PDF Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools

by Sid Steward

Overview

PDF--to most of the world it stands for that rather tiresome format used for documents downloaded from the web. Slow to load and slower to print, hopelessly unsearchable, and all but impossible to cut and paste from, the Portable Document Format doesn't inspire much affection in the average user. But PDFs done right is another story. Those who know the ins and outs of this format know that it can be much more than electronic paper. Flexible, compact, interactive, and even searchable, PDF is the ideal way to present content across multiple platforms.

PDF Hacks unveils the true promise of Portable Document Format, going way beyond the usual PDF as paged output mechanism. PDF expert Sid Steward draws from his years of analyzing, extending, authoring, and embellishing PDF documents to present 100 clever hacks--tools, tips, quick-and-dirty or not-so-obvious solutions to common problems.

PDF Hacks will show you how to create PDF documents that are far more powerful than simple representations of paper pages. The hacks in the book cover the full range of PDF functionality, from the simple to the more complex, including generating, manipulating, annotating, and consuming PDF information. You'll learn how to manage content in PDF, navigate it, and reuse it as necessary. Far more than another guide to Adobe Acrobat, the book covers a variety of readily available tools for generating, deploying, and editing PDF.

The little-known tips and tricks in this book are ideal for anyone who works with PDF on a regular basis, including web developers, pre-press users, forms creators, and those who generate PDF for distribution. Whether you want to fine-tune and debug your existing PDF documents or explore the full potential the format offers, PDF Hacks will turn you into a PDF power user.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781449362201
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	08/16/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	298
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Sid Steward is a programmer, writer and entrepreneur. He maintains the PDF Toolkit and wrote PDF Hacks. When he's not working on PDF, he's creating goodies like LookLeap (a better TinyURL), GoJot (social bookmarking meets site commenting), and The Punch Poll. He continually battles entropy and will gladly tell you about G del's incompleteness theorem. Bjarne Stroustrup is one of his heroes. Feel free to contact Sid.

Table of Contents

	Credits	ix
	Preface	xi
Chapter 1.	Consuming PDF	1
1.	Read PDFs with the Adobe Reader	1
2.	Read PDFs with Mac OS X's Preview	3
3.	Read PDFs with Ghostscript's GSview	5
4.	Speed Up Acrobat Startup	5
5.	Manage Acrobat Plug-Ins with Profiles on Windows	7
6.	Open PDF Files Your Way on Windows	10
7.	Copy Data from PDF Pages	13
8.	Convert PDF Documents to Word	16
9.	Browse One PDF in Multiple Windows	19
10.	Pace Your Reading or Present a Slideshow in Acrobat or Reader	23
11.	Pace Your Reading or Present a Slideshow in Mac OS X Preview	26
12.	Unpack PDF Attachments (Even Without Acrobat)	28
13.	Jump to the Next or Previous Heading	29
14.	Navigate and Manipulate PDF Using Page Thumbnails	30
Chapter 2.	Managing a Collection	33
15.	Bookmark PDF Pages in Reader	33
16.	Create Windows Shortcuts to Online PDF Pages with Acrobat	37
17.	Create Windows Shortcuts to Local PDF Pages	39
18.	Turn PDF Bookmarks into Windows Shortcuts	41
19.	Generate Document Keywords	42
20.	Index and Search Local PDF Collections on Windows	45
21.	Spinning Document Portals	54
22.	Spinning Collection Portals	56
23.	Identify Related PDFs	58
Chapter 3.	Authoring and Self-Publishing: Hacking Outside the PDF	61
24.	Keep Your Source Smart	61
25.	Convey Your Document's Value with Good Design	67
26.	Create Charts and Graphs from Raw Data	72
27.	Become a Publisher	75
28.	Print at Home, at the Office, or at Kinko's	77
29.	Publish POD and E-books	78
30.	Sell Through Amazon	80
31.	Sell Your Book, Sell Yourself	80
Chapter 4.	Creating PDF and Other Editions	82
32.	Create Interactive PDF with Your Word Processor	82
33.	Create a Printable, On-Screen Edition from Word	86
34.	Multipurpose PDF	87
35.	Create an HTML Edition from Your Word Processor	88
36.	Create a Handheld Edition from Your HTML	91
37.	Convert Documents from Tools You Don't Own to PDF	94
38.	Acrobat Distiller and Its Profiles	95
39.	Print to PDF with Ghostscript and RedMon on Windows	97
40.	Save As PDF with Mac OS X	105
41.	Maximize PDF Portability	106
42.	Configure Distiller and Ghostscript for Your Purpose	108
43.	Embed and Subset Fonts to Your Advantage	111
44.	Share a PDF Network Printer with Samba	116
45.	Print to Image and Other Rasterizing Options	118
46.	Print to SVG	121
47.	Print Over the Internet	123
48.	Create a PDF Album of Your Digital Pictures	125
49.	Print to Fax on Windows	128
50.	Convert Incoming Faxes to PDF on Linux	129
Chapter 5.	Manipulating PDF Files	131
51.	Split and Merge PDF Documents (Even Without Acrobat)	131
52.	Encrypt and Decrypt PDF (Even Without Acrobat)	134
53.	Add PDF Encryption Actions to Windows Context Menus	139
54.	Add Attachments to Your PDF (Even Without Acrobat)	140
55.	Easily Attach Your Document's Tables	142
56.	Add PDF Attachment Actions to Windows Context Menus	145
57.	Create a Traditional Index Section from Keywords	146
58.	Rasterize Intricate Artwork with Illustrator or Photoshop	148
59.	Crop Pages for Clarity	151
60.	Refry Before Posting Documents Online	154
61.	Copy Features from One PDF to Another	156
62.	Polish Your PDF Edition	156
63.	Add and Maintain PDF Bookmarks	159
64.	Get and Set PDF Metadata	161
65.	Add a Web-Style Navigation Bar to PDF Pages	163
66.	Copy-Protect Your PDF	166
67.	Support Online PDF Reading	167
68.	Force PDF Download Rather than Online Reading	169
69.	Hyperlink HTML to PDF Pages	171
70.	Create an HTML Table of Contents from PDF Bookmarks	172
71.	PDF Web Skins	174
72.	Share PDF Comments Online (Even Without Acrobat)	177
73.	Tally Topic Popularity	179
Chapter 6.	Dynamic PDF	181
74.	Collect Data with Online PDF Forms	181
75.	Serve Filled-Out PDF Forms	186
76.	Drive PDF Forms with Your Data	189
77.	PDF Form-Filling Sessions	194
78.	Permanently Merge a PDF Form and its Data	197
79.	Tool Up with pdftk	200
80.	Decipher and Navigate PDF at the Text Level	203
81.	Edit PDF Code Freely	204
82.	Integrate pdftk with gVim for Seamless PDF Editing	206
83.	Modify PDF Hyperlinks at Serve-Time	209
84.	Tailor PDF Text at Serve-Time	215
85.	Use HTML to Create PDF	222
86.	Use Perl to Create PDF	223
87.	Use PHP to Create PDF	225
88.	Use Java to Create PDF	227
89.	Assemble Pages and Serve PDF	228
90.	Superimpose PDF Pages	231
91.	Generate PDF Documents from XML and CSS	234
92.	Create PDF with XSL-FO and FOP	235
Chapter 7.	Scripting and Programming Acrobat	241
93.	Modify or Convert Batches of Documents	241
94.	Script Acrobat Using Visual Basic on Windows	246
95.	Script Acrobat Using Perl on Windows	250
96.	Customize Acrobat Using JavaScript	253
97.	Tool Up for Acrobat Plug-In Development	256
98.	Explore the Acrobat SDK Documentation and Examples	260
99.	Use Acrobat Plug-Ins to Extend PDF	262
100.	PostScript and PDF Games	263
	Index	267