PDF for Lawyers

Adobe Reader on your smartphone?

If you yearn to read PDFs on your smartphone there have been various options (not all of them great); but today Adobe announced that its Reader program is available for use on Android phones. It supports portrait and landscape mode, and pinch to zoom. Even better is the 'reflow' mode that makes it easy to read the text on the phone. Best of all the app is free.

When will Adobe Reader be available for the iPhone? Who knows. Adobe says it plans to develop the Reader for 'other platforms,' but given the animosity between Adobe and Apple right now I wouldn't hold my breath.

Should you buy the Neat Receipts scanner?

I have to admit being intrigued by the Neat Receipts folks, which I first began noticing whenever I was connecting through major hub airports.  Their scanners typically sell for about $200, and they pitch their product in a way that has to resonate with the average business traveller.  If you're on the road constantly then you probably have lots of paperwork to fill out, mostly receipts.  The idea of having a scanner that would easily capture those little pieces of paper, and then populate your expense reports seems too good to be true.

I would have been tempted to buy one, but they didn't have a Mac version when I first encountered them.  By the time they did come out with a Mac version, I had enough time to come to my senses.  Even if the scanner worked flawlessly, I already have a Fujitsu ScanSnap M1500 (and I've used the Windows version).  The ScanSnap has a very small footprint and can be used to scan large batches of documents, as well as small scraps of paper like business cards and receipts.  It's only $200 more and it comes with a full version of Acrobat (normally a $299 purchase).  True, the ScanSnap has to be powered on its own, and its not something you'd toss in a travel bag.  But, seriously, can't you just wait til you get home and scan all your receipts?  Do you really need to carry around a slick little tech toy just to have immediate scanning gratification?

A few months ago I learned that the Neat Company was making its 'receipt organizing' software available for Mac users as a standalone product.  Even though they sell the scanners, they were willing to let Mac users try their software if they had a ScanSnap (there is no software-only deal for Windows users).  I plunked down the $79 and downloaded the software and set it up with my ScanSnap.  It worked okay, but it often made mistakes in reading the numeric values on the receipts.  If I was ever in a position to need automatic calculation of receipts maybe I'd be more inclined to put up with the hiccups.  But, for me, the only thing I need to do with receipts is scan them so if I need to prove I bought something later on I can.  I've had no problem using my scans to do this.

I had dismissed the idea of the Neat Receipts scanner completely until I read this review yesterday by David Pogue, the technology columnist for the New York Times.  I have a great deal of respect for Pogue, and almost always agree with him.  This time I'm not sure.  Maybe he's right and the Neat Receipt scanner really is a wonderful piece of magic for folks who have lots of receipts.  I gather he's using the Windows version, which the Amazon reviews suggest (to me, at least) is better than the Mac version (not surprising since the Windows version has been out longer).

But, then again, I wonder if Pogue knows about the ScanSnap.  I bet if he did then his enthusiasm for the Neat Receipts scanner might be diluted a bit.  I have been using ScanSnaps since they came out.  I had been looking for a basic scanner that was reliable and would allow me to scan batches of documents easily.  Every ScanSnap I've had has been a workhorse.  I consider the ScanSnap to be ridiculously cheap considering how powerful, reliable and flexible it is.  The fact that it comes with a full version of Adobe Acrobat makes it a steal.

I understand that some people are always looking for some 'holy grail' technology and certainly the Neat Receipts scanner will seem like that to most people.  And maybe it is a great tool.  If you are only going to scan receipts and you have a Windows computer then you might love it as much as David Pogue does.  Not everyone loves their Neat Receipts scanner, but you'd be hard pressed to find people that don't absolutely adore their ScanSnap (just check the Amazon comments if you need confirmation).  Windows version, or Mac version.  They both rock!!!

Article Links: Fujitsu Scanap 1500 (Mac version)

          Fujitsu ScanSnap 1500 (Windows version)

          Neat Receipts (Mac version)

          Neat Receipts (Windows version)

Update: After I posted this I got a message from someone alerting me to a service called Expensify, which is a new company that came in 2nd in the TechCrunch Demo contest.  It's free to try, and seems pretty cool as a really convenient and simple way to keep track of lots of expense reports.  If I travelled a lot and needed to do expense reports I'd try this before I bought a specialty scanner.  In fact, I might try this anyway.  If anyone else has tried it I'd love to hear their comments.  You gotta love their slogan: "Expensify - Expense reports that don't suck!"

iPhone 3Gs as a portable scanner that creates PDFs

For years I've toyed with the idea of getting a portable document scanner like the Fujitsu S300 for those few times when I'm in court and need to copy a few pages of a case record.  The local state court here in New Orleans charges $1.00 per page, which is of course ridiculous.  But the real hassle is that it takes an incredibly long time to get the copies made, and then pay for them.  Hence my motivation to find a way to scan a few pages here and there.

The problems with using the Fujitsu are: (1) it costs $240, which means I'd have to do a lot of scanning to justify it, and (2) it has to be hooked to a computer, which means I'd be lugging a lot of hardware just to do a few scans.  And that is why I've never been able to justify buying that scanner.

Now, thanks to the improved camera on the latest iPhone, there is another option that is perfectly acceptable, and costs only $10.  I've been testing an application called DocScanner, and I now report that it does a perfectly acceptable job of creating PDF images using the iPhone 3Gs. And let me emphasize that I am not suggesting that it would do as well with the iPhone 3G, because I think you need the focusing ability of the new phone to get acceptable images.  Here is an example of a receipt that I was able to 'scan' using the application. As you can see it's very good quality:

DocScanner lets you create multi-page PDFs simply by continuing to take pictures.  Once you're done you can choose to save the resulting PDF to your iPhone, or you can email it to yourself or anyone in your address book.

The process of creating the PDF can be slightly tricky the first few times you do it, but once you get the hang of it you can do it without much hassle.  The images as displayed on the iPhone seem low quality, but when you email them to yourself and examine them on a full computer screen the quality is usually quite impressive.  

Obviously, the trick is to get a good photo, which means having plenty of light and also holding the camera steady while you take the picture.  In that vein I might suggest that you also try these two applications: iFlashReady (which adds light to a dark image), and NightCamera (which is a sort of self-timer for the iPhone that delays taking the picture until your hands are most steady). So, if you use these applications to take pictures, how do you get them into DocScanner?  Easy. DocScanner lets you use images from your Cameral Roll.  So you'd just take the pictures of the pages you want to have, then apply the light adjustment (if needed) and then use DocScanner to convert them to PDFs which you can then join together into a multipage PDF that can be emailed or saved.

So, if you've been looking for a good way to create PDF scans of a few pages here and there you may have the solution you're looking for.  If you own an iPhone 3Gs, that is.  As I said, I don't think it will work very well with the older iPhones.  And I wouldn't try to do more than a few pages with it because I think it would get kind of frustrating.  For small jobs like receipts and expense reports, though, it's perfect!

Using Acrobat to put Exhibit stamps on digital documents

Okay, this is a major PDF breakthrough for lawyers.  If you want to be able to stamp your digital documents with Exhibit labels and then have them numbered (or lettered) you need to go read this post right now.  Installing the plug-in is easy as pie.  If you do e-filing in federal court you need this.  If you prepare documents for trial you need this. If you're a lawyer and you use PDFs you need this.

And for his excellent work, I hereby nominate Rick Borstein for the Nobel Prize in PDF Technology!

Free PDF editor - can it really be useful?

I am not generally one to tout free or low-cost alternatives to Adobe Acrobat; today won't be an exception.  Nevertheless, there might be some point where you aren't at your computer (where hopefully you have a full version of Acrobat installed) and you need to make comments to a PDF.  In that case I can recommend that you try PDFVue (beta).  One person reports (on Twitter) that they use this program to fill out faxes that arrive in their office by email.  

So, if you find yourself in a MacGyver-esque situation then consider using PDFVue.  On the other hand, if you are frequently manipulating PDFs (and we hope you are), then stick to the full version of Adobe Acrobat.

PDF viewer for Outlook (free plug-in)

FoxitPDF is light-weight plug-in for Outlook that makes it easy to preview PDFs attached to your emails.  The plug-in is free, and works with XP and Vista.

For Apple users the ability to preview PDFs quickly is built in to the operating system.

Now use Acrobat with a Tablet PC

A while ago I tried using a Tablet PC and enjoyed it very much. One problem, though, was that I couldn't use the hand writing feature to put notes into a PDF document. Adobe and Microsoft had not yet created a way for the two programs to talk to one another.

Recently, someone has come up with a way to make these two programs tightly integrated. As described on the Acrobat for Legal Professionals blog, you can now write directly on top of PDF documents using a $69 plug-in (AutoInk, from EverMap). You can get more information about how this plug-in works by visiting Rick Borstein's website.  

In short, this is great news for Tablet PC users who want to make the most of Adobe Acrobat. And for information on Tablet PC's in the practice of law be sure to visit James Province's site: TabletLawyer.com

Print less, save more, be happier, and help the planet

The less you print, the less paper you have to wrangle. And the less paper you have the less stress you have. But, in addition to your self-centered reasons, there is a benefit to the world if we use less paper—especially the completely wasteful use of paper.

Ever print out a web-page and find that your print output included an extra page or two that you had no interest in? You just toss that into the waste basket, don't you? This is the kind of needless waste I'm talking about.

If you want to save money and help the planet, try Green Print. It's a simple plug-in that works with Windows or Mac computers. If you like it after trying it out for free you can buy it for $29. Over the long haul, you'll recoup the money. And you'll feel better for having done a good thing.

PDF preview in Outlook

Wanna be able to preview PDF attachments in Outlook 2007? Sure you do. So, click here.

Digital Workflow - Backup online (forget CD-ROMs)

As you transition to a digital workflow you'll begin to appreciate the value of having all of your data in an easily transportable and easily accessible form.  The first question I usually get when I explain to people the benefits of converting all of their paper to digital form is: "what happens if my digital data gets destroyed?"

First, paper is a lot easier to destroy than digital data but that's a topic for another post. You obviously do want to take steps to protect your digital data. For a long time backup systems were hard to use.  The proper protocol always calls for the backup to be stored 'offsite,' somewhere far from the original.  It doesn't do any good to have a backup in the office when it catches fire, right?

Online backup promises to solve the 'offsite' issue, but for years it was too expensive, or too hard to pull off.  But now, it's gotten to the point where it's very affordable and --frankly-- it's the best choice.  A company called Mozy offers a great solution that I highly recommend.  You can store up to 2 GBs on their system for FREE!  Their system works with Macs and PCs.  If you want to store more than 2 GBs (and most people will) then you can get the basic system for only $4.95 per month.

I don't know about you, but I think that $60 per year for unlimited online backup is ridiculously cheap.  If you are going to scan your documents and throw away the original paper then you'll need a backup system.