Category Archives: knowledge

Getting the most out of our PDF-to-Word converter

While some of you may be regular or occasional users of our free PDF to Word conversion service, in this post I’d like to concentrate on the extended PDF to Word technology in our Nitro PDF Professional product.
Our desktop product has the obvious speed benefit over the online service, but much more than that is its [...]

PrimoPDF and font embedding

Font embedding means that font information is included directly within the PDF file. Embedding fonts ensures the PDF can be viewed or printed on any computer, with text appearing exactly as it does in the original file. Embedding fonts can increase PDF file size (since more information needs to be included), but can be helpful [...]

The reason why so many people use PDF files

It’s impossible to say exactly how many PDF files are out there floating around, but what I can say with confidence is that the format has become a highly popular method for distributing information between people. Today I thought I’d share a few thoughts on why I think the PDF format has become so successful [...]

Long-term digital archiving with PDF/A

For decades, paper has been the primary (and sometimes only) means for record-keeping for organizations from all industries, in all shapes and sizes. Businesses have been built around hard copies and paper trails, and it can be difficult for some to imagine letting go of these tangible “security blankets” they’ve grown accustomed to. However, as [...]

Optimizing images in PDF files free with PrimoPDF

While PrimoPDF makes it easy to prepare PDFs for the most common usage scenarios with the Screen, Print, eBook, and Prepress output options, it also enables you to fine-tune image settings using Downsampling.
Downsampling enables you to reduce image resolution, discarding pixel information and resulting in a smaller PDF.  Simply choose Custom from the PDF output [...]

Picture-perfect PDF files with Nitro PDF Professional

By now, you’re well aware of the benefits of using PDFs to share information with others. PDF provides you the means to create pixel-perfect files that look just like the originals, while the popularity of PDF viewers make it an ideal format for sharing files with others.
One clever use of PDF is in packaging up [...]

The future for PDF document reviewing with Nitro Pro

The Nitro team uses PDF-related markup and review tools extensively. In the product and support side of things, there are specifications and interfaces to discuss, in marketing, there are web pages, flyers, boxes, logos and more, and at a management level, there’s regularly agreements, contracts and the like to circulate and finalize.
Where I think PDF [...]

PDF-to-Word Conversion: Why It’s So Hard to Do

When a file is converted to PDF, it loses its meaning. On the surface all the information is there, and to your eyes it looks exactly the same, but underneath that, all the method, structure and intelligence used when designing the original document has been lost†. This forms the heart of the challenge faced when [...]

An Introduction to PDF Bates Stamp Numbering

If you’ve been using Nitro Pro for a while and have wondered what the Bates Number feature is for, read on for an introduction.

photo credit: Joseph Robertson
The PDF editing tool is based on the Bates stamp that has been used for decades to add a unique number to a series of pages. As you [...]

Search Unsearchable Web-Based PDF Files

Google has announced a significant addition to its search capabilities. A huge collection of PDF files online that were not being indexed, now are through optical character recognition (OCR) technology.
Previously, when paper files were scanned to PDF and not OCRd (see How Text Works in OCR’d and Scanned PDF files), the contents of the files, [...]