What are the most frequent times you deal with PDF documents? Do you read them as a matter of course or do you duplicate text fragments and occasionally make corrections to the data contained in them? These are just some concerns we asked this summer to over 500 employees in large and medium-sized businesses. The survey revealed lots of fascinating facts about PDF format and the way it is employed in modern offices.
About PDF
PDF, also known as Portable Document Format PDF, also known as Portable Document Format, is an open format for files that allows the exchange of electronic documents. Forms, documents, images and web pages that are that are stored in PDF format can be properly display on every device including tablets and smartphones. If you share your reports in PDF format, you can ensure that all your coworkers can read and open it on their computers, Macs or Android smartphones.
PDF/A is a variant of PDF designed to facilitate long-term preservation of digital files. It does not include certain PDF features that are not compatible with long-term archive to ensure that when the user opens the document in a few years in the future it will look identical to the way it did when it was originally archived.
These characteristics make PDF among the most efficient formats to use.
PDF is underrated, or does it?
No.
PDF proved greater in popularity than we imagined, with one out of two respondents saying they frequently required to alter PDF files. The simple act of viewing PDFs was not enough. Here are five of the most frequently encountered scenarios uncovered by the survey:
- Use a PDF document search engine to find details
- Copy information from a PDF document
- Edit pages of the PDF document, e.g. remove, add or change the layout of pages
- Make minor modifications on the content of the PDF file, e.g. fix typos or mistakes
- Combine multiple files from different formats into one PDF document
more than 50 percent of those polled said they frequently had to carry out at minimum at least one of five tasks mentioned above. Certain of them can be effectively addressed with simple PDF viewing software which can be downloaded at no cost. With a PDF viewer that is free it is possible to open a PDF document, search for an exact text string and then, in some cases, transfer the content to the clipboard. The other threeoptions, however need more robust software.
Free software won’t be able to cope.
If you notice a mistake in a crucial report. What can you do to correct the mistake in PDF? Do not worry, most of the PDF tools like Soda PDF available today permit minor adjustments on the document’s text. Some of them will allow users to join multiple documents (say two Word documents as well as the Excel table) into one PDF , or alter the order of the pages. The more powerful a program is, the more likely it is likely to come with a free-of-cost license.
But, basic PDF viewing software cannot deal with PDF files generated by the scanner. Imagine that you request your friend to send you a document in PDF format, however, she has only the paper original in her be able to hand. She scans the paper to PDF, and then forwards the report to you. Then, using a normal PDF viewer, you are able to browse and read the report however you won’t be able copy any of the text. There’s no one else in this situation and 81 percent of office employees complain of the same issue.
The problem with these scannable pdfs is that they don’t have the text layer. They’re just images of pages printed on paper like they were shot using an electronic camera. Could the issue be resolved? Absolutely. All you require is a higher-end software program that is able to “read” the text in the image and convert to editable, alphanumeric character. Free PDF viewing software aren’t able to do this.
What do we feel about paper?
This is an important issue for us, too. Humans desire to conserve the Earth’s forests. As an organization, we assist businesses switch into digital records. We asked our customers to share with us what they noticed about modifications in the volume of paper documents they faced over the last two years.
It was discovered that, despite the increasing digitization of documents, the amount of paper documents has also increased. This was confirmed in 60% of the respondents this clearly indicates that we aren’t completed yet.
Conclusion
One thing is clear. PDF is now a key document format for offices and demands software that is simple to use as well as advanced enough to manage all types of documents, including scans (remember the increasing number of documents made of paper? ).
