Adding page numbers, headers and bookmarks to a PDF
Navigation furniture is easy to add and easy to get wrong — especially page numbers that disagree with what the reader sees.
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Document work,
explained properly.
Practical writing about PDF, image and document work — what is actually inside the file, which settings change the outcome, and how to get it right the first time. Every guide is written here, not reprinted.
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Stamps, tick marks and backgrounds in a PDF
Adding a mark to a page is easy. Whether it prints, whether it can be removed, and what it does to file size are the parts worth knowing.
Bold, underline and line spacing in a PDF: what is actually possible
Restyling text in a PDF fails for one reason that applies to all of it — changing how a character looks changes how wide it is.
Digital signatures: what they prove and how to check one
A green tick means two specific things and not a third. Here is what is actually verified, and why a valid signature can still be worthless.
How to flatten a PDF, and when you should not
Flattening merges the interactive layers into the page. It fixes several real problems and is irreversible, which is the part to think about first.
Converting an image or a slide deck into Word or Excel
These conversions are not conversions. An image has no text until something reads it, and the tools promising otherwise are running OCR.
How to compare two documents and find every change
Reading two versions side by side misses things. What comparison tools actually detect, and why comparing a PDF is harder than comparing text.
Going paperless without creating a worse mess
The benefits are real and smaller than usually claimed. The failure nobody warns about is that digital clutter is harder to see than paper clutter.
A4, Letter and Legal: why the wrong size ruins a print
Two standards that nearly match but never quite. What each is for, what happens when they meet, and how to choose deliberately.
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