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Subject:Re: Acrobat Catalog and Index From:Peter Lucas <peterlucas -at- MEDIAONE -dot- NET> Date:Tue, 3 Aug 1999 16:03:37 -0700
I'm not sure what platform you are using, but I'm using Win 98.
We used Adobe Catalog 3.0 and it was O.K., but I hated the fact it was a
16-bit program. It couldn't read long file names and long directory names.
So, all my PDF file names would get truncated in the index. Real pain in the
butt when you have several PDFs with similar file names. (In other words,
stay away from Catalog 3.0). Other than that, it worked pretty well.
We currently use Adobe Catalog 4.0 and I like it much better, mostly because
it is now 32-bit and it can deal with long file names and long directory
names.
We only use the index in-house, but it is a very valuable tool. I have about
30 PDFs in our index and some of the PDFs are VERY long manuals. All our
programmers have the 4.0 Reader with search installed, and they use the
index all the time. They love it.
I've never had any problems running Catalog. It's very easy to use and on a
fairly modern PC (Pentium class, 64 MB RAM), manages to index our PDFs
pretty quickly.
One of the big advantages of the Search (using the index) vs. the Reader's
Find feature is that the Search is MUCH faster and, of course, can
incorporate multiple docs.
Since we release all our documentation as PDFs, we are going to start
advising our clients to take advantage of the Catalog feature, but they are
going to have to buy a copy of Adobe Acrobat 4, which may or may not sit
well with them. However, we at least want to inform them that the option
exists and let them make the call.
Good luck!
Peter Lucas
Decade Software Co.
> Howdy All,
>
> I'm reaching out from behind my desk to pick your collective brain about
> Adobe Acrobat Catalog and the Index feature...
>
> Anybody care to recount their experiences with the Adobe Catalog,
> specifically the Index? Any success/failure stories out there? Do users
> actually appreciate the index feature? Is it usable/useful? Do users need
> instructions on how to use the search tool in Reader to search Indexed
> documents? What about just notifying the user that the Index is available?
>
> I have not seen any examples of the Index, besides Adobes. Any pointers to
> examples and/or resources would be greatly appreciated!
>
> Thanks!
> Kandis Weiner.
> Technical Communicator - Positron Public Safety Systems
>http://www.postron911.com
>mailto:kweiner -at- positron -dot- qc -dot- ca
