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Well, if you can get PDF output from the tool--and that should be
trivial, even if only by using Print to File and Distiller--then you
can still use Adobe Shared Review for parallel review (or pass around a
single PDF for old-school serial review; or merge comments from N
copies of a PDF scattered to multiple reviewers).
The only issue for drawings/artwork is that the illustrative markup
tools are rather limited: freeform line, straight line, arrow,
rectangle, oval, callout, polygon, cloud, and connected lines
('freeform polygon'). PROBABLY sufficient for things like flowcharts
and lineart, especially if folks keep the Properties Bar open
(Ctrol+E); but perhaps challenging for annotating 3D and CAD.
And it hasn't been mentioned yet, but all PDF-based review has the
inherent, labor-intensive component of transcribing change requests in
PDF Comments back into the working files/authoring tools. IIRC, a few
Adobe products can SORT OF integrate PDF Comments (strikeout, insert,
and replace text); but I've heard that they can screw up as often as
work perfectly. Neither here nor there, though, if your SMEs just slap
everything in a sticky note; which, in my experience, they will do EVEN
IF you have training and demos about using the more-explicit markup
tools: the highlight and sticky note tools are the two on the default
toolbar; and so they become the hammers for which all problems are
nails.
HTH;
David
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: Review tools
From: Erika Yanovich <[1]ERIKA_y -at- rad -dot- com>
Date: Tue, June 26, 2018 2:14 am
To: "[2]techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <[3]techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Very interesting thread. What I'm seeing here is a that each solution
deals with their own file type (Adobe with PDFs, Central with Flare,
etc.). Typically organizations use more than one authoring tool, so the
best would be to have a universal review tool that can deal with
whatever file type you throw at it, even PPT, CAD drawings or anything
that needs to be reviewed. Does such an animal exist?
Erika
References
1. mailto:ERIKA_y -at- rad -dot- com
2. mailto:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
3. mailto:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
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