pctoolbox.co.uk

Nearly everyone that opens a PDF file will use Adobe’s Acrobat Reader.  But have you ever wondered if there are any good alternatives to the widely used program?  Here at PCToolbox we think we’ve found the ideal alternative in the Free Foxit PDF Reader (Download here).

The program involves a short and easy download/installation process.  Once installed you can then get cracking.

Foxit’s has the usual features that Acrobat has…but of course the designers have put their own mark on the software by introducing new features.  The actual interface (see right) of the program is simplistic with icons available to make the reader easy to use. You of course also have the option to use features through the usual menu/right-click routes.

A great feature is the annotation tool.  This enables the reader to add comments and annotations to the pdf as they go along.  It allows you to draw graphics, highlight text, type text and make notes.  You can then either save the annotations or print a copy of with the comments included.

When you open the reader there is also a welcome screen (see right).  This makes usage extremely easy.

One of my favourite features is the ability to use tabs (see below).  I don’t know about you but if I’m using a PDF I don’t usually have just one open, I normally have several.  Foxit have taken the idea of Tabs from the typical Internet Browser and applied it to PDF. So you can have several PDF’s open but in just one window!  This means it’s considerably easier to move between files so the experience you have when using the software is much more pleasant.

Finally there’s the text converter.  This ingeniously enables you to convert an entire PDF file into a simple text document.  I think you’ll agree with me when I say that this feature can could definitely be a time saver!

I am tremendously impressed by Foxit and I really do think if people give it a try they’ll make it their first choice PDF Reader!

Acrobat.com is a brand spanking new site with some breakthrough and exciting features!  Acrobat.com is from Adobe and it provides a variety of online services such as; Word Processing, PDF Converting, File Sharing, Instant Messaging, Online Conferencing, File Managing and much more!  The five main features that Acrobat.com provides are:

• Buzzword
• Share
• ConnectNow
• Create PDF
• My Files

To use the website’s services you need to Create an Acrobat Account which is completely free!  To do this just go to the Acrobat Website then select the services you would like to use then click ‘Begin’ and then select ‘Sign Up’.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ok, so not everyone has Microsoft Office 2007 yet, but it is rapidly becoming a popular Office Suite. So the Quick Tip this week is for those who have taken the plunge! Office 2007 will allow you to save documents as a PDF file, so rather than spending out on a PDF writer or even rather than using a freebie you can use an in-built function.

Not sure why, but Microsoft in their infinite wisdom haven’t included it as standard so you need to download it from the Microsoft Site for free. Then run the download and you’re away! Quick and Easy

With the release of the great new Microsoft Office 2007 package we thought that we would let you know of some of the cool new features!

Why the extra ‘x’?

For years documents on Office programs have been saved as in the same format e.g. Word’s format used to be .doc and Excel’s format used to be .xls. However, Microsoft have decided that now is the time for big change! All Office 2007 documents will be saved with an ‘x’ on the end, for example, Word is now .docx and Excel is not .xlsx. Why the extra ‘x’ I hear you say? Well basically the ‘x’ stands for a technology called XML which now helps run all office documents. The main differences between the two are that having the ‘xml’ technology makes the document smaller so that your software can handle with them faster, and also all of the Office 2007 software will ‘speak’ to each other so the software is more efficient. The documents are also more robust so are therefore less susceptible to becoming corrupted etc.

PDF and XPS

In the past if you emailed a document to somebody and they didn’t have the same version of Microsoft Office as you they wouldn’t be able to open the document without a compatibility software from a third-party company, which could potentially have cost hundreds of pounds! However, now Microsoft Office 2007 have provided a free download so that you can save your documents in .pdf format without having to use any thrid-party software. PDF is a format developed by Adobe, they offer a free reader to open files. PDF is ‘Portable Document Format’, this means that it can be opened on many types of computers or operating systems, e.g. different versions of Windows and Apple Mac’s. XPS stands for ‘XML Paper Specification’, and it is very similar to .pdf however it isn’t used quite as much over the world as it hasn’t been as round for as long. To download the software which allows you to save your documents in Office 2007 as ‘.pdf and .xps’ click here.

Blogging from Word

Word 2003 could produce simple codes for websites but not as detailed as you would expect from a specialised web layout tool. If you were to cut and paste the text from Word to your blogging tool you would have to ensure that the text format had been converted, as if it hadn’t been converted the post would be messed up! Therefore it was very stressful and not always worthwhile. However, now Microsoft Office Word 2007 has been given a dedicated blogging mode. Which can hook directly to a number of popular blogging tools, such as; WordPress, Blogger and MSN Spaces. Therefore it is even simpler to get yourself on the Internet! A huge majority of Blogs talk with both Microsoft Word 07 and Microsoft OneNote 07.

Fluent Ribbon

On Office 2003 it was often hard or long winded to find the feature you wanted as they seemed almost hidden within the ridiculous amounts of menus. Therefore we just assumed they weren’t there, when they most likely were, just in a less obvious place. However, the Office 2007 system has a new fluent interface! It is used for most of the applications in the suite and splits up the commands on offer to an easy to used structure and obvious grouping. Its a great time saver and your guaranteed to find some features that you ever knew existed!

For more on the new Microsoft Office Suite keep an eye out over the coming weeks