How to manage reviews with the Review Tracker?

The Review Tracker is a handy new feature that helps the review initiator organize participant comments, communicate with participants, and keep track of ongoing or completed review cycles, whether they are e-mail-based or browser-based reviews. To open the Review Tracker, choose Track Reviews on the Review and Comment Tasks button pop-up menu, or choose Open Review Tracker on the Options pop-up menu at the top of the Comments palette in the Navigation pane. As you can see in Figure above, the Review Tracker has two pop-up menus, Show and Manage, as well as two list boxes, one on top of the other.

The Show pop-up menu lets you specify which reviews are displayed in the top list box. Choose either All, Active, Completed, Sent, or Received. Note that displayed reviews are categorized as either e-mail-based or browser-based. Attached Expand (+) and Collapse (–) buttons on these categories, when clicked, display or hide individual review document names. Clicking a review document name in the review list displays that review’s status information in the list box directly below. Clicking the Open button displays the review document in either Acrobat, if it’s an e-mail-based review, or in your Web browser, if it’s a browser-based review. Clicking the Remove button deletes the review from the Review Tracker. The Manage pop-up menu enables you to communicate with participants associated with the selected review and contains the following options:

• E-mail All Reviewers: Used to send an e-mail message to all reviewers associated with the selected review.
• Send Review Reminder: Used to send a gentle (or otherwise) reminder to those participants who might be lagging in their rate of review contribution.
• Invite More Reviewers: Used to liven up the party, especially if you find yourself using the Send Review Reminder command a little too often.
• Go Back Online: Activates when you select a browser-based review in the Review Tracker list. This command, surprisingly enough, enables you to go back online and refresh the selected browser-based review for those who might be online at the very moment you decide to change the review status.

The Review Tracker also has the standard How To window navigation buttons at the top of the pane — How To, Home, Back, Forward, and Hide. Just don’t click the Home button and expect to be able to click the Back button to redisplay the Review Tracker. In order to reopen the Review Tracker, you have to use the Review and Comment Tasks button or the Options command on the Comments palette in the Navigation pane.

When participants open the FDF setup file attached to their invitation e-mail, a copy of the PDF review document is opened in their browser. In addition to the basic Adobe Reader tool set displayed in the browser window, you also get the Review and Comment Tasks button, that allows you to annotate the PDF in your browser. The following list gives you some pointers on making a review cycle run smoothly, whether you’re the initiator or a participant in a browser-based review:

• You must use Acrobat 6 Professional or Standard versions to participate in a browser-based review.
• You must open the FDF file attached to your invitation e-mail in order to participate in a browser-based review.
• To annotate a PDF file, use the tools and commands on the Review and Comment Tasks button because the menu commands in this case are browser-specific. The Review and Comment Tasks button also contains commands for displaying the Commenting and Advanced Commenting toolbars. Like all tool bars in Acrobat, these can be displayed as either floating or docked.
• In order to be able to see other participant’s comments, your Reviewing preferences must match those of the review initiator. If you can’t see other people’s comments, request the correct server settings from the review initiator and make sure you have access to that location.
• To view updated annotations from other participants or to enable others to view your recent contributions, choose Send and Receive Comments on the Review and Comment Tasks pop-up menu.
• When you’re finished adding annotations to a PDF review document, you can change the status of your review to completed to communicate that fact to the review initiator and other participants. You complete a review by choosing Review and Comment➪Set Review Status➪Completed from the Review and Comment Tasks button pop-up menu.
• If you’d like to perform your review in Acrobat rather than your Web browser, click the Save and Work Offline button on the Commenting toolbar.
• If at anytime you’ve stopped adding annotations to a PDF review document and want to continue the process, either reopen the FDF attachment in your original e-mail invitation or, if you’ve saved the document to work offline, open it in Acrobat and choose File➪Go Back Online. This command reopens the PDF document in your browser and uploads your comments.
• Use the Review Tracker to manage the annotations you collect in a review cycle, whether it is an e-mail-based review or a browser-based review. See the next section for details.

How to initiate a browser-based review?

After setting up your Reviewing preferences, you’re ready to upload the PDF review file and specify review participants. Keep in mind that though the PDF review file and the FDF setup file do not have to be in the same location, participants must have access to both files on a network in order to review the PDF document. Also note that you should wait until you’ve uploaded a PDF for review to make any initial comments. If you don’t, any comments you make to a PDF file prior to uploading will be embedded in the PDF document and you won’t be able to further edit them. To upload your PDF document and initiate a browser-based review, follow these steps:

1. Open the PDF review document in Acrobat and choose File➪Upload for Browser-Based Review.
2. In the Upload for Review dialog box that appears, click My Network and locate the folder in which you want to store the PDF review file. Make sure that all participants have access to this network location.
3. Click the Upload button to copy the PDF review document. When your PDF file finishes uploading, the Start Browser-Based Review dialog box appears,
4. In the Start Browser-Based Review dialog box, enter participant addresses in the To, Cc, or Bcc text boxes.
5. Edit the default text in the Subject and Message to Reviewers text boxes and click the Send button. If your default e-mail client displays an alert dialog box asking you to verify sending the e-mail, click the Send button again to send an e-mail message to participants that specifies the location of the PDF review file.

If the PDF file you want to have reviewed already exists on a server, you can initiate a browser-based review as well as invite new participants to the review cycle by first navigating to the file and opening it in your browser. The Review and Comment Tasks button appears in your browser window; from its pop-up menu, choose Invite Others to Review This Document to open the Start Browser-Based Review dialog box, where you enter participant addresses before clicking the Send button. You can also use this same command in Acrobat 6 during an e-mail-based review to invite more participants to review your PDF document.

Looking at the Reviewing preferences for a browser-based review

In order to initiate a browser-based review, you have to first specify the type of server you’re using and the location of the FDF setup file where all the participant comments are stored. Having this file accessible to all browser-based review participants is what allows everyone to view the ongoing review cycle in their Web browsers. You specify these settings in the Preferences dialog box in Acrobat 6. Choose Edit➪Preferences or press Ctrl+K, and then click Reviewing in the list box on the left side of the Preferences dialog box to display the Reviewing options. The following list describes the options found in the Reviewing options of the Preferences dialog box:

• Server Type: Use the Server Type drop-down list to define what type of server you’re using to store the FDF setup file containing browser-based review annotations. Select the Database option if there is a database application server setup on your company intranet. Select the Network Folder option to upload your FDF setup file to a shared folder on your network. Select the Web Discussions option if you have access to a Microsoft Discussions server. Note that this type of server needs to be configured in Internet Explorer as well. Select the WebDAV (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning) option, which is a special kind of server that allows users to collaboratively edit and manage files remotely, if you have access to a WebDAV server.
• Server Settings: Fill in the necessary directory path or (HTTP type) addresses in the Server Settings text box, which activates when you make a selection on the Server Type drop-down list.
• browse: If you select Network Folder as your Server Type, the Browse button activates so that you can locate the shared folder you want to use in a browser-based review. Remember that all participants need access to this folder in order to participate in the review.
• Reset Automatic How To Pages: Click this button to ensure that the How To window will display topics that are appropriate to the type of review cycle you define. If all this sounds like Greek to you, it’s best to get these settings from your systems administrator. Otherwise, fill in the appropriate information and click OK to close the Preferences dialog box.

If you choose WebDAV or have access to your own or someone else’s Web server, you need to add that server as one of your network places in Windows XP in order to upload your PDF using the Upload for Browser-Based Review command within Acrobat. To do so, choose Start➪My Network Places, and then click Add a Network Place in the Network Tasks area. Follow the prompts in the Add Network Place Wizard and then click the Finish button. Don’t be afraid to seek help in completing this wizard from your systems administrator if necessary.

Setting up a browser-based review

In a browser-based review, you can either upload a PDF document to a server or work with an existing document on a server. Like an e-mail-based review, the review initiator sends an e-mail to participants with an attached FDF (Form Data Format) setup file that contains configuration settings for importing reviewer comments into the review PDF file. Reviewers must open this FDF attachment, as opposed to simply opening the PDF document posted on the server, in order to participate in a browser-based review. When a reviewer opens the FDF attachment, a copy of the PDF file is opened in their Web browser.

Participants can then make annotations to the PDF document using tools on the Review and Comment toolbar that appears in their browser when the PDF file is opened. All participant comments are stored in the FDF setup file and imported into the shared PDF document for reviewing by everyone participating in the review cycle. Note that participants cannot edit or delete one another’s comments, though they can reply to them, as you see in the next sections.

Participating in an e-mail-based review

The following list gives you some pointers on making a review cycle run smoothly, whether you’re the initiator or a participant in an e-mail-based review:

• When you open the FDF attachment in an e-mail-based review, a Document Status message informs you that the document has been sent for review. You must be using either Acrobat 6 Professional or Standard versions to participate.
• When you’re finished annotating a PDF file, save the file with your changes in a convenient place on your hard drive so that you can review the document without having to open the original e-mail attachment.

This also provides a copy of the reviewed PDF in case you want to share the reviewed PDF file by e-mailing it to others (you’re not allowed to enter additional e-mail addresses when you choose File➪Send Comments to Review Initiator).

• If you want to send additional comments to the review initiator, open your saved version of the reviewed PDF file, edit or make additional comments, and choose File➪Send Comments to Review Initiator again. The initiator will receive your revised PDF. (Note that any comments you deleted in the revised document will still appear in the initiator’s version.) Initiators can use comment filtering and deletion features to keep things legible.
  
• When you receive a participant’s copy of the reviewed PDF file and open the FDF attachment, your original PDF document opens. If the original can’t be found, you are prompted to browse for it.
  
• If you want to make changes to the original PDF document, save those changes under a different file name in order to preserve the original; otherwise, participant annotations may appear in the wrong places in the edited document.
• Use the Review Tracker to manage the annotations you collect in a review cycle, whether it is an e-mail-based review or a browser-based review.

Initiating an e-mail-based review

In an e-mail-based review, you (the review initiator) send an e-mail to each participant. Attached to this e-mail is a copy of the PDF document for review in the form of an FDF (Form Data Format) setup file that contains configuration settings for importing reviewer comments. FDF is an Adobe variation of PDF used to import and export form data in PDF documents. The participants add comments to the PDF document copy, and then e-mail the comments back to you via the FDF setup file. When you open the attached FDF file, Acrobat opens your original PDF document and automatically imports participant comments and annotations for viewing in the original document. To get the ball rolling, make sure to save your PDF document in a convenient place on your hard drive so that the FDF setup file has no trouble finding it, and then follow these steps:

1. Open the PDF document you want to send out for review and choose File➪Send by E-mail for Review. The Send by E-mail for Review dialog box appears. If you haven’t specified an e-mail address in the Identity window of the Preferences dialog box in Acrobat 6, an alert dialog box appears, prompting you to enter an e-mail address where review comments will be sent. This e-mail address is added to your Acrobat preferences for future reviews. Enter your e-mail address and click OK.
2. In the Send by E-mail for Review dialog box, enter participant addresses in the To, Cc (carbon copy), or Bcc (blind carbon copy) text boxes.
3. Edit the default text in the Subject and Message to Reviewers text boxes as desired, and then click the Send button.

If your default e-mail client displays an alert dialog box, asking you to verify sending the e-mail, click the Send button again to distribute your PDF document to review participants.
E-mail attachments sent using the File➪Send by E-mail for Review command are in FDF (Form Data Format). When a review participant opens this attachment, a copy of your original PDF file is opened in Acrobat, which the participant can then add comments to. When the review is finished, the participant sends the comments back to you by choosing File➪Send Comments to Review Initiator or by clicking the Send Comments button on the Commenting toolbar. When you receive and open this FDF attachment, Acrobat opens your original PDF document and imports the participant’s comments into the PDF document for viewing.
E-mail-based reviews can be initiated in the same manner described previously from applications other than Acrobat 6 that support the PDFMaker plug-in. These include Microsoft Office 2000 and XP (when using Acrobat 6 Standard or Professional), as well as AutoCAD, Microsoft Project, and Microsoft Visio (when using Acrobat 6 Professional only). Note that to initiate an e-mail-based review in those programs, you have to open the document you wish to send for review and choose Adobe PDF➪Convert to Adobe PDF and Send for Review on the program’s menu bar.

Sending Out PDF Files for Review in Windows

Acrobat is known for its arsenal of useful annotating tools, and Adobe continues to improve those tools, as you discover in later sections of this chapter. What makes Acrobat 6 such a worthwhile upgrade is the addition of e-mail based and browser-based reviewing. These new reviewing features, available to users of Acrobat 6 for Windows, streamline the initiation of a review cycle by allowing you to distribute a PDF review document either by e-mail or by posting the PDF file on a network (intranet or Internet) server and allowing participants to review it in a Web browser.
Here’s how a typical Acrobat PDF review cycle works — the initiator of a review distributes a PDF document to reviewers, known as participants, who then use the Acrobat commenting tools to annotate the document for the edification of the review initiator. The initiator then reviews the reviews of the reviewers (sounds fun, right?). Acrobat enables you to set up either e-mail-based or browser-based reviews. When deciding which type of review to use, note that with e-mail-based reviews, participants don’t need access to a shared server; with browser-based reviews, participants can see each others’ comments on an ongoing basis.

Using PrintMe Internet Printing

Acrobat offers support for the PrintMe Internet Printing service that enables you to print your PDF documents to any printer on the PrintMe Network or any fax machine in the world, which is a great convenience for globetrotters. To use the feature, just choose File➪PrintMe Internet Printing. If you’re not already signed up, the PrintMe Networks dialog box. Select the New Users radio button, and then click the Signup Now! button in to open the PrintMe New User Signup dialog box, where you fill in the form and get a new user account. Upon registering as a user with PrintMe Internet Printing, a PrintMe print driver is downloaded to your computer and you then follow the onscreen prompts to install the driver. After installation of the print driver, the PrintMe Networks dialog box reappears, enabling you to log on to the network.
To use PrintMe Internet Printing, follow these steps:

1. Open the PDF document you want to print to a remote PrintMe printer or fax machine and choose File➪PrintMe Internet Printing. The PrintMe Networks dialog box opens
2. Enter a new name for the printed document in the Title text box (the current document title appears here by default) and then select either the Print All Pages or Pages options in the Page Range area. If you select Pages, enter a range of pages to print in the text boxes provided, and then enter the number of copies to print in the Copies text box. By default, the My Favorites radio button is selected in the PrintMe To area.
3. Choose a PrintMe destination or fax number from the Most Recent drop-down list that displays the last ten PrintMe destinations or fax numbers used.
4. To choose a new PrintMe printer or fax number, click the More button (black triangle) if it’s not already selected when the dialog box opens.
5. Click the Printer radio button and then enter a new PrintMe destination in the PrintMe ID text box or the telephone number of the destination fax machine in the FAX# text box.
6. Click the PrintMe button to send your PDF document to the selected PrintMe enabled printer or fax machine.

The PrintMe Networks dialog box also provides an Address Book used to store PrintMe destination Printer ID’s and fax numbers as well as a searchable online directory that lists the name and Printer ID numbers of host printer locations currently signed up with the service. The service enables you to print to any fax machine whose telephone number you know. Click the Address Book button to access your PrintMe Address Book or the Find button to locate a PrintMe printer in their online directory.

To add a PrintMe destination or fax number to the Address Book, choose Add to Address Book and enter a name for the printer or fax number in the appropriate text box as it will appear in your PrintMe Address Book. The entry is added to your Address Book when you click the PrintMe button. Click the My Account button to go online and view status and statistics of your PrintMe account. Note that after selecting a printer in the PrintMe Networks dialog box, the Options button activates and provides you with additional printing options that vary depending on the selected PrintMe enabled printer.