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Browser and Shared Reviews with Readers

mschiesl
Registered: Feb 26 2008
Posts: 5
Answered

Hi, I have Acrobat Pro 7.0 and I’m trying to set up “browser-based” reviews. I first enable the PDF for Reader commenting, then set up the PDF for browser-reviewing on our webdav server. Everything works great for other Pro users, but unfortunately, it seems that Reader users are not able to access the commenting tools or do any interactive commenting on these files.

Acrobat Pro 7.0 help says that I would have to use LiveCycle Reader Extensions to enable Readers to participate in the browser-based review.

Seems that I have three possible options...

[Option 1: Fix this using Pro 7.0]
Using Pro 7.0, is there any other method that would allow Readers to add comments in an interactive review?

[Option 2: Upgrade to Pro 8.0]
Has 'browser-based commenting' changed in Pro 8.0?

Otherwise, I see that Pro 8.0 has some new ‘shared-review’ features. Would this ‘shared-review’ allow me to run interactive reviews with Reader-enabled commenting?

If using ‘shared-review’, would my Reader reviewers need to upgrade to Reader 8.0?

[Option 3: Purchase LiveCycle Reader Extensions Server]
Talked with Adobe sales. It sounds like LiveCycle would solve my problem, but this sounds like a huge package (much bigger than I would need).

I truly appreciate your help

Mike

My Product Information:
Acrobat Pro 7.0, Windows
lkassuba
ExpertTeam
Registered: Jun 28 2007
Posts: 3636
Hi Mike,

The event in Acrobat 7 Pro. that "triggers" the display of the Commenting tools (Std. and Pro.) in the browser for recipients is:
Comments --> Send for Review --> Upload for Browser-based ReviewThis process Reader-enables the PDF and recipients with Reader can participate (not in the browser) but via email or offline.

Lori Kassuba is an AUC Expert and Community Manager for AcrobatUsers.com.

mschiesl
Registered: Feb 26 2008
Posts: 5
Yes, I've been using "Comments --> Send for Review --> Upload for Browser-based Review". Tried it with and without first running "Comments --> Enabling Commenting in Reader". Couldn't get Reader commenting tools in the browser review either way.Acrobat Pro 7.0 online help says the following:
"Setting up a browser-based review
...
...
Important: Reviewers must use Acrobat 6.0 or later to participate in a browser-based review. Adobe Reader 7.0 users may participate only if additional usage rights are added to the PDF document using an Adobe server product, such as Adobe Document Server or Adobe Reader Extensions Server.
..."

also

"Reviewing documents with additional usage rights
...
...To enable commenting for browser-based reviews, you must use an Adobe server product in addition, such as Adobe Document Server or Adobe Reader Extensions Server...
..."

I'm thinking that I'll have to resort to Plan B.
mschiesl
Registered: Feb 26 2008
Posts: 5
So my next question...

Would 'shared-reviews' in Acrobat Pro 8.0 give me the fully interactive review functionality that I'm looking for...without the Reader restrictions that I seem to be experiencing with Pro 7.0?

And if I conducted 'shared-reviews' with Pro 8.0, would my Reader reviewers have to upgrade to Reader 8.0 to participate?

I might try running a demo copy of Pro 8.0 to see if it does what I need. In the meantime, if you can help out with either of my two questions above, I appreciate it.

Thanks again,

Mike
lkassuba
ExpertTeam
Registered: Jun 28 2007
Posts: 3636
Ah, it's been awhile since I've done a browser review. You are correct that folks with Reader cannot participate in the browser review on Acrobat 7 Pro. only email review. In Acrobat 8 Pro. you can use the Shared Review capability for Reader participants (version 8 -- version 7 if you're using email-based review). Here are some key differences between shared review and browser taken from Randy Swineford's article:

1. Shared Review files can be distributed any way you want—website, e-mail, document management system, network share drive and so on. Browser-based review files can only be distributed via a website (hence the name). The new shared-review infrastructure is no longer dependent on the location of the document. The path to the comment server is baked into the document when you send it for review, so you can open a document in a web browser, make comments, save it to your desktop/open Acrobat, make more comments, save it and then email it to someone else—in all cases, the review will "just work." This also means you can use the review document with a content management system that Adobe doesn't support (like eRoom) because you can just upload it like any other file and it will just work. Shared review works in the browser or in stand-alone Acrobat. And because each review has a unique review ID, you can send the same document for review multiple times (for example, if you wanted to have different sets of reviewers).

2. Comments are retrieved from the comment server and cached locally, even when Acrobat isn't running. A little helper process occasionally polls the server for new comments and alerts you of their arrival. Therefore, you can open the document and work with all of the comments, even if you are disconnected and haven't looked at the document in a few days.

3. In a browser-based review, all of the comments have to be retrieved from the comment server every time you view the PDF file. In a shared review, because of the caching mechanism, comments are only retrieved once from the comment server—new comments are downloaded incrementally

4. Shared review supports seamless online/offline integration—you no longer have to "go offline." You hit publish and they go into a queue that gets sent the next time the server can be reached. This works even if Acrobat isn't running.

5. Shared review supports e-mail workflow for users outside the firewall who can't reach the comment server. We flag people who have never been able to connect to the review location and allow them to revert into an e-mail based workflow (you can also do this manually by selecting "Work Offline" in the user interface). When the reviewer e-mails back his or her comments, in this case the review initiator can take ownership of these comments and push them back into the review (comments will have the initiators name and will have "On behalf of Reviewer X" in the note body text).

6. Each reviewer, in addition to publishing comments, publishes metadata about their participation in the review (and the comment files are now RSS documents with namespace extensions, so they should be easier to deal with). Acrobat aggregates all that information together into a richer reviewing experience about the current state of the review—you can see this in the "Welcome" dialog and the Review Tracker. It tells you what has happened since the last time you opened the document and how many new comments each reviewer has made.

7. The review initiation and consumption experiences for users are also vastly improved over browser-based review. Shared review sends comments asynchronously so Acrobat doesn't lock up when you receive or publish comments—it does all of that in the background now. In a browser-based review, you had to wait for comments to be sent and received.

8. Acrobat Professional 8 will be able to reader-enable a shared review, allowing Reader 8 users to participate in the review. Browser-based review requires everyone to have Acrobat Standard or Professional.

9. Shared review supports network folders, SharePoint and webDAV servers as comment servers.

Lori Kassuba is an AUC Expert and Community Manager for AcrobatUsers.com.