Adobe for the PPC - Useless or my mistake?

[shawnc]

I'm looking for advice or suggestions. I've probably loaded about 4-5 .pdf files to my PPC. The reformatting occurs to fit each page on the screen. Problem is that the type of so small that it is unreadable. I need to magnify 1-2 times to be able to read. Then you get back to having to scroll left to right to read the document. This basically makes it useless to me because it's simply not worth the effort.

Am I doing something wrong or should I be using other software to view pdf files on my Dell. OR, am I just out of luck?

Thanx,

[smittyofdhs]

I'm looking for advice or suggestions. I've probably loaded about 4-5 .pdf files to my PPC. The reformatting occurs to fit each page on the screen. Problem is that the type of so small that it is unreadable. I need to magnify 1-2 times to be able to read. Then you get back to having to scroll left to right to read the document. This basically makes it useless to me because it's simply not worth the effort.

Am I doing something wrong or should I be using other software to view pdf files on my Dell. OR, am I just out of luck?

Thanx,


Are you using Adobe Acrobat to "re-flow" the documents for use on the PPC? For Adobe Reader on the PPC to work correctly, the PDF file has to be "reflowed" using Adobe Acrobat (full version, not just the free reader).


The Adobe software for the PPC will try to reflow the document before it converts it and sends it to the PPC but I've never see it reflow it correctly.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

You may also want to take a look at Repligo (do a search and you'll find a thread that EdH started). Currently available for $40 (via PPCT special), you can convert any desktop document into a RepliGo document (by installing itself as a virtual printer on your desktop).

The reflow capabilities aren't perfect, but they work pretty well and you get better flexibility than Acrobat Viewer (limited to pdf) and are not obligated to buy the Acrobat product for advanced capabilities (far more expensive than $40).

I've been trying it out for the past week and a half and I'm convinced that I will purchase when the trial runs out.

Ekkie

[PapaSmurfDan]

Ok, I think I am the only person who doesn't have major reflow issues. First of all it only will work on tagged PDF's, and not all PDF's out there are tagged. Also for reflow to work, it needs to be text, not a scanned image of text (for very obvious reasons). The only issue I have when I convert is if the document is bigger than 35 pages, the activesync plugin crashes. However, I am also having distiler issues and the two may be related.

Personally, I think the reflowed PDF's are Many times better than the other options out there. Images and charts do stay in sequence, text is word-wrapped and can be zoomed out to your personal limits (I can't use MS Reader b/c the text is still too big at the smallest setting), that and I can beam/e-mail a PDF off of my PPC to someone and they can still read it on the desktop becuase the reflow tags are just added on. BTW, You don't need to re-flow the PDF, and you can turn off the reflowed view in the reader. You also don't need to convert, Acrobat Reader on the PPC will work fine on PDF's you pull off the net w/o conversion, however I really recommend you convert when you actully need to read the documents.

However the problem it sounds is the reader is not using the reflow mode. If you reflowed the document, and it contains text (not images of text), when you zoom in it should word-wrap to fit the current zoom level. Tap-n-hold on document (once loaded) and make sure reflow is checked. Also make sure activesync has the PDF conversion enabled (I am pretty sure that the converter does not require the full acrobat to work). Another option, if you can't reflow, is to rotate the document. That has been handy a few times when I had to pull down pdf's off the net directly.

I hope this helps.

-Dan

[Janak Parekh]

Ok, I think I am the only person who doesn't have major reflow issues. First of all it only will work on tagged PDF's, and not all PDF's out there are tagged.
Actually, the built-in conduit does a decent job of tagging. If you drag and drop into your Mobile Device in my computer, it'll tell you "hey, it's untagged, I'll try doing a tagging". I've had about 75% success rate using that.

However, seeing as how Ed has been singing the virtues of RepliGo, I'll also have to try that.

--janak

[shawnc]

Are you using Adobe Acrobat to "re-flow" the documents for use on the PPC? For Adobe Reader on the PPC to work correctly, the PDF file has to be "reflowed" using Adobe Acrobat (full version, not just the free reader).


The Adobe software for the PPC will try to reflow the document before it converts it and sends it to the PPC but I've never see it reflow it correctly.

smittyofdhs,

This sounds like it could be my problem as I am definitely NOT using the full version. I have the reader on my desktop (version 5 O believe) and a version on my PPC (version 1 I believe). I usually just copy the file into my PPC folder on my desktop that syncs with my PPC. I gotta believe some type of "reflow" is occurring since the pages fit the screen. Its just not doing a very good job with the files I happen to be using. Either way, definitely not worth me buying the full version.

Thanx,

[shawnc]

Janak / Papasmurfdan,

I have tried to follow both of your suggestions. I don't understand the significance of a "tagged" pdf document, but as for as I can tell the file I am working with is not. The way I checked this is I went into the "Document Info" option in the file on my PPC. One of the fields reads "Tagged PDF: No".

I also removed this file from my SD card and dropped into My Device/My Documents, per Janak's suggestion.

I guess my next question is since the tagging did not occur automatically, can I do it manually?

Thanx,

[Janak Parekh]

I also removed this file from my SD card and dropped into My Device/My Documents, per Janak's suggestion.
Is this on the same machine you used to install Acrobat Reader for PPC? I recall you upgraded your home PC to XP, right? The key here is that Acrobat Reader not only installs some files on the PPC, it also installs a conduit-like mechanism on the PC.

The way you can tell is that when you drop the file, it gives you a little message about the file being untagged and that it'll tag it for you.

If this is not happening, it's a big reason as to why your PDFs are unreadable.

--janak

[shawnc]

Is this on the same machine you used to install Acrobat Reader for PPC? I recall you upgraded your home PC to XP, right? The key here is that Acrobat Reader not only installs some files on the PPC, it also installs a conduit-like mechanism on the PC.

The way you can tell is that when you drop the file, it gives you a little message about the file being untagged and that it'll tag it for you.

If this is not happening, it's a big reason as to why your PDFs are unreadable.

--janak

Janak,

Thanx. You are always very helpful. With all the post to this site, I can't believe you remember that I upgraded to XP.

I did not get the message about the file being untagged so I guess that is my problem. Do I need to delete my current version of Adobe and reinstall? I did have to do this with my Office 2000 products for some strange reason 8O .

This is not a big deal, but it would be nice to have it fixed. My school has moved to a program where we can download our text from the web in Adobe. I printed out the hardcopy for my upcoming class, but it would be really slick if I could ditch the paper and have this puppy on my PPC.

[Janak Parekh]

Thanx. You are always very helpful. With all the post to this site, I can't believe you remember that I upgraded to XP.
Well, at least I still remember something. :D

I did not get the message about the file being untagged so I guess that is my problem.
Yup. I don't know if you have to uninstall Acrobat Reader off of your Pocket PC, but it can't hurt. Then just run the Acrobat Reader PPC self-installer again and put it back on. Finally, drag-and-drop onto the Mobile Device (and, in particular, not to a dedicated CF/SD reader).

Mind you, you don't need to do anything with the desktop Acrobat Reader software -- that's a completely separate beast.

--janak