Webware

PDFVue, the online PDF viewing and editing tool, has a new name, a new look, and a handful of new features.

We originally checked out the service late last year and came away impressed with its handy Firefox add-on that let you read any PDF link in its viewer, and tools for filling out forms and annotating pages. Now called DocQ, those things are mostly unchanged. What's new, however, is that you can now store, organize, and share PDFs.

To help keep a handle on all your files you can add tags as well as organize them into "smart folders." These are named folders you can drag and drop your PDFs into. You can then filter the ones you want to see, just by clicking on the folder name from the top menu. I couldn't get the search to work, which is the only way to make use of these folders and any tags you've assigned.

DocQ's interface remains largely unchanged since its PDFVue days. You can still view PDFs and make quick edits and annotations.

(Credit: CNET)

Another new feature is that you can digitally sign documents. In DocQ's integrated editor you can place multiple signatures within a document, then send it off to one or more recipients. Then, whenever the person (or people) on the other end signs, they can send it back to your DocQ in-box. The folks on the other end don't need to sign up for the service to use it, since a special log-in is created from the invitation. For now, the signature feature can only work with one user, meaning each person you send it to is seeing only their signature. However, coming in two weeks will be a way to have multiple people sign off on the same document.

For now, you can upload up to 10 PDFs at a time. Storage and file size are unlimited, although that will eventually change when it becomes a paid service. There will then be caps on how many files you're uploading, and how big they are. DocQ's owner, Docudesk, also plans to deeply integrate it into the rest of its PDF-editing software to let people upload and share PDFs they've created.

I wouldn't recommend relying on DocQ for business just yet. I ran into a handful of slowdowns where I couldn't get back to my list of files. And without the search or tag sorting working, it would have been problematic if I had more files, and wanted to access one in short order. Still, two of the really great parts about this service--editing and annotations--continued to work very, very well.

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Other posts about PDFs

Webnotes, a service that lets you highlight and add floating sticky notes on top of live Web pages, now has a pro version. For $9.99 a month, users get the option to mark up not just normal Web pages, but PDFs too.

Some competing annotation services like Diigo and SharedCopy do not offer the capability to make annotations or leave highlights on PDFs, so this is a big deal for students and business users who are likely to run into them frequently while doing research.

If you come across a PDF you want to mark up, Webnotes can convert it into a special Flash-based PDF viewer that's got the Webnotes mark-up tools built in (you can try it here). It also saves the entire document to your Webnotes account so you can access it even if the page goes offline.

Other premium-only features include support in case something goes wrong, and the option to highlight content in multiple colors. You can use this feature to sort your annotations within any folders by color. This makes it easier to organize notes after you've taken them. Back when I was in college, I used to do this with about $15 worth of color-coded Post-it sticky flags when digging into research on big papers. So if you're using Webnotes as a sidekick to your book research, you can make use of this system for a unified organizational approach.

Subscribers of Webnotes' premium service can annotate PDFs, as well as pick from multiple highlighting colors.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

PDFVue is a new tool for both viewing and annotating PDF files. Similar to services like PDFMeNot and PDFHammer, PDFVue can open up PDF files right in your browser, forgoing the need to use desktop software. Better yet, if you've got the service's new browser extension installed, it can be set to automatically open up any PDF link you come across while browsing. This is not the fastest process since it first has to download and render the file, but if you've ever experienced hang-ups with Adobe's Acrobat Reader it's a nice step up.

So why use this service other than for speed? One good reason is the annotation tools. It includes all the usual goodies that let you fill in forms and highlight text. It also lets you upload images to stick into the PDF, making it a lightweight desktop publishing tool, since when you're done you can save it as a separate PDF file.

One thing users may not enjoy about PDFVue is that it doesn't take advantage of your screen real estate very well. Documents are kept to the very middle of the page and cannot be expanded to take up the whole screen. If you're on a desktop computer with a nice big screen, this isn't a problem. But when using it on a laptop, I found myself having to zoom into a level that required quite a bit of scrolling to navigate around the document. This can be somewhat remedied by minimizing the tools window on the right side of the page.

Related: Preview PDFs in your browser without downloading them

PDFVue's PDF editor and viewer is full of tools to that let you mark up PDFs.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Note: This service officially launches on Thursday, and the site is password-protected until then. The folks at PDFMeNot gave us early access to share with Webware readers. Use the username "stateless" and password "systems" when prompted (no quotation marks either). Note that both are case sensitive.

One of life's little hassles is opening PDF links in a Web browser. The problem centers on Adobe's Acrobat software, which for all its popularity and genuine usefulness is notoriously slow. Depending on how old the system is, and the speed of the computers Internet connection, the application can bring the browsing experience to a halt with even the smallest of PDF files. While Firefox add-ons, such as FoxIt, have stepped up to the plate to let users can kick Acrobat to the curb, however, if they don't have it installed they're out of luck.

View PDF documents in a Flash viewer without mucking about with Acrobat using PDFMeNot.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

A new service from the creators of log-in-avoider BugMeNot called PDFMeNot is taking a whack at the PDF problem. The solution? Adobe's Internet darling: Flash. To get to Acrobat-free PDF bliss, give PDFMeNot the URL of the PDF that is to be viewed. The service will grab the file and convert it into an easy to use Flash document (similar to that of Scribd) in a matter of seconds. Once the URL has been submitted, others that click the link will get it automatically, as each file is cached for future viewing once processed.

Power users who want to avoid having to visit the site every time they want to click a PDF link have a simple option. They can add a small bookmarklet to their browser. The bookmarklet will automatically dig through a page and convert PDF-ridden links before they even think about clicking them. Likewise, Web publishers can add a little line of JavaScript that will do this on all their pages. They can also simply add a PDFMeNot.com redirect in front of each PDF URL, which simply opens up the file in the Flash viewer when clicked.

Related: PDF Hammer lets users tweak PDFs sans software

Ever had a PDF file or two laying around that needed some minor tweaks, but you didn't wanna fork over the cash for a full version of Adobe Acrobat, or install some other PDF application such a rare task? Give PDF Hammer a look. The service lets you do simple page re-arrangement on PDFs of all sizes, and when you're finished it'll spit it out as one big, beautiful file. The service is pretty simple to use, and lets you upload multiple files without losing any rearranging or deleting progress you might have made. You can also see a picture preview on the left hand side, although it's a little too small to read text.

My major wants for version 2.0: a zoom function, drag-and-drop (for rearrangement and uploading), and a print button so I don't have to even bother saving the file when I'm done.

Having worked in the printing industry before heading to Webware, I can tell you this isn't a replacement for a complete PDF editing and authoring program like Acrobat Professional or NitroPDF, but it's simple enough that I think anyone could use it for some quick adjustments, especially while away from their home machine.

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Upload several PDFs and delete and reorder to your heart's content. There's also a save button (not pictured) for when you want to output the file to your hard drive.

(Credit: CNET Networks)