Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers PDF software (see article below), a service for parking and forwarding unused telephone numbers, two online review tools for discovery documents, and a credit card processing service that includes a free iPhone credit card reader. Don't miss the next issue.
Affordable PDF Software: No Longer an Oxymoron
Is it possible to practice law without PDF software? Almost anything's possible, but not always feasible. For example, you could commute to work on foot, but if you live 12 miles from your office that's six hours of walking per day. You'll be in great shape, but will your practice? With documents at the heart of every law firm and PDF the lingua franca of documents in virtually all practice areas, it's not advisable to practice without PDF software. But that doesn't mean you need to pay hundreds of dollars per license.
Workshare PDF Professional … in One Sentence
Workshare PDF Professional is a reasonably-priced yet full-featured program for legal professionals who need to create, annotate, edit, and otherwise work with PDF files.
The Killer Feature
Although the market for PDF software continues to grow, the price of Adobe Acrobat has not dropped. As a result, many law firms don't furnish every employee with Acrobat.
Workshare hopes to solve this access problem with Workshare PDF Professional, which starts at $79 per license and gets cheaper with volume purchases. Workshare PDF Professional provides many of the same tools as Acrobat as well as a few tools that Acrobat lacks at a much lower cost.
"The creation and editing of PDF files has become commonplace for legal professionals exchanging documents," Workshare CEO Scott Smull told us. "We have put together a PDF software solution to deliver increased productivity — with the added benefit of being surprisingly affordable."
Other Notable Features
Workshare PDF Professional enables you to create PDF or PDF/A documents from any application. You can combine PDF files, move pages around within a PDF file, apply Bates stamps, create dynamic forms, and add annotations such as arrows, comments, and highlighting. Workshare PDF Professional enables you to not only edit and touch up PDF files, but convert them into DOC or RTF format for more significant editing and formatting.
You can apply security settings to PDF files as well as redact sensitive material. Workshare PDF Professional supports both passwords and digital certificates for securing documents.
Other features include PDF Portfolios for creating PDF files that include a variety of document and image formats (perfect for deal books), batch processing, bookmarks and automated table of contents creation, customizable headers and footers, document comparison, digital signatures, and barcode and javascript support for advanced forms.
What Else Should You Know?
Workshare PDF Professional runs on Windows XP and later, and integrates with Microsoft Office XP, 2003, 2007, and 2010. As noted above, pricing starts at $79 with volume discounts available. Learn more about Workshare PDF Professional.
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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.
