example, you can combine multiple PDF files into one PDF file, and add PDF files to an existing PDF file.
Litigators will welcome the new redaction, stamping, and Bates stamping tools. As an added bonus, if you convert a PDF file with redactions into Word format, PDF Transformer omits the redacted information from the Word file. Thus, you can create a clean PDF file by redacting, converting to Word, and then converting back to PDF.
Other new features include support for the latest document formats such as DOCX and PDF/A, a customizable interface, improved tools for navigating long PDF files, improved compression for creating smaller PDF files, and support for 184 languages.
What Else Should You Know?
As always, PDF Transformer adds a Create PDF button to Microsoft Office and a Print to PDF function to all other applications. It requires Windows XP, Vista, or Server 2003/2008. It costs $49.99 with volume licenses available. Learn more about PDF Transformer 3.0.
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So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
