Commentary: Adobe Acrobat - More than just a form reader

The deleted text displays with a red-lined cross-out. The client replaces text by crossing out the offending words and typing the desired text. Trust me - we're talking simple!

There is on-screen help in the right-hand pane of Adobe Reader as the process moves forward. There is also a note tool that allows the reviewer to insert sticky notes into any part of the document. Again, a mouse click and clear menus make this a simple process. Because I'm trying for simplicity, I'm only going to say there's far more that can be done with the document than simple edits.

When the reviewer is finished with all the desired adjustments to the document, a click on Send Comments in the toolbar moves the edited document to the reviewer's e-mail outbox.

Once sent, the original author gets an e-mail with the edits. Open the document and you'll see the cross-outs, edits, notes and comments much as you would in a traditional red-line version. However, no one has messed with the underlying text.

You may merge the edits from several reviewers into one Adobe PDF document and then decide what to keep and what to discard. The upper portion of the screen displays the document. The lower portion of the screen presents a window listing all changes, comments and edits.

Tracking Changes

This is wonderful for tracking what happens along the path to completion. The program can sort the edits by status (whether accepted or rejected), author, date and more. The user chooses what is agreeable and checks a box to accept.

In the alternative, further edits may be performed. Rejected items still remain displayed so you may keep track of points where disagreements about document content may need further attention.

Now, we've all gone crazy with red-lined documents in Word and Word Perfect trying to figure out what text is in and what is out. With Adobe Acrobat there's a significantly better way to show the changes.

Under the Comments menu selection, there is a choice for Summarize Comments. Select this tool to create a document that reduces each page to two columns. All the text shows on the left side and all of the edits on the right side, with lines drawn between the actual text and the edits in connect-the-dots style. The visual metaphor makes following the changes easy. Truly slick!

When finished with all of the comments and edits, simply select Comments from the top level menu and then Export Comments. A selection appears for Microsoft Word. A list of choices appears with several options, including the ability to bring all changes, specific changes, or approved changes, into the Word document.

Word opens, and all the changes appear in red-line format. Using the Acrobat Comments menu in Word, you select the comments to be integrated into the Word document.

I realize this sounds like a lot of steps. However, the process is menu-driven for the most part and is really not difficult to learn once you have been through the routine a few times.

One of the benefits of this type of document review is that you don't have to worry about what version is roaming about or what font or printer your client uses. Adobe Acrobat 7 Professional and Adobe Reader are not printer dependent.