Office 2003 and PDF Files

J

Jonty

Guest
Hello

Just a little bit of interesting news concerning Office 2003 . . .
Office 2003 Beta Tester Email
ScanSoft and Microsoft have teamed to bring you a new plug-in for Microsoft Office 2003, one that allows you to instantly convert PDF into editable documents directly from within Microsoft Word 2003 - complete with the layout of the original. The ScanSoft PDF Converter for Microsoft Word unlocks the information trapped in PDF files, separating text from graphics, tables and columns. Now you can re-use information in PDF documents that you download from the Web or receive as email attachments.

The ScanSoft PDF Converter for Microsoft is tightly integrated with Microsoft Office 2003 in two ways. First, Microsoft Word 2003 is extended with the ability to "File>>Open" PDF files. [Emphasis Added]
Click to expand...
This cannot come soon enough. I like Adobe products on the whole, but PDF files have long been the bain of my existence, firstly because of a lack of integrated Microsoft support and secondly because I don't much care for the Acrobat program. Office 2003 might be worth the entry fee alone just for this feature :)

Kind Regards
 
J

Jonty

Guest
P.S. This is very subjective view :p If you feel the same, or even if you're happy with PDF files as they are, post your views :D

Happy Easter!
 
D

djpringle

Guest
Huzzaahhh \o/

Miracles do happen.

This will make life so much easier since all our procedures have been converted to poxy pdf's. Since most of them are wrong it's a pain to edit...

Unfortunately the company won't get Office 2003 :(
 
M

Miles_Binck

Guest
just been playing around with it on word 2003 and its a welcome add-on. I'm with you Jonty with regards to Acrobat, it has always been a huge pain in the ass and this makes working with .pdfs much easier.

[EDIT]

It seems to work with other Word versions (97, 2000, & XP), i've just opened a couple of pdfs in Word XP & Word 2000 and been able to edit them, append into them etc etc.

From the PDF Converter ReadMe file
System Requirements

The following are the minimum system requirements to install and run the ScanSoft PDF Converter for Microsoft® Word:

  • Microsoft Word 97, Microsoft Word 2000, Microsoft Word XP or Microsoft Word 2003
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Article on PDF converter found on Neowin

[/EDIT]
 
J

Jonty

Guest
Glad it's not just me :) And thanks for that update Miles, I'll try and install it on my copy of Office :D

Kind Regards
 
S

(Shovel)

Guest
Does anyone have a download link for this? (To try it on Office 2000)
 
S

(Shovel)

Guest
Thanks. Downloading now, I'm looking forward to this, I rarely get hold of plug ins that I know I am "really" going to use :)
 
J

Jonty

Guest
Just a word of caution, this plug-in is still in it's earliest beta stage :)

Kind Regards
 
S

smurkin

Guest
doesn't that just mean that microsoft has found a way to nick adobe's buisness ? (maybe the pdf's day has come....I dunno ?!?)
 
E

Embattle

Guest
Kind of ironic that MS seems to of broken what is meant to be a secure document format, yet at the same time it is integrating DRM into Office 2003 :)
 
J

Jonty

Guest
Originally posted by smurkin
doesn't that just mean that microsoft has found a way to nick adobe's buisness ? (maybe the pdf's day has come....I dunno ?!?)
Click to expand...
It's true that the PDF format has long been a thorn in Microsoft's side, so much so that Microsoft have made considerable plans in the past to purchase the whole of Adobe Systems just to remove the threat, although directors and shareholders have thus far played down any take over rumours. Anyway, with this converter Microsoft appears to have found a good solution. It may be developed by a third-party, but being so seemlessly integrated into Office means Microsoft gets to harnass a standard they didn't create, rather than going to the trouble of destroying or obtaining it in full.

Originally posted by Embattle
Kind of ironic that MS seems to of broken what is meant to be a secure document format, yet at the same time it is integrating DRM into Office 2003
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Some day soon you'll be able to look up 'paradox' and 'irony' in the dictionary and see some sought of reference to Microsoft in the definition :) You're right, being able to edit PDF documents does cause potential hazards, which is all the more ironic considering the DRM considerations in Office 2003 (like DRM in Windows Media Player, which still allows you to copy CDs and disable copy protection etc).

However, in fairness, I believe it's always been possible to edit most PDF documents with third-party software, or even with Adobe's own kit in some instances. And I believe ScanSoft will be including some form of protection so that read-only files will have limited, if any, editing privileges.

It should be interesting how Adobe respond, but really there's not a lot they can do, apart from improve their Acrobat program. In that respect introducing competition is good. Funny, though, you don't see people taking Adobe to court for their market monoplies ;)

Kind Regards
 
S

smurkin

Guest
Well....it may be that MS will break adobe in the courts...its an effective practice ...you (the big guy) nick someones key intellectual property using some bogus patent angle...when the smaller company argues prior art and challenges the conflicting patent, you bury them in counter challenges and legal. The combination of legal costs..which can be astronomical, and negative sentiment being detrimental to the smaller companies share price, make the defensive challenge either financially inviable or crippling, and the smaller company bends over and says "take me boys". *am I sounding cinical here*

Fortunately, Adobe isnt a one hit wonder and makes plenty other cracking software.
 
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