Allowing clients to update text and photos

I am also a graphic design and find it nice to send the client the form (card, invitations, note cards,etc) with graphic design in pdf so the can add they own text or title and it prints the same for everyone which is a great time saver when selling the same layout repeatedly with differnet graphics HOWEVER adobe acrobat is very limited for graphic designers. It simple will not let me make Corel Draw my default image editor.

I also would love to allow them to add pictures and have more font controls especially color of text in adobe reader.

I can set up few forms in word converted to pdf but simple too time consumer when you have to work on a hourly cost effective project.

I wish I could be more help but Acrobat is made for business forms and simple not graphic designer friendly.

Kimberly

Anything where a PDF is "edited" beyond simple filling in of forms requires Acrobat and not Reader. Reader is what it says it is.

Acrobat is also not intended to be a DTP-featured editor - it has functionality to create, repair and tidy up PDFs, but the workflow ethos of Acrobat from right back in V1 is that the document is created by an external design application, printed to PDF, and Acrobat is there to tinker with the parts which that application cannot do itself. It's grown new features over time (3D, Flash, etc.) but the ethos still applies.

I agree with you but it is too bad adobe reader does not allow import image and change font color, size and type more. It would make the adobe reader much more valuable tool. Those simple features are not a DTP Editor but a valuable way for adobe acrobat to be used beyond a business forms tool.

I am keeping my eye out for another reader that does off these features. I assume one day someone will understand there is a market for such a editing program with free reader. The only real reason I use Acrobat is for the security features, it prints right for everyone and nearly everyone it. If I could find another pdf that allowed these feature I would recommend it on my page instead of adobe reader. But you would with what available.

Any more info on this? I'm in the same boat... looking for a solution on how simply add photos and text to documents via Adobe reader.

Adobe would need to come with a new version of adobe reader that allow graphic designer to protect our artwork we put use acrobat but allow the adobe reader user to insert picture.

K, this is a great point but even the simplest web interactive pages (like Facebook for example) is set up for easy use for the end user. You all have touched on a similar problem I'm having but nobody's suggested this and I don't see what would be so difficult about this for people with Reader only. I am also a designer and I create form templates all the time in InDesign and then use Acrobat's forms to make them interactive for clients. What I would like to do (and I think it's absurd that I can't) is create my own image field for my client that they could then click and a dialog box would pop up and say "Browse" for an image, just as simply as you can do on any social networking website, find your photo and then click "Upload" ...or in this case, you'd say "Add" or "Apply Image". Simple, simple, simple. Again, ridiculous that they haven't added this feature yet.

It would have to adhere to the frame the designer creates. For instance, if your photo box is horizontal and they want to add a vertical image, they'll be stuck with a pretty small, disproportionate image but at least it'll be in there. I mean, hell, I can create a place for a client to add their own barcode, which is way more complicated than adding a simple photo.

C'mon, really? You're not going to add a feature for us to create a simple image import link so our clients can add their own images? Seriously? No, really??? Really?

It's a disservice to how much I pay for this product and frankly, I'm insulted.

Get point about the barcode.

Kimberly

Just my thoughts on it but if Adobe did making updates for graphic designers then they would be opening a whole new market for their products. Right now there no reason for someone like to me to buy updates for the product. I more or less just use it for security so why update.

Kimberly

I been telling people on text to write in MS Word then copy and paste to box I provide so they can add text easy and have it with the font, size and color they want. You have all allow rich text in the text box.

Hope that helps
Kimberly

I think you're wrong on several issues.

1. Yes, you are a client of Adobe, but *your* clients are not. If they want the ability to change PDF files they will need to buy Acrobat. That's just business.

2. There's a big difference between adding a barcode (which is a very very limited piece of content) and adding an image, or text, to a file. In effect, if Adobe allows this, then what's stopping me from creating a file with 100 blank pages, each containing a "insert image here"-field over the entire page? Any user with Reader can then take this blank template and simply create PDF files using screenshots of any document or images that they have. This will, in effect, make Acrobat redundant.

3. There's a big difference between adding an image to a website (which is basically uploading it to the servers of your host, making it their property in most cases) and embedding an image in a portable document which can later be distributed freely.

“That's just business” - I agree it just business and if the Adobe company wants the graphic design people and companies to buy or update their adobe acrobat product then they need to add features we need. If they don’t want us as part of their markets base and want to gear the product to business forms only that is their decision. It does not mean we can't want or ask for other features to let them know what features we like. It is just business that we do ask.

On the images - Speaking for myself, I am talking about importing an image to a set box just like you can copy and paste text for a word processor to a form box which if nothing like uploading.

I can’t ask my client to spend that much money for Acrobat when they will not use it that often, some people only use it seasonally. I personally am talking to programs about building my company a freeware program to fit our needs which I can give client free. For now I will use Acrobat because I highly doubt the will expand their programs beyond business forms.

Kimberly

It's worse than that : this existing feature was removed since Reader 6… this was discussed in another topic.

Now, assuming that the PDF is Comment-enabled, end-users can use the copy-paste command to insert a picture, or the stamp tool.

Then, those pictures aren't stored as "form-datas", if you need to insert pictures as form-datas you must use the JavaScript command : this.importDataObject()


Concerning text, you must allow "RTF formatting" in text-fields, then end-users can use the CTRL/CMD + E to format, otherwise you can create some buttons as in this sample file :
http://abracadabrapdf.net/articles.php?lng=en&pg=75(Clic the big button to download it)

;-)