5 tips for working anywhere with Acrobat (complete 15:12)

Hi, my name is Lori DeFurio and I’ll be spending the next few minutes to review 5 tips for working anywhere using Adobe Acrobat DC and its companion mobile apps. First - let’s review the apps & services I’ll be using today. I’ll be using Acrobat Pro DC but if you have Acrobat Standard DC, that’s fine. Everything I’ll demonstrate today is available in both versions. In addition to Acrobat, I’ll be using the two companion mobile apps - Acrobat Reader and Adobe Scan. Both of these apps are free of charge and you can install these on your mobile devices - phone or tablet. And if you’d like to get everything installed now feel free to pause the video and then come back when you’re ready to follow along. Here are the 5 tips I’ll be reviewing with you. We’ll start on desktop and move to the mobile apps. OK - let’s get started. Whether you’re at your desk, on your computer, or working from home, on your tablet or mobile phone, you have access to Acrobat everywhere. And you have access to all your files as well. My recommendation, you’ll want to visit documentcloud.adobe.com to download all the apps to your computer if you haven’t already. Let’s take a quick look at everything you have access to with your Acrobat DC subscription. This is the home screen of documentcloud.adobe.com. Once I’ve logged in I have access to everything. My documents and all the tools. Convert tools, Edit tools, including Combining Files, or Reordering Pages. Share tools, Sign tools and all the tools together with the apps at the top. And when you’re on the move - you’ll want to know you have your important files handy. You just star important files, and they’re right at the top of of the screen. Or if you have a file on one device, select the star and it will allow you to share across all devices. Let me show you how easy this is. As you can see in Acrobat - my starred files are at the top of the screen. then to add a new file, I select it. Select the star, it’s now in my Starred list. And if it was not already in Document Cloud - Acrobat will ask me if I’d like to share it. And if I have a PDF file open already, the star is available in the toolbar. I just click it and if my file isn’t already in the cloud - Acrobat will copy it there so I’ll have access to it anywhere on any device. Tip #2: It’s important to provide timely feedback if asked and conversely if you’re asking for feedback. You want to make it as simple and effortless for your reviewer. That’s where the Share tool comes in. It functions the same whether you’re in Acrobat, in the browser or on the mobile app. You’ll add the names of the reviewers, and then optionally add a deadline and/or reminder. Let’s take a look. I’ll select the Home view to find a recent file, let’s use the one we just starred. and open it. This checklist needs to be reviewed. I’ll click the Share tool, add a review’s email address, add a deadline, and a reminder, and I’ll click Send. Before I close the file, I’ll add a comment. I’ll use a Sticky Note. Now let’s see the experience for the reviewer. She receives an email asking her to comment on the shared file. She clicks open and is asked to either join as a guest or login. Let’s join as a guest, and add a comment. The reviewer only needed an email account to participate. No login, no additional app or service. And here’s a bonus tip. If you want to share a file without specifying individual people, you can “Get a link” that can be shared with everyone or anyone. Tip #3: When distributing your digital documents you may want to add some level of protection. No editing or no copying of the content, or even no printing. You’ll use the Protect tool to see all the options. Let’s take a look. I have an employee handbook open and I want to ensure no one can edit the contents. I’ll select Protect tool and then Protect Using Password. I can either require a password for viewing - or editing, I’ll select Editing, add a password, and confirm a 2nd time. Select Apply and I’m done! The file is now protected from editing and only people I share the password with will be able to make any edits. Here’s a bonus tip. If you frequently add passwords to your PDFs you can save your security settings to use again. Just select Advanced Options > Manage Security Policies. I’ve created one named Restrict Printing & Editing. Tip #4: Everyone at some point needs to fill out forms & add signatures. Since you don’t always have access to a printer, let me show you how to stay digital when working with forms & signatures. As a government employee, I recommend you don’t use Fill & Sign in Acrobat or Reader for work. It’s not compliant for most government purposes - but … if you’re registering for a conference, or filling out a permission slip for a school trip, sure. It’s quick and easy and works on mobile. However, let’s first focus on what you can do at work. You might have a PIV or CAC card that includes a digital identity, or digital certificate, or your agency may have licensed Adobe Sign Enterprise that you can use within Acrobat DC to sign - or even request signatures. So let’s take a look. Here’s a 2-page Loan Application that my agency has created. First, I’ll select Certificates tool and select Digitally Sign from the toolbar. This PDF doesn’t have form fields so I’m asked to click and drag to add my signature. I’m prompted to select my digital certificate or digital ID. If you use a PIV or CAC card. once you enter your ID in the card reader, you’ll see a similar screen. I click Sign and I’m done. The blue bar shows that it’s Signed and that all signatures - in this case my signature, is valid. If you ever receive a digitally signed PDF. You can click on Signature Panel. Select Validate All and Acrobat will check the validity of the signatures. OK - now let’s move on to Adobe Sign. I’ll use the same PDF file so it’s easy to see the differences between signing options. Select Adobe Sign, add the email addresses of the signers. Since this document requires 2 signatures, I’ve added 2 email addresses, if you need to have someone on the CC, you can add that as well. I’ll add a subject and could edit the message if needed and then I click Specify Where to Sign. And Adobe Sign opens and guides me where to add the fillable fields or signatures. As you can see on the right, since I specified 2 signers, I have 2 options available. I’ll select first one (the yellow one) - and then just click on the page where I want the signature to go. Acrobat knows this is a signature because it ‘read’ the words “Authorized Signature” as a result of Adobe Sensei. I’ll select the pink or 2nd signer and click to add that signature field as well. Now I’ll add the rest of the fields. Names, Social Security numbers, and dates. Then I just click send and the document is on its way to the signers. Now let’s see the experience for the signer. She receives an email asking her to review and sign the loan application. Similar to what we saw in tip #2, all Akira needs is an email address and any device. Laptop, tablet, mobile phone, whatever. To review and sign the application. She clicks on Review & Sign and the document is opened in Adobe Sign. The message is displayed and then Akira is prompted to complete the fields and sign. She can sign by typing her name, drawing her name if she has a touch screen. Or in my case, I did a poor job with my mouse - let’s clear that! You could add an image - if you took a photo with your phone of your signature. Or you can add a mobile number to have Adobe Sign send a text message so that the signer can use her finger to sign on her mobile device. I’ll just stick with typing in her name. Click Apply. Add her printed name, and social security number. Whoops I added too many digits. Adobe Sign knows that social security numbers are 10 digits, so I’m prompted to fix my mistake. And now that everything is complete and correct, she clicks Click to Sign, and the document is on it’s way to the 2nd signer - John Jacobs. Now - let’s go back to Acrobat. If I need to check on the status of the document, I select Home to return to the Home view. Select All Agreements, select open Adobe Sign, and I can see the status of all agrements I’ve sent. There are four out for signature right now. I can select the one waiting for John Jacobs. I can remind him to sign, or click, and take action or review activity. Before moving to Tip 5, let’s review the Fill & Sign tool. As I mentioned earlier, Fill & Sign is not compliant for most government purposes. But what if you’re registering for a conference? Or filling out a permission slip? You can use Fill & Sign in Acrobat or Reader. Let’s look at using the Fill & Sign tool in the Adobe Reader mobile app. I just open the app, select the form to fill out, click the pencil tool to select Fill & Sign. I’ll zoom in to see a little bit better, and then just click, and click, and click. Because my profile was filled in, I didn’t even have to type anything! And when I create my signature, I have three options. Draw my signature, import an image, or just write my name on a piece of paper and take a photo of it. Then just click on the screen and I’m done. Using the tools to stay digital. Let’s start with Adobe Scan. I’ll open the app. The camera is automatically ready. And point my phone at the magazine. Remember to try to hold steady and Adobe Scan automatically recognizes the page borders and takes the photo for me. I’ll name the file and it’s automatically uploaded to the cloud. Basically converted from pixels to words. And if I open it in Acrobat, I can select all the text, or the graphics for reuse. Or to archive a searchable PDF. Let’s take a final look at what Acrobat Reader mobile can do. First click on the plus symbol. You can scan and you’ll be directed back to Adobe Scan. Create PDF or Combine files. And once you open a PDF you’ll see a pencil symbol. This allows you to Comment, Fill & Sign which we’ve already done. But also Edit PDF and Organize pages and if you use your device’s Share tool, you’ll see the same option we looked at in Tip #2 on desktop Acrobat. Well that’s it! 5 tips to working from anywhere with Adobe Acrobat DC. Take care and be safe. -