Tip of the Week - 10 Random Photoshop CS5 Tips & Techniques from Adobe TV

Acrobat 10 (X) Surprisingly Great!

As many of you know, I have been reluctant to suggest you upgrade from Acrobat Pro 9 to 10. The reasons are many, but particularly the change in setup design. I don't find it as intuitive. I felt it wasn't worth it. Well, today I changed my mind!

One of our administrators sent me a 38 page pdf. The document had been poorly scanned with pages all cockeyed, text circled and more. I was asked if I could turn it into a Word document. I laughed a bit, I must admit, and then figured I might as well give it a try. So, I opened it in Acrobat X and it immediately started working on the document - rotating the text (although it called the text "images") and recognizing characters, etc. Once done, I tried editing the text. It wouldn't allow me to do so because it still saw the text as images. Still, it looked much better and I figured it couldn't hurt to try and save it as a Word document.

Imagine my surprise when it not only created a nice looking Word document, but converted it to text! I was shocked. There were some problems, but they were minimal. I would say it was 95% right. That is nothing short of amazing to me! So, if you are wondering if you should upgrade, I say YES! You won't be sorry.

Tip of the Week: Blog of Interest I Found - Document Geek

For all you InDesign lovers - like me - finding a new blog, training site, etc. with InDesign ideas is always exciting. I found one via a Twitter post for Document Geek. I think you will find some great articles including:

• Using InDesign Tables to Duplicate the Window Structure Outside the Lincoln Memorial
• Using InDesign Tables to Design a Geometric Color Block Pattern
• How to Incorporate Chapter Thumbnail Images into an Auto-Generating Table of Contents

There are also articles for Acrobat:

• How To Remove Reader Enablement in Acrobat
• How to Edit Font Properties Within a PDF Sticky Note

There's also information on logos and more. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Photoshop: Hidden Gem: Remove Unwanted Images

Tip of the Week - InDesign Align or justify text vertically within a text frame

At a recent webinar, one of the participants asked me to remind everyone how to align or justify text to make everything line up on the page vertically. I meant to answer the question but forgot.

The image to the left is an example of the problem. One column is aligned at the top and the other at the bottom. Here's a link to step by step in structions from Adobe. It will show you how to align the text in a few easy steps. Give it a try and let us know what you think.

Tip of the Week - Look What I Discovered!

Hi Everyone - Happy August! 

I was looking around the web for some interesting tidbits to share and I came upon a site I think you might want to check out. It is onOneSoftware.com. The site has some software for sale for Photoshop users and photographers. The prices are really reasonable, so check them out. The site also offers some really wonderful freebies.

The photo to the left is a group of photos of my niece I took for her new You Tube site. The background is a free template - one of many from onOneSoftware.com. You will find some great backgrounds and templates for displays. The templates are PSD files, so if you turn on layers you can make lots of changes to the templates (color, add text, etc.). They have templates for weddings, babies, graduations, photo montages and lots more. They also have flourishes - a lot like the ones I found on Photoshop Island for $29. I don't mind that I paid for them, but love having the chance to let you know where you can get some high quality for free! Do keep in mind that some of the files are quite large and may take a little time to download.

Also on the site, you will find free webinars! Here's a link to the list. I've also added several upcoming ones to my calendar, so check them out - I think you will be pleased. Please note that I've also added my upcoming webinars to the list. Staff should check the updated inservice calendar to sign up.