Thread: to PDF or not to PDF

Folks,

How many of you convert your inspection reports to a PDF format before sending it electronically? I have been doing this for years but am just curious how many others do it and your reason for or not for doing it.

Thanks,

My HI reporting system produces .pdf reports, but when I do other reports (typically in Word or PowerPoint) I convert to .pdf. Much smaller file size and can't be altered by recipient.

I print to PDF to help prevent accidental altering on my end or intentional altering on the recipient's end. I've heard that some PDFs can be altered but I don't worry about that as I have the original as my backup in case somebody tries pulling something. And the PDF conversion does make for a smaller memory size too.

I see no reason not to convert reports to PDF.

Originally Posted by Nick Ostrowski

I see no reason not to convert reports to PDF.

Agreed.

Same here.... always PDF for smaller fize size and to reduce the chances of it being changed.

Originally Posted by Nick Ostrowski

I've heard that some PDFs can be altered but I don't worry about that as I have the original as my backup in case somebody tries pulling something.

Agreed. But then again, I could also alter my copy. What would seem to be more important is whether you could show what was actually sent i.e. the email that contained the report. I only know of one situation where someone added something to my report (on an NCR form) and that never came to anything.

I send as pdf. also so others cannot alter the form, so it does not change in transmission, and so others cannot use/take my specialized manufactured home inspection form.

Expert Mobile & Manufactured Home Inspections O.C. & San Diego Co.

With PDF editing software, one can easily digitally sign the PDF. With this electronic signature it is impossible to edit anything without it causing removal of the certified signature. I use Nuance's PDF Converter Pro for creating and signing documents.

I always use PDF-for all the reasons mentioned above............Greg

All of my work products go out as PDF's.

Originally Posted by Scott Patterson

All of my work products go out as PDF's.

Same here and for the reasons above

Originally Posted by JB Thompson

Same here and for the reasons above

For some reason my picture quality in PDF format, from Word, goes down dramatically; just started happening. Sending Word docs now, with fully restricted editing in place. I usually only include less than a dozen picts, so file size isn't an issue.

Originally Posted by Bill Parrish

For some reason my picture quality in PDF format, from Word, goes down dramatically; just started happening. Sending Word docs now, with fully restricted editing in place. I usually only include less than a dozen picts, so file size isn't an issue.

Bill, I had the same issue for a while. At the recommendation of another Inspection News member, I downloaded Nitro PDF and sizing is no longer an issue. Pics appear in the report very clear.

Originally Posted by Nick Ostrowski

Bill, I had the same issue for a while. At the recommendation of another Inspection News member, I downloaded Nitro PDF and sizing is no longer an issue. Pics appear in the report very clear.

Thanks, Nick. I'll give it a try.

Doing anything but creating a SECURED PDF is just asking for trouble.

Quick story an inspector shared with me this weekend at the PRO-ASHI conference. His last software (just switched to HIP) created PDF reports but they weren't secured.

He did a report for his client but did not pass the report on to the agent (per the client). The client modified the PDF to add that the gutters needed to be replaced. He then passed the report on the agent and asked that the gutter replacement be included in the negotiations per the report. The seller calls the inspector pissed off as they were fine. Took awhile to figure out what had happened.

Any PDF that is not secured can easily be edited in Adobe Reader. If you don't believe me, just email me a report! Word files are even easier to change (locked or not).

Originally Posted by Michael Bronner

Folks,
How many of you convert your inspection reports to a PDF format before sending it electronically? I have been doing this for years but am just curious how many others do it and your reason for or not for doing it.
Thanks,

Our company has been using PFD format for years. We use Adobe Acrobat & Acrobat Professional.

Originally Posted by Dominic Maricic

Doing anything but creating a SECURED PDF is just asking for trouble.

Quick story an inspector shared with me this weekend at the PRO-ASHI conference. His last software (just switched to HIP) created PDF reports but they weren't secured.

He did a report for his client but did not pass the report on to the agent (per the client). The client modified the PDF to add that the gutters needed to be replaced. He then passed the report on the agent and asked that the gutter replacement be included in the negotiations per the report. The seller calls the inspector pissed off as they were fine. Took awhile to figure out what had happened.

Any PDF that is not secured can easily be edited in Adobe Reader. If you don't believe me, just email me a report! Word files are even easier to change (locked or not).

My software creates pdf's for me and I don't know if they're secured or not....assuming not. How would I secure them?

Originally Posted by JB Thompson

My software creates pdf's for me and I don't know if they're secured or not....assuming not. How would I secure them?

Hi Bruce,

The way to check is to open the PDF and look at the program name along the VERY top of the window (along with the minimize, maximize, X to close). If it's secured you'll see the word (Secured) there. Yes it'll have the parenthesis too.

There's a few programs you can use like Adobe Acrobat and Nitro PDF

Originally Posted by JB Thompson

My software creates pdf's for me and I don't know if they're secured or not....assuming not. How would I secure them?

Out of curiously, what software are you using?

Originally Posted by Dominic Maricic

Hi Bruce,

The way to check is to open the PDF and look at the program name along the VERY top of the window (along with the minimize, maximize, X to close). If it's secured you'll see the word (Secured) there. Yes it'll have the parenthesis too.

There's a few programs you can use like Adobe Acrobat and Nitro PDF

So how do I fix my poor-quality PDF format pictures?

Originally Posted by Bill Parrish

So how do I fix my poor-quality PDF format pictures?

A lot of this has to do with the conversion software. I'll give you an example what we found that worked for us.

We still use Word-Perfect for many, if not most, of our word documents. (I can hear the gasps from here, grin. Hey I still use Lotus 123 as well!) Heh.

Well, anyway, in converting a Word-Perfect file from WP to Adobe Acrobat PDF there are two different ways that this can be done. First if you have no graphics, use the printer and just print to PDF function.

However when the WP document contains graphics, we must switch to "Publish To" and select PDF. The page with graphics will convert properly and look like the original.

I really don't use Word much, perhaps there's a similar method available that you could try. My version of Word doesn't have a native conversion process and Adobe Acrobat linked directly into it. Most likely the PDF conversion program your using will have its own quirks for handling graphic conversions.

Also, you you didn't elaborate as to what was really "poor quality". In converting to PDF there are usually options you can choose from. In the conversion process we get dialog box that allows us to select things like quality (high quality = large files size, low = small).

And lastly, we found the format of the graphics seems to play a role in quality. I find the best graphics are jpeg. Tiff has problems and bit-map graphics seem to be of lessor quality. Have you started using a different graphic format that what you were previously using?

Originally Posted by Bill Parrish

So how do I fix my poor-quality PDF format pictures?

The photo quality of the PDF is going to be handled by the inspection software. I've spent years revising how pics are handled in HIP to get great quality, it's not simple.

If you're still using Word (or WP!) the best thing to do is resize the images before importing them into Word. Try 350 pixels wide. That's about right for 2 pics wide on a report. Drop it down to 250 if you want 3 wide.

Originally Posted by Dennis Webber

We still use Word-Perfect for many, if not most, of our word documents. (I can hear the gasps from here, grin. Hey I still use Lotus 123 as well!) Heh.

Well, anyway, in converting a Word-Perfect file from WP to Adobe Acrobat PDF there are two different ways that this can be done. First if you have no graphics, use the printer and just print to PDF function.

However when the WP document contains graphics, we must switch to "Publish To" and select PDF. The page with graphics will convert properly and look like the original.

Dennis,

What version of WordPerfect do you have and use?

I started with WordPerfect 6.0 and went through 6.0a, 6.1, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 - when I use WordPerfect I always use my WordPerfect 10.

I used to use WordPerfect almost exclusively as I wrote my inspection program on WordPerfect macros - one can do almost anything with WordPerfect and its macros.

Since I have retired I have gradually converted over to using Word almost exclusively, starting from way back when and up to Word 2007 (I have not purchased Word 2010).

In my opinion, there is no comparison between the two, however, when you share documents back and forth, you need to use Word, and even Word 2007 is not readable by people who are still using Word 2003.

Any way, I never had a problem with graphics in my reports when using WordPerfect 10.

I would simply print to my Adobe printer.

I have lately found that some of the files suffer lost letters or numbers when printing from Word or from Paint Shop Pro to pdf. After trying several different pdf print programs I have, I recently discovered that Green PDF creates the cleanest files and never loses any characters.

An easy way to print from Word to pdf is to select 'email as pdf', then cut the attachment from the email and you have a good pdf file.

Originally Posted by Jerry Peck

Dennis,
What version of WordPerfect do you have and use?

WordPerfect 11

In my opinion, there is no comparison between the two, however, when you share documents back and forth, you need to use Word, and even Word 2007 is not readable by people who are still using Word 2003.

I still use an older version of Word (2003, think I had added some sort of compatibility update from Microsoft to read 2007 files. Don't remember the name precisely, was some time back, but it's available from Mcrosoft. Lets me open 2007 documents saved as .docx or .docm, but not .dotx or .dotm formats. Basically just use it when people send me Word files. I'll convert nearly everything to PDF whenever exchanging between offices and/or clients. I'm to cheap to spring for later versons, I'd spend a fortune just trying to keep up.

Any way, I never had a problem with graphics in my reports when using WordPerfect 10.
I would simply print to my Adobe printer.

I noticed that I can do that some of the time, but not always. So anytime I have photos or other graphics, I will use the alternate method and get better results. Perhaps it just the setup I'm running??

I have lately found that some of the files suffer lost letters or numbers when printing from Word or from Paint Shop Pro to PDF. After trying several different pdf print programs I have, I recently discovered that Green PDF creates the cleanest files and never loses any characters.

An easy way to print from Word to pdf is to select 'email as pdf', then cut the attachment from the email and you have a good pdf file.

I never tried that, interesting, will remember it. Thanks.