Brain overload on PDF & printing hard copy

[Mary E Perry]

Can somebody please tell me in simple 1,2,3 order how to get a hard copy printed now that I have installed Adobe 5.0. I will not even tackle trying to email this darn appraisal just tell me how to print it. I've saved it to hard drive C:, saved it to a CD writer, saved it as PDF saved it as everything under the sun. I use two printers one laser for URAR etc. and a color printer for the pictures I have pulled into my Bradford 9.86 picture form from a Disk A: from digital camera? I keep getting message saying printer port being used by another program or something like that. And it does not matter if I'm trying to print to the laser or to the color printer. HELP :?

 

[John Hassler]

Hi Mary

Yeah, all this tech stuff can be such a pain. Not only do you need to know how to appraise, you also have to be part computer wizard. Anyway, I'm not quite clear on your problem but since I use Toolbox 9.86 and Adobe 5.0 I thought I would respond.

Adobe has Acrobat AND Distiller. When you loaded Adobe on your machine it should have loaded both Acrobat and Distiller. Use Distiller. I set up printer #1 in Toolbox with Distiller ---- go to File> Print Setup> and load Distiller from the drop down box> hit "OK". When I print to Printer #1, data is sent to Adobe Distiller like it would be a printer. At the end of "printing" to Distiller, Adobe auto starts and and shows up on my tool bar. I just print my office copy right from Adobe. Don't forget to set the properties of Distiller to legal size paper if that the format you want. Hope this works for you.

John Hassler

 

[Mary E Perry]

Thanks for the info John, will give it a try that way. To get the report out that the client stressed "is the only Appraisal report that is critical" I took my CD to my dad's and printed it. You are right you have to wear a lot of hats in this business. This 42 year old gal is about ready to let the young ones have it. I've been appraising since 1988 and I've kept up pretty well with all the technology changes. I guess my brain is wearing out, as appraisal data is black & white and you follow USPAP standards in my world. Did too many reviews in the last couple of weeks and my mind went into a tissy with all the grey and invisible "facts" in those reports. It's amazing after reviewing the reports I've seen lately I can turn on my 'puter. Thanks again and I think it would do me well to find an Adobe class (hopefully one that can be counted as CE) :wink:

 

[John Hassler]

Hey Mary

We're living parallel lives - I'm also 42 and have been appraising since 1983! 8)

FYI After I convert using Distiller, I open up the report in Adobe. Then I go to File> Document Security>. Click the drop down bar on Security Options and choose Acrobat Standard Security. In the Permissions section I check-off the bottom three choices leaving only Printing unchecked. Hit OK. Now save the file.


John Hassler

 

[Em Tee]

John:

FYI: You can set that option up in Distiller so that every time you create a pdf, it's already secure and you won't have to go through that extra step.

 

[airphoto]

John (Mary) ..

Don't you need to save it "encoded" and provide a password? If you fail that step, you don't lock the file ..

 

[John Hassler]

Airphoto

You may be correct but the way I read the Adobe literature was that the password was just for opening the document. However, after re-reading it appears you may also need a second password to set and lock permissions. Hopefully somebody knows for sure.

John Hassler

 

[Mary E Perry]

John & Airphoto

With all the varying scenarios of using Adobe (pdf files) & appraising I put in a request last night for a CE course in Adobe. My post is in the continuing ed forum. Hopefully some educator out there can pick up on the numerous questions regarding pdf files and appraisals/appraisal software that are in the many of the forums. It would be great to have a CE class in which I actually learned something.

I am so thankful that I found friendly folks on this web site that desire to assist. Blessed are those that are helpful.

Mary Perry

 

[Ben Vukicevich SRA]

Airphoto,

I never use a password and the file still comes up as "locked" based on my default setting in Distiller.

Mary,

When you print to PDF (assuming that you have the full version of Adobe 5.0, not just the free Reader version available on the internet, the Adobe program should open automatically for you when Toolbox is finished printing via Distiller. Once the Adobe program is opened and your file is displayed, you can print from inside it to one of your printers or send the email to your client using the Send Mail function..

You can also go into "File" in Toolbox and use the "Save as PDF file" function. That eliminates having to set up Distiller as a formal printer in Toolbox but you will have no choice as to the order of the pages in the printing process if you use Save As a PDF File.

Ben

 

[Em Tee]

Ben's right. Once you set the default in Distiller to lock the file and only allow viewing & printing, no edits can be made. Simple & secure! :wink: