January 24, 2011
MakeUseOf is no stranger to PDF documents as it’s home to a myriad of guides for all kinds of topics, and plenty of articles on PDF-reading and editing software (including online apps for conversions as well). There are also tips on how to search for specific text on PDF files and how to optimize them [...]
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December 15, 2010
Everything that’s analog is becoming digital; books are no exception. With the advent of e-ink devices, and tablets like the iPad, more and more people are doing their reading digitally. If you want your writing to reach a broader audience, you should know how to create files for these devices. As editor of the MakeUseOf [...]
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December 14, 2010
One of the biggest advantages of digitizing notes, if you’re a student, is that you can search for text within Word documents and find where you last saw a phrase that you now need to consolidate with your new lesson. We’ve seen how to use DocFetcher to search within PDF files, but if you already [...]
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December 13, 2010
Converting PDFs to editable documents is no easy feat. You’ll be hard pressed to find an application that does it, and does it well. More often than not, if there are images or formatting in a PDF, the formatting goes out of the window once you convert it to an editable file and you’re left [...]
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November 28, 2010
I have never been one to read books or PDFs on my computer screen. Give me a paperback book, or a printed page, and I can get through it quickly, but sit me in front of a screen and I just can’t make myself read it. Now with the advent of eReaders like the Kindle, [...]
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November 24, 2010
Adobe has been busy improving their flagship PDF reader with enhanced security features to mark the release of Adobe Reader X. The new version includes Protected Mode which provides a secure sandbox area within which scripts are able to run, but not affect the general working of the program or the user’s PC. The company [...]
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November 22, 2010
A recent inquiry from a MakeUseOf reader asking for suggestions on an inexpensive PDF tool that allowed resizing and optimizing PDF files, prompted me to search for suitable PDF editors. While there are many PDF reading applications that are handy alternatives to Adobe Reader, applications that allow you to make simple edits to PDF files [...]
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October 25, 2010
I thought that college students get heavy discounts on commercial software but I just recently found out that students can get commercial software completely free (including Visual Studio, Expression Encoder, etc), which is a nice perk. However, the perks of being a student don’t end there as there are actually quite a few student-friendly applications, which may even [...]
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October 7, 2010
As we’ve now collectively stepped forth into the digital age, electronic alternatives to traditional methods continue to spring up. Smartphones seem destined to replace shopping lists and notebooks, whilst eReaders boast about how “paper-like” their screens are. It’s no surprise then that you can now electronically sign documents, using your email address as verification of [...]
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September 27, 2010
If you’ve been thinking about creating an eBook but aren’t sure where to start, why not take a look at your blog? You probably already have a ton of carefully written content, that could make for an interesting eBook. And there are a few free online services that make it as simple as possible to [...]
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September 13, 2010
There are a plenty of apps for reading PDFs and e-books on portable Apple devices, but if you’re looking to streamline applications on your iPad or iPhone, the latest version of Apple”˜s iBooks (iTunes Store link) app serves as both an e-book and PDF reader. This free application doesn’t outshine many of the popular PDF [...]
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September 7, 2010
PDF files have been the ubiquitous file format for sharing documents, thanks to their ability to lock down the layout & formatting of the document and the tiny file size. Adobe Acrobat has a hefty price tag that runs into many hundreds of dollars, so as awesome as PDF files are, creating them used to [...]
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August 17, 2010
Do you read or work with PDF files often? If so, you’ve probably needed the ability to either combine multiple files into one or split one into many at some point. AnyBizSoft has two applications that can do just that. Their PDF Merger allows you to combine multiple PDF files into one for better organizing, [...]
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July 29, 2010
When it comes to PDF, Mac users have everything they need built in, supported natively by the OS. Creating a PDF is as easy as printing a document, while reading and modifying one can be done from Preview. Most users probably never bother to look for alternatives, and therefore might miss out on one good [...]
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July 22, 2010
The Adobe PDF format is one of the most common document formats in the world today. It is versatile, portable, and allows for the creation of professional looking digital documents. MakeUseOf has an entire section devoted to PDF guides. E-books are also often distributed in PDF format. However, while PDF is extremely common, it isn’t [...]
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