Determining what version of Reader is used by clients

Hi RoyG,

I am not in the legal field, just saw your post and thought I could offer an idea. You can use JavaScript in your PDFs that will check for what version of Acrobat or Reader is being used, and popup an alert to the user that they need a higher version of Reader in order to use all the features (get the best experience). A good example od doing that can be found in Ted Padovas 101 Forms eTips (Tip 43) you can get from-
http://www.acrobatusers.com/articles/2007/11/101_forms_etips_article

If it is important information it should not be too difficult for most to update a free app, but I do know in some enterprises it is simply not allowed.

In most cases PDFs view fine even in very old versions of Reader , just certain features won't work. For example, with Portfolios if you create a custom navigator only Reader 9 or Acrobat 9 viewers will be able to render it. However, Reader 8 would show the user a PDF Package instead, which is not all that bad. I liked Packages, but they aren't as flashy as Portfolios (pun intended). Reader 6 and 7 would just have all attached documents in the attachments panel- everything is still there but the management and navigation around is not as easy as a Portfolio.

I do not believe Adobe thinks everyone uses Adobe Reader 9- they wish that were true though. How much easier it would be to deal with and manage when everyone is on the same page.

Hope this helps,

Dimitri
WindJack Solutions
www.pdfscripting.com
www.windjack.com

I think realistically it's more a question of what the document needs to include rather than could include. Adobe (rightly) won't say what the version penetration of Reader is, as they have competitors who'd kill for the stats, however the fact some people may be on legacy is not IMO a blanket reason to ignore a new and useful feature, provided it is actually useful and not just there to look flashy (Pun (C)2009 Dimitri).

If a client is expecting to be shown a document containing an interactive 3D model (say a crime scene recon) then we're justified in demanding they install v9. If they actually only wanted some static photos and descriptive text, the PDF can be built for a much lower version of Reader and they'll be just as happy. Similarly I'm an ardent supporter of the Portfolio features on R9, and they make a promotional document look fantastic; but aren't contributing anything invaluable to a pack of text documents, so may not be worth the bother to include if you then have to explain to legacy readers why their document doesn't look the same as the one they saw on your laptop.

I'm all for gentle up-issue pressure (if someone asked for the photos and text, I'll always suggest that playing with an interactive 3D model might be easier for people to comprehend, should they want to try it) however many of the new R9 features are specifically intended to work on a screen. Your Portfolio flash navigator and embedded video clips are useless if a jury wants printouts, so it's important to consider if the new features are actually causing problems rather than solving them.

One final point however, is that encryption is better in v7+ documents as it uses AES hashing (realistically there's no difference between v7's 128 bit keys and v9's 256, as to crack a 128-bit key takes several universes of time). Down-versioning too far may raise problems if you or your client has a specific policy on encryption (The US DOD for example is very much in love with AES).

Thanks Dimitri. I'll need to play with the Java script but that's a good way to handle one aspect of my question. Even if we know the version of Reader, how do you quickly assess the skill level of your recipient? Does every user of version 9 know what it means if I enable commenting? Even if I explain what it means, many users will have trouble using tools that will be new to them.

I can always send out a document and see what happens, but I suspect that I'll aggravate as many clients as I'll please.

Usvar, thanks for your response. I get the sense that you work frequently with the same clients. I am a transactional real estate attorney who works with a rotating list of clients. At any moment, roughly half of them are new to me. I can never tell what this half expects from PDF documents. You'd be surprised how many don't understand such basic principles as why they can't directly edit text in a PDF document. So many clients had trouble dealing with comments that I've taken to sending a second document to clients containing my comments in a printed format.

I am glad to report, however, that most clients can finally open a PDF document. Reader, in one form or another, is almost always on their computer.

RoyG - it's always worth considering slipping in a bit of extra help, for example by including a link in your PDF's header/footer to a 'help' section on your own website; or for something like a Portfolio of 3D models, we include a Quick Start document in there, with basic "this is what you're looking at, and this is what you can do with it.." stuff, plus answers to the regular FAQs over how to print/extract/edit/etc.

99% of the info is in the product help, but clients feel a lot more cared-for if you're giving them personally-crafted guidance. It's a one-time effort to make the documents, but well worth it if the alternative is a confused client calling your cell at 3am - plus it gives the client confidence to hand off the document to someone even less computer-literate.