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Keeping PDFs editable while users can view files?

Asked by nemo,

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Grand Master

nemo

Posted
Posted

Okay, so the topic is a little vague but here's the situation:

At my office, we have about 10 PDFs on our network that a group of people in the office (~50) people view almost all day long. Problem is, at the same time, those PDFs are being constantly updated. This is a problem because literally every time the file needs to be updated, someone else is in it. After sending out e-mails/calling IT to find out who is in the file for the umpteenth time -- it's really getting annoying.

So I am on a mission to find a way to keep these files viewable by everyone in the office, but at the same time leaving them free to be updated.

Does anyone have any ideas?

15 answers to this question

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Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

Yeah doesn't seem like PDF would be the best way to provide this info if its constantly being edited. Why not just post the info via a wiki, etc.

Any sort of file is going to be hard to replace with an update if people always have it open via the network. Does not matter if its a txt file, pdf, word doc - if its open by other users its going to be difficult to replace the file with a new copy.

You could try changing the permissions on the file so that specific users can only open it in read only.. And then let users that update said file have read/write. But quite often even if file is open for read its hard to replace it with new copy.

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Grand Master

nemo

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  • Author
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They are blueprints. There are over 1000 drawings in the set, which makes having each drawing stay individual rather cumbersome. Keeping one PDF for each trade is the easiest way.

You could try changing the permissions on the file so that specific users can only open it in read only.. And then let users that update said file have read/write. But quite often even if file is open for read its hard to replace it with new copy.

Yep - that doesn't work.

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Grand Master

boogerjones

Posted
Posted

As far as I know, only Adobe-base PDF Readers (basically Adobe Reader and Acrobat) lock file permissions when opening the file. Would it be possible to try a different PDF reader like Sumatra or Foxit? I'm not on a Windows box right now, but I think those readers allow the file to be edited while it's open. On Linux (I know, probly not an option for you guys), evince automatically refreshes the PDF when it changes on disk.

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Grand Master

+virtorio MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

Maybe some kind of Sync tool that copies a version of the PDF to their local machine every time they want to view it.

Or a PDF viewer that doesn't lock the file.

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Grand Master

boogerjones

Posted
Posted

So 1 PDF has over 1000 drawings in it? Honestly; I don't think you'll be able to accomplish what you want with PDF files.

PDF's are perfect for blueprint drawings (which is what OP is working with). Makes perfect sense that those documents would have many drawings inside.
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Mentor

c.grz

Posted
Posted

PDF's are perfect for blueprint drawings (which is what OP is working with). Makes perfect sense that those documents would have many drawings inside.

I'm not refering to that; I'm referring to the part about having the file be updated while people are also viewing it.

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Grand Master

boogerjones

Posted
Posted

I'm not refering to that; I'm referring to the part about having the file be updated while people are also viewing it.

But that's not a PDF problem, it's an Adobe Reader problem. As I mentioned above, other PDF readers don't write-lock the file when opening them.
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Grand Master

Rohdekill

Posted
Posted

Fortis can do this. But it doesn't come cheap. It basically throws a lock when the first user opens it. Any subsequent viewers remain in read-only mode until the lock is removed. You can also view who has what open and give rights to force-unlock.

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Grand Master

+Xinok Subscriber²

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  • Subscriber²
Posted

Would it be an option to save the blueprints as high resolution images instead? They'd be easy to browse through using any decent image viewer and locked files would no longer be an issue.

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Grand Master

nemo

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yeah our company uses Adobe. And as Davo mentioned its the correct way to do it so changes don't get lost.

Switching from Adobe won't happen. I didn't think its possible to do what I'm looking for.... so I figured I'd ask around to see if someone has an out-of-the-box solution.

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Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

Have you tried http://blog.kowalczy...pdf-reader.html for reading the files - I don't believe it places any lock on the files.

So if users used it to open the pdfs, you could replace them.

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