Lots of PDF resources - print, markup, convert and more

PDF, or Portable Document Format, files are ubiquitous these days. The format is a great way to share files since every operating system, including mobile devices, has free software available to read the files. Creating these files, manipulating them, marking them up, editing them, and converting them to other formats are all needed activities for many people. Here are some great resources to use with PDF files. 


PDF Readers:

Adobe Acrobat Reader - http://get.adobe.com/reader/ - read pdf files. 

Foxit Reader - http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php - read pdf files.

Google Docs and Google Chrome can also display PDF files. 

Google Docs, the free service from Google, can view PDF files. Another nice feature, is that if you upload a PDF file to Google Docs, you can have it convert text from a PDF into a Google Doc.  It will extract the text but not individual images. 

Creating the PDF file is very simple. I create the original file using a word processor or presentation program and then convert it to a PDF file using CutePDF Writer. CutePDF Writer is a free utility that installs onto your computer like a printer. You create your original file and then “print” it. Instead of selecting your printer, you select “CutePDF.” The software will convert the file to PDF form and ask you were you would like to save it. You can also use it to “print” any file, including web pages, to a PDF file. I use this often to save web articles for reading later.

There is also a free application available that allows you to merge multiple PDF files into one PDF file.

Quick PDF tools is a great resource. The software is easy to install and very easy to use and the website has easy to follow instructions. You simply select the PDF files you want to merge in Windows Explorer, right click, select QuickPDF tools, and select merge. You can then order them in the window in the order you want them merged, and then select merge. It is really that easy.

PDFtoWord is a free site that converts PDF files into Word documents.

This comes in handy when you have a PDF file that you need to edit and change and you don't have the proper, and expensive, software.

It's very easy to use. Go to the site, select a file from your computer to upload and convert, and enter an email address where you want the Word document sent. That's it.

I used it to convert a 9 page, 3MB PDF file and it took about 15 seconds to upload. The converted file did not show up in my email inbox until later that evening. (it was graphic intensive too).

The converted file was pretty accurate with almost no errors, which I manually fixed in a few minutes. The quality of the conversion was really good.

Remember also that it will not be able to convert a file that was only an image, like a file that was scanned. It will simply put that image as an image in a Word file.

This is really handy for taking files that were created with a print conversion (like CutePDF) or from Acrobat and making them editable in Word. If someone created the PDF file by scanning a document, this will not convert it back since the scanning process converts everything into one image.

It's not bad for free. You definitely don't want to use this if you need the file converted immediately. You will want to plan ahead due to the delay in getting the file converted and the fact that you may have to do some manual editing of errors.

PDF Online is an online service that has both fee and FREE services relating to PDF files.

One of the free services is "Doc2PDF" that will convert a document to a PDF file. You can only convert files up to 2GB (to convert files up to 10GB you need to subscribe to the premium version).

This is good for people who don't convert many files to PDF. If you want to convert a lot of files to PDF, I suggest CutePDF.

The other free service is "PDF to Word" which converts your PDF documents to RTF Documents for viewing and editing Word. It works very well and fast. After uploading your file, it will convert it and then leave a link for you to download with the converted file.

Another way to do this is with PDF2Word.

Free My PDF is a very useful site for those of us that deal with PDF files a lot. Many PDF files that are unlocked (you can open and read them) sometimes have restrictions on printing or copying text from the file. Free My PDF can remove those restrictions.

It is very easy to use. Go to the site, select the file you want modified, and click "Do It". You will then be able to download the unlocked file.

If you need a password to view the PDF file, you can not use this service. It also can not be used for illegal or immoral uses. In other words, you can't use this to violate copyright laws or take someone else's work.

Sometimes, these copy and print restrictions are in a file completely by accident because the person creating the file forgot to change the settings. Other times, you simply need to print or copy something for your own use. For example, a PDF file from a financial institution to me, with information about my account, would not let me copy or print. I wanted to copy part of it for my own records and print a hard copy for easy reference. I used Free My PDF to do that. No laws or ethics violated.

Try it out.

Here is the legal info at the bottom of the page:

An important note: There are many valid reasons to want to remove a password from a PDF (Ask your favorite lawyer about copyright and fair use, or Google it), but there are also many bad and illegal reasons. YOU MAY NOT USE THIS SERVICE FOR ILLEGAL PURPOSES. You also should not use this service for immoral puposes (it's not always the same). The owner of this site takes NO RESPONSIBILITY for the files processed on the site or generated by it, or anything else related to your usage (legal, technical or otherwise). Use it at your own risk.
The writer of this blog also takes no responsibility for your use of Free My PDF.

So, there are a lot of great resources for creating and utilizing PDF files. PDF files are great to use because anyone can read them without needing any special software. 

What technology I use on a daily basis

(updated 01/15/10)

Last month, I was asked to list my top 3 tech resources, which I wrote about HERE and which will be featured in October's issue of NEA Today magazine.

Recently, a colleague asked me what technology I use each day and how does it help me or my students. So, here is my answer: (all of them are free)

1. Email - I use email for communication. All of my students have my school email address, and I give it out to parents also. I can send messages to my students, communicate with parents, and communicate with other educators. You can get a free email account from Google.

2. Evernote - I use Evernote as a note taking system. I have my notes organized by topic. I have reference notes, lesson plans, tech tips, and much more on here. What I really love, is that I can access my notes from any internet enabled computer or cell phone. I also like the ability to "clip" web sites into a note in Evernote. What's great, is that hyperlinks on the web page are kept when clipped into Evernote. You can also attach files to your notes. Free accounts can only attach images (JPEG/PNG/GIF), audio (MP3, WAV, AMR), PDF, and digital ink files. I try to convert most of my files to PDF anyway for cross-platform support. (Here is some info on how to create PDF files for free on your computer, or online. ) You can also share notes and notebooks with others.

3. iGoogle - I use iGoogle as my start page to keep myself organized. With one glance, I can see my task list, schedule (calendar), bookmarks, time/date, Gmail, RSS feeds and more. I can also access my Google Docs from this page. For more on iGoogle, go HERE.

4. Engrade - Engrade is a free online gradebook for teachers. I have all of my classes listed here and each student is given an access code so that they can see their grades any time they want. I also give access codes to the parents so that they always know how their student is doing. It is accessable from any web enabled computer and you can generate multiple reports and export the data if needed.

5a. Sugarsync - Sugarsync is an online system that backs up your files and allows you to access them from any web enabled computer or smart phone. There is a free, 2GB capacity account available. What is really great is that it keeps your files in sync among multiple computers. Make a change to a file on computer A, and it is automatically uploaded and sync'd with their servers and any other computers you have specified. You can even open/edit a file directly from their server and it will automatically sync the changes you make. I keep my school files on here so that I can work on them and access them at home and on any computer at school.

5b. Dropbox is a service that allows you to sync your files on your computer with their system as a backup. This also allows you to access the files anywhere. You can also sync the files across multiple computers. This means that you have automatic backup of your files and 24/7 access to your files. I have it set up to sync a folder on my home computer and school computer so I don't have to worry about having multiple versions or forgetting a flash drive.

There are also Dropbox apps for iPhone, Android, iPad and there is one coming for Blackberry. There is an independent app for Palm webOS, but you can also access the mobile site from any web-enabled phone. Imagine being able to access all of your files on your smartphone!

One feature that is very nice is the fact that it works with network drives like we use in my district. Some of the other cloud file storage and sync systems can't work with network drives. I was very happy to see this was able to be done with Dropbox.

6. Blogger - Blogger is a free blogging tool from Google. I use it for this blog, as well as for a blog for each of my classes. These class blogs are a great resource for my students. I have important links on the side and then I post what we are doing in class, links for extra help, and more on there. My students have all subscribed to the blogs via email, so they get an email whenever I make a new post on the blog. Students can also hold discussions on the blog.

7. Google Sites - I use Google sites to create a free website for my classes. I have one website that I use for all of my clases - www.physicsmedic.org. On the site I have class rules, reference information, links, and files from class (presentations, handouts, etc.). I also have sections for new teachers and about educational technology.

8. Hardware: I have a teacher station computer in my classroom, along with 8 student desktop computers. I have a printer for the student computers and a printer for my computer. I also have an LCD projector connected to my computer, and a VCR and DVD player connected to the projector. I also use a Keyspan remote to wirelessly control my computer from anywhere in the room. Auxillary speakers are also a must.

I also use a Palm Pre+ smart phone to keep connected. I can access all of my files (and edit them), Google accounts, email, the web, and much more with it (it even makes phone calls).

9. Other software: our school computers run Windows XP. I also use the following software on my school computer: Google Chrome web browser, Stardock Object Dock (a great dock to launch programs from), Picasa (photo organizing and editing), GDoc Backup (backup my Google Docs to the hard drive), PowerCalc (Microsoft Scientific/Graphing Calculator), OpenOffice (office suite) and CutePDF writer. All of this software is free.

I have also switched to using Aviary's clipping extension for Chrome to clip graphics from the internet and edit or modify them.

So, you now know what I use for educational technology on a daily basis. There is much more that I use from time to time and I have a huge number of web sites that I use for information, reference, or with my students.

Please share your resources too.

BookletCreator

"Booklet Creator is a free online tool that allows you to create a booklet from a PDF document. It reorders pages so that after printing and folding the pages, a small book is created. "

You need to start with a PDF file, so if you don't have Acrobat or PDF export/save as in any of your software packages, you can go HERE to see how go get a free PDF creator (CutePDF). 

It is extremely easy to use. Simply select a PDF file on your computer, choose the number of pages and page size (I selected "ALL" and "AUTO") and then click "create your booklet". In a few seconds it is done and asks you where to save the file to. The file is saved as a PDF file. It did a great job on my test projects and I already have some great ideas on how to use it.

In class, you could use this to have students easily create booklets as a project, or turn some of you own handouts and materials into booklet formats.

Free Stuff for Educators - New TL Blog posted today

I posted a new TechLearning blog today about Free Stuff for Educators. Originally posted at TechLearning HERE. 

One of the beautiful things about the 21st Century and the Internet is the amount of free stuff you can find out there. This month's Tech&Learning magazine talks about funding resources, but I want to address some of the things that are free.

The first free resource I use is Google. Google Mail, Calendar, iGoogle, Google Docs, Blogger, Earth...and the list goes on and on. If you are looking to start using Google, the best place to start is the Google Educators page (http://www.google.com/educators/index.html ). This site describes the applications available to educators for free, how to use them in class, and has lists of resources to help you use these resources. I personally use so many Google resources because they all "play well together." There are a lot of other free resources out there that I will list below.

Free Productivity Software:

1. OpenOffice - http://www.openoffice.org - free office software that can be downloaded onto a computer. It includes documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.

2. Google Docs - http://docs.google.com - online, hosted office software. Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations.

3. Zoho - http://www.zoho.com - online, hosted office software. Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations, and much more.

Free Grade book

1. Engrade - http://www.engrade.com - online, hosted grade book. Students and parents can be given access codes and will be able to see their grades at any time.

Free Windows Power Toys

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

A variety of free tools that Microsoft programmers created on their own. Includes SyncToy (for syncing files across multiple disks or computers), Alt-Tab replacement (adds a thumbnail view to the task switcher), Power Calculator and Taksbar Magnifier (which allows you to magnify part of your screen).

Miscellaneous Free Stuff

1. CutePDF - http:// www.cutepdf.com - free download that allows you to "print" any file to a pdf file. Very easy to use and very useful.

2. Adobe Acrobat Reader - http://get.adobe.com/reader/ - read pdf files.

3. Foxit Reader - http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php - read pdf files.

4. Evernote - http://www.evernote.com - note taking system. Very powerful. Mobile, desktop, and online versions are available.

5. PBWiki - http://pbwiki.com/education.wiki - free wiki creation and hosting

6. Currki - http://www.curriki.org - educational wiki's, wiki hosting, and more.

7. Objectdock - http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/ - free download that allows Windows users to organize their shortcuts, applications, and programs in an attractive animated dock at the bottom of the screen. It is similar to Mac OS's dock.

8. Ninehub - http://www.ninehub.com - free Moodle hosting. Ninehub will host your Moodle classes for free.

Free Resources

1. Tech&Learning Magazine - http://www.techlearning.com - free educational journal

2. THE Journal - http://www.thejournal.com - free educational technology journal

3. eSchoolnews - http://www.eschoolnews.com - free newsletters and "Classroom News" educational technology newsletter.

4. Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/ - list of web sites and educator resources

5. Teachopolis - http://teachopolis.org - huge resource for educators, with information on educational technology, pedagogy, and more

I also share my class website, http://www.physicsmedic.org , with other teachers. Besides having resources on here for my students, I have links, articles, and downloads for teachers.

I also have my own blog, http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com , that I invite teachers to visit, read, and comment.

This is just a small sampling of some of the free resources out there for educators. It can be overwhelming at times, so start small, try a couple of them out, and then move on.

For a more expansive list of resources, click HERE and then download "Ed Tech 103 - Free Educational Technology."

Posted by Tech Learning Blog Staff at 04/23/2009 02:31:56 PM | 

Merge PDF files for free

I have been a long time user of CutePDF Writer to create PDF files from other files like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and even webpages. It simple installs as a "printer" on your computer and you select that instead of your actual printer.

Today, I found out how to merge multiple PDF files into one PDF file. The best news, it's free!

Quick PDF tools is a great resource. The software is easy to install and very easy to use and the website has easy to follow instructions. You simple select the PDF files you want to merge in Windows Explorer, right click, select QuickPDF tools, and select merge. You can then order them in the window in the order you want them merged, and then select merge. It is really that easy.

I ended up using it today to merge 15 different PDF files into one guidebook that I use when teaching Google for Educators. It was easy to do and saved me a lot of time and effort.

Check it out!