Working in the Cloud: Check Out Acrobat.com Programs

Your Acrobat.com workspace is a quick and easy method for managing, organizing, and sharing files with others. You don’t have to stop there: Instead of creating common types of files on your computer and then uploading them to Acrobat.com, consider building them online.

If you’ve been a Microsoft Office user from way back, it takes some time to adjust your workflow to incorporate more online programs. It’s worth the time and effort, though, especially if you’re building common work- or business-related documents. In this article, I’ll run through some common features on the three productivity tools available via Acrobat.com that let you easily create and share documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Then I’ll give you some tips for working in Buzzword.

Creating content on Acrobat.com

You’ll find a few documents included in your Acrobat.com file collection containing introductory tutorial information on using the document production programs (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Review “getting started” information.

To start a new file, activate the workspace location where you want to store the document on Acrobat.com. Click New to open the menu, and select a program from the list (Figure 2). The program names are self-explanatory.

Figure 2: Start a new file.

Common features

Regardless of which program you launch, you’ll find a consistent interface running within the Acrobat.com framework. Most menu items are available in the toolbars. Look for these common functionalities:

• Toolbars slide horizontally across the top of the program window; only one toolbar displays at a time. For example, the Buzzword interface shown in Figure 3 displays the Paragraph toolbar.

Figure 3: The programs run within Acrobat.com.

• Tooltips slide into view in response to moving your cursor over a tool or toolbar label. Move the cursor to hide the tooltips again.
• Additional program menus display at the top of the browser window.
• To return to Acrobat.com, click the link at the upper left of the window, or click the x above the toolbar.
• Manage file sharing using the Acrobat.com features at the lower left of the window.
• Review and modify document features using the icons at the lower right of the document window. The available options depend on the program, but at a minimum, you can access document history and magnification.
• Documents save automatically every few minutes and when you return to the Acrobat.com interface—you’ll never see a Save dialog box or screen.
  Note: If you’re a heavy right-click/shortcut menu user, you’ll find some object-specific menus for items like columns. Otherwise, since the programs run on Flash, a right-click merely displays a few Flash commands.

Common functions

A number of features are common to the production programs, as well as any other files you’re storing on Acrobat.com. Some common examples include:

• The Acrobat.com programs allow you to share or work with others simultaneously on a document. You can share a file individually, or include it in a shared workspace (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Share files in different ways.

• Document tagging works with files you generate from the document production programs, as well as with any documents or files you upload and store on Acrobat.com.

Unlike files you upload and store on Acrobat.com, the documents you produce track the file’s development. You can easily maintain, review and return to historical versions of your documents. Click the History icon at the bottom right of the window to slide the History panel into view (Figure 5). Click any iteration on the timeline to display the document as it existed at that time. Hover your cursor over the points on the timeline for information. In Buzzword, you can view changes on the page in callouts (also shown in Figure 5) or using redlining.

Figure 5: View historical document versions.

Using Buzzword

Create new content in Buzzword, copy and paste content from another source or import content from your hard drive or other location to use in a Buzzword document. Most commands are accessible from the toolbars (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Toolbars contain common document processing commands.

Tip: The Buzzword document page uses standard letter-sized pages with one-inch margins. Choose Document > Page Setup to change the settings, which you can also save as the default layout.

Handling content

You can type text directly into a blank Buzzword document, or open an imported file, such as a Word document. Items such as headers, footers and styles are included in the content. You can text copied from another source and placed into the Buzzword document. However, as you see in Figure 7, the pasted content also includes identifying data.

Figure 7: Pasted text includes metadata.

Working with layout elements

Here are a few tips for handling common tasks and workflows in Buzzword:

• Close the History view before trying to make changes to your document. If you’re viewing an historical version of the file, you can’t activate any menu controls.
• Configure lists at will. You can stop and resume a list, change its indent or level, and pick a bullet (Figure 8).

Figure 8: Easily add and modify list elements.

• Select images from many sources to add to the file. Once placed on the page, you can use commands to define the text wrap, drag the image to any location, or resize by dragging the corners (Figure 9).

Figure 9: Add and position images.

• Include various objects using commands from the Insert menu. For example, you can add headers and footers, and then edit them on the page like any text (Figure 10). Choose from a number of fields from the header or footer dropdown lists. You can also use a different header or footer for the first page.

Figure 10: Configure document headers and footers.

Note: You can add common fields to your document as well. Click Insert > Fields and select an option from the submenu.

• To add a table, click the page where you want to it, and then click the Insert Table icon on the Table menu. The default table contains two columns and two rows. Use the toolbar options to change colors, configure specific elements using right-click menus, and drag gridlines to resize cells (Figure 11).

Figure 11: Add and configure simple tables.

Proofing your document

Many of us can’t work properly without access to spell check. Fortunately, Buzzword includes a great spell checking and dictionary feature. Choose Document > Spell Check Settings to open the dialog box, and choose from 19 dictionaries (Figure 12).

Figure 12: Configure and use a spell-check dictionary.

Documents are checked as you work, and flagged with a red underline. You can scroll through the document and make changes manually, or click the flagged items list on the bottom right of the document window to move through the text.
As you move your cursor over a flagged word, a dropdown list displays, offering you several choices (also shown in Figure 12):

• Choose an alternate spelling if one exists
• Add the term to your custom dictionary (choose xxx is OK always)
• Add the term to the current document only (choose xxx is OK in this document)

Comment in Buzzword

Buzzword includes interactive commenting. As you click anywhere on the page, you’ll see a comment icon display at the right of the document window (Figure 13). Move your cursor over the icon to display a comment entry field.

Figure 13: Add comments to the page.

Comments can include tables or graphics in addition to text, like the example shown in Figure 14.

Figure 14: Comments can contain graphics or tables.

To add another element to a comment, follow these steps:

1. Click the Comment icon to activate the field. You’ll see the page background turn gray.
2. Choose Insert > Graphic and follow the prompts to select an image, or choose Insert > Table to drop the default four-cell table into the comment box.
3. Click off the comment box to resume working on the document page.

One last tip for working with Buzzword—not only can you add graphics or tables to a comment, but you can then move the items (including the text) into the body of the document. Just select the item you want to move from the comment box and then drag and drop it into place on the page. Very cool!