Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Acrobat/Reader -- File History Replacement



Direct purchase using PayPal ($40 only per license)!

Important Note: Due to a bug in the later versions of Acrobat X, this script will not work in that application. It does work fine in Acrobat XI, though.
Also, it seems that due to changes in the user interface of Reader XI v11.0.07 this script can't be used there, either. It should work fine in earlier versions of Reader, though.

With the introduction of version X of Acrobat/Reader, the File History and Organizer feature that used to be available was removed, for some reason. Many people found that feature very useful to keep track of the the files they opened in the past and to re-open them quickly.
Well, now a similar version feature can be brought back into the application using this new tool I've developed, the File History Replacement!

Once installed, the tool keeps track of any file opened, and stores it in an in-memory database.
You can access the full File History archive via a new sub-menu added to the File menu:



The full File History window:




In this window you can browse the entire archive, and even filter it based on date and/or file-name:

File History list, filtered by date

File History list, filtered by date and file-name
 
Once a file has been selected it can be opened directly via the Open File button. Even files that no longer exist (or have been renamed or moved) will still appear in the File History under their original location, only you won't be able to open them, of course.

There's also an option to temporarily pause the recording of the file history, and then continue it later on, when you wish.

If you have any questions regarding this tool, you can contact me directly.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Acrobat/Reader -- Save and Load Sessions


Direct purchase using PayPal ($50 only)!

Update (13/05/2014): A free demo version of this script is now available! This version works just like the full version, but it allows you to create only 1 session with up to 3 files in it. The full version has no limitations on the number of sessions or files.

Many applications offer the option to save your current workspace as a session and to restore it later. Let's say you're working on a project and have multiple documents open and you want to move to a different project, or just need to close the application. You save your workspace and later on you restore it and continue working from the spot you've left it off.

Unfortunately, Acrobat does not offer this functionality, until you install this script...

With this tool you can maintain an unlimited amount of sessions, which will remain even when the application is closed or the computer is restarted. The session contains all of the currently opened files, and the exact location where you left them off.

The tool adds a new "Sessions" menu under the "Window" menu:

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Acrobat -- Import Items from a Text File to a Combo-Box or List Field



Direct purchase using PayPal ($49 only per license)!

Another New Feature (06/05/2014): Now it's possible to select multiple combo-boxes and/or radio-list fields in your file and apply the new items to them all, in a single process!


New Feature: It is now also possible to embed the text file used in this script into the actual PDF.
The data from the text file will be automatically loaded each time the file is opened, so you can easily update the list and keep it up-to-date at all times.

If you're working with Acrobat form fields and need to insert a large amount of items to a drop-down menu field (also known as a combo-box), you know what a pain it can be to manually enter all of those values.
Well, with this script you can just put all of your items (name and export value, or just name) in a text file or even an Excel spreadsheet and the script will read them and add them to your drop-down box.

Setup and maintenance of your PDF forms will be much faster and easier using this tool.

Screenshot of the tool:

Download a free sample PDF file that contains lists of all the US States in various forms: Full name, 2-letter code, and full name with the 2-letter code as the export value.
The lists were populated using this tool and the source text files used to achieve that are also included. The file can be downloaded from here.

Also, a free demo version of this script is available here.
This version will only import the first three items from the input file. Purchase the full version and get the full capabilities of the script!



For more information about this tool, you can always contact me directly.