Re: FW: Adobe Acrobat ERA-type question Rosemary Ruff 23 Mar 1998 13:04 EST
List members- I made a comment that, like Word or Excel, Adobe Acrobat (pdf) files can be modified. Some people asked how to modify them and one asked a related question about large scale modifications which is below. I'll try to answer both in one shot. > Rosemary - > > Your response about modifying PDF documents really interested me - > especially since I work with NSF FastLane submissions in our SR office. > > I know that you can edit PDF text (if only line by line) utilizing Adobe > Acrobat Exchange - but I didn't know that you could modify it on a > larger scale (which I guessed is what you meant by the comparison to > Word, Excel, etc. files). Do you do it by "cut and paste" methods or do > you have to delete pages and create new ones for insertion? > > I'm asking because we've had PIs ask (at the last minute) for our office > to make corrections to their FastLane PDF files by accessing the PDF > file and we've been letting them know we can't change their PDF files, > but that the change must be made to the original document and re-loaded > - if I've been wrong (drats), we will need to re-think some of our > support. > > Thanks, > > - Ellen Beck > > Ellen Beck, Research Resource Analyst > Sponsored Research > UCLA > Phone: (310) 825-4526 > Fax: (310) 206-4996 > E-mail: xxxxxx@srnet.ucla.edu Acrobat files can be modified by opening them in Exchange and performing certain limited functions only - for example, adding form fields; embedding applications; inserting graphics, videos, and sound clips. Wholesale modification of existing text is not really practical. You can make small modifications to the actual text of the document using either the TouchUp Text Tool or the form field tool (more about this one in a minute). The TouchUp Text Tool lets you make minor modification such as correcting spelling errors, changing "was" to "were" or "mg" to "ng" but, as Ellen pointed out above, this must be done line at a time - and...there is no word wrap. If your change is so large that it causes a line to extend way beyond the margins or fall far short of them, there's nothing you can do to get things to line up except rewording completely or taking other drastic action. As for using the form field tool - with a little luck and a deep breath, you can insert a form field with white (or other opaque) background over offending text and use the field's default text to correct the error. You can actually cover small paragraphs with this method but it has its limits. Please be aware that neither the TouchUp Text Tool nor the form field tool were designed for the purpose of correcting errors in a prepared document. What I meant when I said you could manipulate an Acrobat file was that you can access it and make certain changes supported by the Acrobat software. Acrobat does not function like either a spreadsheet or a word processing application. Rosemary ____________________________________________________________________________ ***************************************************************************** Rosemary H. Ruff VOICE: 334-844-4438 Assistant Director FAX: 334-844-5953 Contracts & Grants Administration EMAIL: xxxxxx@mail.auburn.edu Auburn University, AL 36849-5131 Si hoc signum legere potes, operis boni in rebus Latinus alacribus et fructuosis potiri potes!