Quick Reference Guide
Why are PDF files popular? The Portable Document Format has become a de-facto standard for document exchange across platforms and computing environments. More than 200 million PDF documents are posted on the World Wide Web. Key benefits that have driven this popularity are: • Integrity: PDF files look like the original documents they were created from. They conserve their appearance after sharing regardless of platform, operating system or local settings on each computer or device.
The PDF Product family Nuance Communications, Inc. offers three PDF products: • ScanSoft PDF Converter to unlock PDF files • ScanSoft PDF Create! to create PDF files • ScanSoft PDF Converter Professional to unlock, create, edit, comment and share PDF files. Installation and Activation Please remove any previous version of PDF Converter before the installation. You should have administrator rights on the computer to install and activate the program. You need web access for activation. 1.
4. Click Finish Registration runs at the end of installation. Select Register Online to establish a connection to the Nuance web site. We provide an easy electronic form that can be completed in a few moments. When the form is filled, click Submit. If you decide not to register or to be reminded later, you can go to http://www.nuance.com to register online any time later. Click on Support and from the main support screen choose Register in the left-hand column.
The PDF Converter Assistant Start this from the Windows Start Menu or from your desktop if you placed a shortcut there. The Assistant lets you prepare and control conversions. Its Full view shows you a preview of PDF files to be converted and lets you set page ranges. The panel on the right lists all files selected for conversion; icons show loading or conversion status. Online help explains the meanings of the icons.
Converting with Quick View Choose Quick View in the View menu. Then your conversions are an easy 4-step process, using current settings for everything else: 1. File Open: Select one or more PDF files or drag and drop them onto the Quick View window. Mode Tool Output Tool Convert All Tool 2. Choose a processing mode: Standard Document, Legal, Spreadsheet or Form. 3. Choose a target: Microsoft Word, Excel, Corel WordPerfect or Rich Text Format. 4. Start the conversion.
Converting with Full View Here is the Assistant in Full View. Three sample files are loaded, the sample form is displayed in the Preview panel on the left. Restore preview Open files Select conversion mode and target and display their settings Convert selected file Remove files from list Convert all listed files Preview panel showing current page of selected file List of loaded or converted files. Icons show file status. You can add files by dragand-drop.
Starting the Program To make the services of PDF Converter easy to call on, it can be started from several locations, as described in the following procedures: The Windows Start Menu Choose ScanSoft PDF Converter 4.0 under Programs or All Programs. All conversions started from the Start menu use the PDF Converter Assistant. It allows you to name input PDF files and decide how to handle output files. Display of the created file is optional. The Open PDF button in a Microsoft Word Toolbar 1.
The Open Dialog Box in Microsoft Word 1. Click Word's File Open button or go to the Microsoft Word File menu and click Open... 2. Select PDF (Portable Document Format) (*.pdf) in the Files of type box. 3. Select the PDF file you want to convert. Multiple selection is possible; then files are converted one after the other. 4. Click Open. (The picture shows steps 2, 3 and 4.) 5. Conversion starts with or without the Converter Assistant, as specified in the PDF Converter 4.
8. A converted document will display as if it were still the PDF file. You must save it as a Word document with the command Save As.... If you use Save or Close without saving, you will lose either the converted document or the original PDF. The program warns you of this: WordPerfect Use the Open PDF item in the File menu of WordPerfect. Select a single PDF file and click Open. View pages in the PDF Converter Assistant in Left view. Set a page range if desired.
Microsoft Outlook 1. Select a message that has a PDF attachment. The PDF Converter buttons will become active. 2. Click the PDF Converter button Outlook toolbar or in the message toolbar. in the 3. If the message has more than one PDF, select which PDF to convert and click OK. 4. Here you can choose to use the PDF Converter Assistant for conversion or unlock your PDF file without it. If you prefer automatic conversion, you choose the mode and target immediately. Microsoft Internet Explorer 1.
Processing modes and outputs Choose from four processing modes, depending on the content of the PDF file to be converted and the type of output you want. Here are your choices: Mode Output Standard Document Word WordPerfect RTF Word WordPerfect RTF Legal Document Spreadsheet Excel Forms Word RTF The settings for each mode are displayed on the left panel of the Assistant when you make a mode selection.
Standard Document conversions Choose how the layout should be maintained: • True PageTM places all elements in text boxes or frames. • Flowing Column uses text boxes and frames only when necessary, allowing body text to flow from one column to another. Legal conversions Choose to retain or drop legal-specific features: • Pleading numbers - these typically appear in left margins to define line numbers. • Images - these are typically stamps, seals, signatures or company logos.
Form conversions This uses Logical Form Recognition™ technology to detect form elements and convert them correctly. Choose from: • No form controls: The result will be a fillable form with static form elements. You can use form handling tools in the target application to modify the form design. • Create form controls: The result will be a fillable and editable form. You can change field labels and modify the form design.
PDF documents present their pages as images. They can be marked-up and commented, but the ability to change the basic text is limited. Most PDF files can be searched, because the file has two layers. There is an image layer that is presented on-screen. Behind that there is usually a text layer that can be matched to the characters displayed on the screen.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is normally used only for PDF pages without an accessible text layer or when non-standard character encoding is detected, but you can require it for any conversion. Handling Image-only PDF Files PDF files without a text layer are a special case for conversion. You can decide how the program should handle these pages: convert them with the built-in Optical Character Recognition (OCR), transfer them as images to the target document or skip them.
Un-installation 1. Select Add/Remove Programs from the Control Panel. 2. Select ScanSoft PDF Converter 4.0. 3. Click Remove to uninstall the program or Change to auto-repair it. A de-activation step is performed at the start of uninstallation, allowing you to reinstall the program later without re-activation problems. De-activation requires web access.
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