If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you can safely ignore this post. If you DO feel the pain, it’s probably because you create a LOT of forms. If that’s true, then you need to check out Form Magic, by IDExtras. This nifty plugin for Adobe InDesign makes the forms you create in Adobe InDesign actually appear the same way in Acrobat after you export to Interactive PDF (see sample image).

As I said, you have to create a lot of forms for this plugin to be useful—because while there is a free version of the plugin, it’s limited to 10 form fields on a single page. The full version with no limits is a $14.95 per month subscription. While that’s an outrageous price for users who only create one or two forms per month, it’s a bargain for those who create multi-page forms multiple times per day.

I haven’t used the script, but I’m told it works on Adobe Illustrator CS4 and up. It’s features like this that Adobe should be adding to Illustrator natively.

Since I took the last week off for the holidays, I had some time to read through the free downloadable magazine. After reading through the first issue, I quickly downloaded the remaining new issues. Great stuff!

The articles aren’t just blog posts pulled from the website, they read easy—not too long, not too short. The photography is nice, and the layout is easy on the eyes.

If you’re a designer, you most likely have a copy of Acrobat Pro (or the new Acrobat DC). But it’s quite likely that your clients do not. If you want to be a hero to your client in need of help with their PDF files, you can share some of the tips found in this excellent article from Hongkiat for working with PDF files when you don’t have a copy of Acrobat Pro.

The tips include converting documents, extracting text to other file formats, opening PDF files with passwords (which I’ve covered here), merging PDF files, and more.

About 80% don’t bother to read a font license, because around 80% of us can’t understand a frigging word of the legal mumbo-jumbo. I suspect this is at least 50% of the problem.

I can’t stand when I get a PDF file that has a password that restricts printing, editing or saving, etc. Thankfully, a clever developer offers a simple way to crack those pesky PDFs online – no software installation required.

Crack My PDF can remove restrictions for copying, editing, printing & extracting, and works on PDF files up to version 9 with 40-bit RC4 ecryption, 128-bit RC4 decryption and 128-bit AES decryption.

It cannot completely remove an open password, remove DRM, or enable you to save forms locally or add comments or digital signatures.

For me, the ability to at least print those PDFs makes Crack My PDF worth bookmarking!

Life was much easier back in the days when everyone used Points and Picas for measurements in the design field – most readers probably have probably never used them, but I assure you it was much easier. Inches is a ridiculous measurement system, particularly in our business. Has anyone ever been told to provide a 6 59/64 wide ad or poster? For years I’ve used this fraction-to-decimal chart, keeping it tacked to the wall next to my monitor for quick reference.

You can download the free fraction-to-decimal chart here.

In any case, my friend discovered the work around, and shared with me where he found it. Russell Viers offers the solution, that requires little more than a quick PPD download and install. Again, I’m not sure why you would want to do this because your printer generally handles this in-RIP at their printing facility. You really need to know what you’re doing when you enter the settings.

Learn how to print PDF color seps from InDesign here.

Using Adobe Reader for iOS, you can open and view PDF files from email, on the Web or from any application that supports the “Open In” function. Through its highly intuitive user interface, Adobe Reader provides you with an efficient PDF viewing experience regardless of the iOS device you happen to be using.

But that’s not all. You can also interact with PDF files in a number of ways including searching for specific text in the PDF or using bookmarks and page thumbnails to quickly navigate to different sections in the PDF file. And should you need a hard copy, you can also print the PDF wirelessly using iOS AirPrint.

I’ve been using Adobe Reader on my iPhone 4 for the last week or so, and found it to work extremely well. Previously I was using a 3rd party app, but it wasn’t nearly as fluid or easy to use as Adobe’s own solution.

Prior to Mac OS X Leopard, you could open the PDF in Apple’s ColorSync Utility – a simple workaround that obviously got missed by someone at Apple. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work anymore. So I decided to give Eltima’s Recover PDF Password ($40 minus 15% off if you use the offer code GRAPH-MAC-15 at checkout time) app a try. It’s the only Mac solution I came across that not only can bypass the no-print restrictions, but the more annoying “password just to open issue.” Plus, I’ve reviewed a few of Eltima’s apps before and found them to work pretty darn well. Below are my findings in my initial tests.

I’ll make this short and sweet, cause let’s be honest – there ain’t nothin’ sexy about password recovery! Heck, I’ll even use pictures to tell the story.

Test #1 PDF file: password = “apple” (without the quotes)

“Apple” is obviously a short password, and to make things easier, it’s a word found in the dictionary. I knew any password decryption app would figure this one out if it worked at all. I wasn’t expecting to have it only take 3 seconds though! That was too easy.

Test #2 PDF file: password = “mac1234” (without the quotes)

This should take longer than 3 seconds…

Well, maybe the app automatically pauses if the Mac sleeps?

Ok, so it did say it would take more than a day…

Sheesh! They weren’t kidding about that “more than a day” part…

Nearly 47 hours… F#¢K IT! It’s faster to re-create the darn file!

I gave up after it hit 48 hours without cracking the rather simple “mac1234” password. If you have a password protected PDF file that you believe was created by a moron stupid enough to use a single word found in the dictionary, then Recover PDF Password is probably going to save your day for only $39.

If you think the person who created the password protected PDF had half a stinking brain, you’re probably better off just resigning yourself to the fact that you ain’t gonna see what’s in that file. After all, what is your time worth?

This isn’t a reflection on Eltima’s Recover PDF Password app, I suspect that password cracking is a mighty time-consuming and processor intensive task for any app. Recover PDF Password offers plenty of customization for your attempts at busting through the password security in a PDF file, and the app clearly does work. But short of accidentally forgetting the password to the great American novel you just finished writing and have no other copies of, I would use the $39 to put toward buying a new LCD screen to replace the one you just put your fist through!