Many users who make extensive use of personal computers, or other equivalent electronic devices, for work and leisure activities will no doubt have accumulated a large number of PDF (portable document format) files. These are also known as "Acrobat" files because of the huge popularity of the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Management of PDF files can become a problem when a collection of PDF files reaches hundreds, or even thousands, of documents. Very often, the filename is completely uninformative and the files themselves may be scattered across many folders or disks.
In a situation like this, it is very difficult to find a specific document which may have been stored a while ago. PDF Explorer was designed as a solution to the problems just mentioned. This software has been developed to allow an easy management of PDF files, including databasing, indexing, finding, opening, and editing files . The search tools, in particular, allow for easy access to information at a later time.
The following fields are added to the PDFE database when indexing a file.
Fields specific to the filesystem
PDF documents standard metadata fields
Fields concerning the internal structure of the document
User specific fields
In many cases, some of these fields are blank, or contain data which are clearly inadequate, incorrect or uninformative. However, that’s not a problem for PDF Explorer, since includes tools which allow easy editing of these fields.
The program can also index all words contained in PDF files. This kind of indexing allows the user to conduct easy and specific searches whenever needed. If a search of the metadata fields (being more specific, these fields offer faster, and more accurate, results) doesn't produce the required results, a search of the actual document indexed text will probably yield better results.
PDF Explorer can also search, extract and view (via an easy viewer) the image objects included in a document.
PDF Explorer is also able to access files in compressed archives (such as ZIP, RAR, 7zip, and ACE). This is done in a transparent way and the user may not even realize that this is taking place.
Batch processes allow for repetitive tasks such as the renaming of documents, the extraction of all images, the editing of a field and printing to be automated.
Powerful web interface feature enables access to many of this features from remote locations, using a simple LAN, or Internet, connection.
Now that some of the features of the program have been presented, its usage needs to be considered. That is the theme of the rest of this manual.