Major online tax and accounting website, AccountingToday.com, released their annual review of noteworthy accounting software tools, The 2013 Top New Products, and our very own Able2Extract 8 made the list!
Covering industry news, offering expert analysis, and reviewing a select database of professional resources and services, AccountingToday.com is a leading authority for the tax and accounting industry.
Able2Extract 8 was counted among the other highly regarded accounting and tax software tools reviewed in The 2013 Top New Products. It was featured and noted by editors in the Spreadsheet Tools Category for enabling PDF-to-spreadsheet conversion and aiding auditor control.
We’re extremely grateful to have Able2Extract 8 reviewed and given an honourable mention. This recognition is a great stepping stone for us as their leading tech review experts “are confident that this year’s list is a good representation of what is truly worthy of attention.”
Thank you to Seth Fineberg and AccountingToday.com for their support!
With Able2Extract 8 there were a few changes in layout that may have had you wondering if Able2Extract backtracked and scaled back on its PDF to Word options.
It hasn’t. Able2Extract’s PDF to Word conversion options are still there and still fully functional.
Obviously, how you work with MS Word will constantly change—as will your editing needs. After last week’s release of MS Office 2013, for instance, you may already be exploring new features, taking advantage of MS Word 2013 and all it has to offer. Well, Able2Extract is no stranger to MS Word, and it’s for updates like those that we continue to include Able2Extract’s variety of PDF to Word options.
So this week we bring them to the forefront to show you what our PDF to Word variety is all about and how each option can accommodate how you work within MS Word.
In Able2Extract 8, the PDF to Word conversion options can be found within the File menu under the Convert to Word… conversion command. Hover over it to expand the menu. The options will be activated once your content is selected for conversion:
Convert to Word- Standard
We always have this as the default and recommended PDF to Word conversion option. This is because it offers the most accuracy and editability for MS Word documents.
A PDF to Word Standard conversion will retain background graphics, as a background image in the converted output, and the textual layout using the layout of the original PDF document for guidance. For most documents, this will provide the best looking output for general purposes and quick conversions.
Convert to Word- Frames
Though it will preserve content just as well as the Standard conversion, the Frames option will give you slightly different results. The converted PDF to Word output will retain the background graphics and layout of the selected pages and items, but with the text appearing in individual text boxes in a new Word document, like so:
This conversion is ideal if you prefer or need to work with text boxes which can be moved within a document. For instance, if the placement of text and graphics are a priority, as it is in publications, converting PDF content into frames will let you position and re-position your content around easily.
Under certain circumstances, because the text boxes are designed to correlate with the structural positioning of the original PDF document, it may be possible to generate a more accurate layout than with the Standard conversion selection option.
Convert to Word- Text
As the name suggests, the Convert to Word -Text conversion option will only convert the text portions of selected items. The text will appear as a standard paragraph without special formatting or text boxes in a new Word document.
This conversion is most useful when working with textual information takes priority over preserving the look and feel of your content in Word. You can easily avoid transferring over images or graphics that aren’t needed. As you can imagine, this can save you a lot of time spent on cutting or deleting them post-conversion.
Specifying Your MS Word Output
In addition to customizing your conversion results, you can also change the PDF to Word output format with a few clicks. You can do this by accessing Able2Extract’s conversion settings by going into the View menu and selecting Options… :
The Word conversion output offers 3 different output formats when converting a PDF to Word. You can select any of the 3 options:
Default: Using this setting on the Windows platform will result in the software automatically detecting which version of Word is installed on the machine and then saving the Word output into the applicable format – .docx or .doc.
RTF: Choosing this setting means that all conversion that are made from PDF to Word will be saved in the rich text format (.rtf) extension.
Word 2007: Using this setting means that all documents converted into Word will be saved as .docx regardless of which version of Word is installed.
Implementing just a few of these options and settings can help save you some major editing time. Though a Standard conversion is probably sufficient for general purposes, it’s always good to try and get the most out of your PDF to Word conversions wherever possible. With the growing complexity of Word documents, you can’t afford not to!
Facebook is the number one site where you probably spend most of your time online. Undoubtedly, the comments, messages, photos, and videos you post up end up accumulating into one big online scrapbook of your best and most memorable moments in life. It isn’t any wonder then that you would want to preserve that content offline and onto your computer?
While the videos and photos you have posted up might already be on your computer, there are some related bits, like the notes, comments, Wall posts or Facebook messages, which aren’t.
In fact, one of our PDF Creator Facebook app users was wondering if there was a way in which she could download and get all of her Facebook messages into PDF format.
If you want to download your Facebook data into a PDF file, here’s a detailed and slightly altered step-by-step version of the solution we put together and which you can try out for yourself.
1. Log into your Facebook Account
2. Go to Account Settings
3. Under General settings, click on the “Download a copy” of your Facebook data link below your personal information settings.
You’ll then get an overview of what information will be archived and which won’t.
4. Click on the Start My Archive button and confirm your download. This process may take a while depending on how much data you have. Facebook will send you a link to download your archive file via email.
As Facebook notes, all the data contained on your Facebook profile will be downloaded into one single archive. However, you will get the chance to choose which folder and data you can convert later on.
5. Check your email for the link and click on it to reconfirm your password. Download and save the zipped file to your computer.
6. Extract all files from the zipped folder into a folder or location you can easily access. It contains the individual files of your data– photos, videos, and web-based content.
To access your messages, go to HTML> Messages file.
Double click to open the Messages file in your browser to make sure all the content you want is there.
To convert this data into the PDF format, you can use Sonic PDF Creator 3.0 to convert HTML to PDF.
7. Once installed or if you have the program already, open Sonic PDF Creator and click on the Create PDF From File icon on the command toolbar.
8. Click on the Browse button. Select and upload your Messages HTML file.
9. Click the Create PDF button. This should start the conversion process.
Once your Facebook data conversion is done, you can then add whatever PDF features you want to the file. Add a password, headers, footers, watermarks or bookmarks. When you’ve added all you want, simply save your PDF file in a location of your choice.
This process can work for any of the HTML data files you have in your archive. It’s an easy way to keep or reuse your Facebook content in a secure manner while customizing the file to your needs. Give it a try.
If you have another way of saving and preserving your Facebook data, let us know in the comments below!
As you may know from her bio, our blogger loves to figure skate. Reena grew up following the sport and its skaters, but never really tried it out for herself until she started as an adult skater while attending university. After the first lesson, she was hooked.
Currently, she takes recreational lessons with a figure skating coach and is learning how to skate in both freeskate (singles) and ice dance.
Despite the nerves, she just passed her Junior Bronze ice dance test, the Swing Dance (fourth test in the discipline). It focuses on backwards and forwards skating, edges, and changes in direction. Take a look (she’s the one who starts off skating backwards):
For the past couple of months, Linux related news has been popping up in one form or another. For instance, Facebook launched Pages Manager, an app for managing Facebook Pages on your Android, which is based on the Linux kernel. In addition, one of the biggest buzzes at CES 2013 this year is centered upon Ubuntu for mobile phones.
Even gamers who are subscribed to Steam, Valve’s software management and community platform for gaming, are now able to beta test the newly released Linux-based client. And let’s not forget that we just released Able2Extract for Linux, ourselves!
The platform is certainly building up an appeal to developers, manufacturers and users alike. If you’re an Investintech user starting to get curious about Linux or looking to make the switch yourself, we’ve put together a quick basic overview on the Linux platform, the nature of PDF tools in the industry, and how Able2Extract 8 fits in.
Let’s Back Up A Bit: What Is Linux And What Are Distributions?
Like Windows, Linux is an operating system that first started out in 1991 as a terminal emulator by Linus Torvalds, who wrote the initial program to access UNIX servers of his university independent of an operating system. What eventually emerged was the beginning of the Linux platform.
Because Linux was released and licensed as an open source project, developers are able to build different UNIX-like operating systems on top of its kernel (the Linux core). Each newly built operating system includes a collection of software applications, supporting utilities and libraries, the Linux kernel and an installer. Together the package is called a “distribution” and are free to download and use.
These distributions have the same Linux kernel at heart, but are different in software, desktop, commands, and admin tasks. These elements vary from distribution to distribution. Today, you can find many different communities collaborating, maintaining, and developing tools to drive their favourite Linux distribution forward.
Making The Switch: Where To Go From Here?
As you can imagine, trying to migrate to Linux might be intimidating. Hearing about its filing system and about executing commands can easily scare anyone off. It takes know-how and a lot of time and effort to be familiar with the programmer-like nature of certain distributions.
Image Courtesy: The-linux-road.blogspot.ca
Fortunately, for new users, there are distributions that do away with such a high learning curve. Some Linux distributions you’ll want to check out include Ubuntu (Canonical Ltd.), Fedora (Redhat), and Kubuntu (Debian). They offer an easy introduction and transition to the Linux OS. By visiting DistroWatch, you can get a good idea about just how many different Linux distributions there are.
Keeping Your Daily Tasks In Check: Software Alternatives
As a new user, you’d probably be looking to make an easy transition with software you’re already familiar with. Well, you’ll be happy to know that GUI based alternatives do exist for Linux. Free open source alternatives like Thunderbird (Outlook), GIMPShop (Photoshop) or OpenOffice.org (Microsoft Office), for example, can give you the same functionalities you need on a daily basis. commercial vendors have also been able to develop propriety licensed software for the platform despite Linux’s open source roots.
A Brief Overview About PDF Utilities
With PDF converters, it may be a different story. Although there are many PDF utilities for Linux, most use a command line interface or only perform one or a limited number of functions such as creating PDFs, splitting and merging, converting to one format, comparing PDF, or annotating and editing PDFs. In most cases, command line utilities like those will require a bit of technical know-how to get set up. Full featured PDF applications you’re familiar with, like Adobe Acrobat, won’t be found on Linux.
Some workarounds with open source word processing suites like OpenOffice.org will let you modify PDF content to some or little extent with their importing (via extension) and exporting functionalities. Yet, as full featured converters, they fall short.
Yes, We Have Able2Extract For Linux
This is was one of the main driving forces of why we developed Able2Extract for Linux—to fill that gap. For a long time, Able2Extract has been only available to Windows users, but many non-Windows users wanted to take advantage of the PDF software too.
Well, we were listening. Now the PDF converter is compatible with the most popular desktop oriented distributions, Ubuntu and Fedora.
Able2Extract can perform different PDF conversions, allowing you to convert to formats like HTML, Text, AutoCAD, and Open Document Formats native to Open Office—Writer, Calc and Impress.
No extra utilities are needed for batch conversions, selective conversions, or viewing your PDF files. Those functions come included and are all built-in, making it that much easier to get things done.
The Linux platform has a lot to offer, and no doubt we’ll be seeing more developments in the industry. So next time you decide to take a serious look at a Linux distribution, you can rest assure that not everything about the switch has to be difficult!
