Tuesday, August 12, 2008

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.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Bali:

You seem very knowledgeable about PDF. Maybe you can offer your advice: My company has an online app that generates large reports and our customers want these reports in PDF format. Trouble is the PDF generator puts the output into one massive page (one example is 60" by 50"). If Reader could print by Tiling All Pages, then that would work, but it looks like that print feature is only in Acrobat, not Reader. Any suggestion on how to make it work for customers who don't have Acrobat? I can't find any PDF utility that can take our HTML reports and convert them with tiling built in, so that they'll print easily on anyone's Reader. Any ideas?? We'll pay for consulting time or new software! Thanks!!!

My email is firstname.lastname@kaplan.com