Using PDF files for case and practice management: you can search, edit, annotate, share, and manipulate documents stored electronically in portable document format - an easy way to preserve them just as they look on paper.

If you use the Internet, chances are that by now you've received an attachment or tried to open a file that is in portable document format (PDF). You probably downloaded Adobe Reader software (if your computer didn't come with it installed), opened the file, and read or printed it.

PDF is a file format that presents an electronic document as it appears on paper, regardless of the software, hardware, or operating system used to create the file. In other words, you can read a PDF document in Windows, even if it was created on a Macintosh and downloaded from a Web site that uses Unix. PDF maintains the integrity of the document, regardless of the source, and displays materials on screen exactly as they would appear in print--which is critical for legal documents.

Adobe Reader can be downloaded for free from www.adobe.com or via the link to Adobe offered by most Web sites that contain PDF files. The program lets you view and print PDF documents on all major computer platforms, as well as fill in and submit PDF forms online. The latest version, 6.0, offers additional features, including the ability to search collections of PDF files, read eBooks, and display Adobe Photoshop Album Slide-shows and electronic greeting cards. But the Reader program has limited use. While Reader gives you, figuratively speaking, a picture of a cat, Adobe also offers a full-fledged program--Acrobat 6.0--that lets you turn the wheel, hit the gas, and make it go. With Acrobat, you can integrate PDF files into your document- and case-management routine.

Functional features

The full-feature Adobe Acrobat software is available in standard ($299, upgrade $99) and professional ($449, upgrade $149) versions. Both allow document exchange and review; the professional version has more advanced features that you may or may not need.

New document creation. The most important new feature is the ability to develop new documents from PDF files. While PDF documents themselves cannot be edited or changed, Acrobat allows you to manipulate documents, whereas Reader only let s you read, bookmark, and print. With Acrobat, if outside counsel sends form discovery or briefs in PDF format, you no longer have to retype the entire document to use it. Acrobat allows you to save a PDF file in rich text format (RTF), creating a new document that can then be opened and edited using your word-processing program.

In addition, when you install-Acrobat, the program will add a function button to the Microsoft Office applications--such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint--already on your computer. Once you have created a document using one of these programs, simply click the "Convert to Adobe PDF" button on the program's toolbar, and a drop-down menu will guide you through saving the document as a PDF file.

Search features. Acrobat also allows you to search a document for a specific term. If you use electronic versions of documents in your practice, you may save scanned images in tag image file format (TIFF) or one of several standard formats that provide exact renditions of the original document. But standard TIFF files cannot be searched, which means finding specific details can be time-consuming. You can use optical character recognition (OCR) software, which reads the characters on a TIFF file or other digital image and translates them into a separate file of machine-readable text. But this approach comes up short because you must jump from the new file back to the original image to view the search results in the original context.

Acrobat overcomes the limitations of TIFF an d OCR text files by allowing you to fully search PDF files. Adobe technology stores the image information in one layer and maintains a text version of the document in another, hidden layer in the same file. You can find any string of text, in context, on the PDF page of your document.

Document sharing. Acrobat also lets you create interactive forms and share them with other attorneys and stale who can sign the forms electronically using password-protected digital signatures. You can revise and add comments to documents and Web pages using highlighters, note boxes, pencil and line-draw tools, and a tool to strike out lines of text.

After adding your comments, you can save the document and e-mail it to colleagues, who will be able to see all your additions, deletions, changes, and e-signatures. You can also upload an appended document to an Internet site or office computer network, where other users with Acrobat can edit simultaneously, using the toolbar Acrobat adds to their browser window.

Lawyers' uses

How might Acrobat feature's help your practice? Consider the following examples.

Searching. The built-in catalog, which indexes the text, and search features enable you to quickly scan tens of thousands of PDF files to find all the documents that reference specific information. For example, you are handling an auto rear-end collision case and need to locate text, testimony, and diagrams related to connective-tissue injuries of the head and neck. You select the documents or files to be searched, then type keywords or phrases into the search box. Acrobat takes you to your search terms in each document, allowing you to see the phrase in context.

Electronic navigation. Bookmarks are the equivalent of tabs in a paper trial notebook; they divide your electronic documents into areas by subjects that you assign. Acrobat will display a list of bookmarks on a separate screen side-by-side with the document.

You can create bookmarks in the program by specifying heading styles in Microsoft Word, or by using content-recognition features when working with Acrobat Capture 3.0 software.

Capture, a separate program ($399 for the personal edition), works with your scanner to convert large volumes of paper documents to searchable PDF files. The company touts the software's accurate OCR, advanced page and content recognition, and powerful cleanup tools for large jobs. Because it runs automatically, you can add bookmarks while documents and images are being scanned and converted to PDF format.

You can also create hypertext links, which is particularly useful for cites. You can link to a cited document from its location in another PDF document or on a Web page, so that readers can easily jump from the citation to the original source.

Document collaboration. As noted above, lawyers working in different places can read and add comments to a PDF document from their Web browsers if they have Acrobat. Once someone adds his or her comments, everyone collaborating on the document can review them and comment further. You can even take a document with you, comment off-line, and then upload your comments when you return to the office. This is especially useful when collaborating on a joint pretrial statement with other offices, because it is easy to see who made what comments.

Security. PDF files can be password-protected so that only authorized users can access them. When you create a document, you can "lock" it to prevent others from changing, printing, or copying the content, yet still allow them to add comments or a digital signature. Preventing others from changing yore work product is particularly valuable in join t submissions for court. Different usage rights for a document can be assigned to specific individuals, allowing, for example, the expert to comment, the attorney to change text, and the paralegal to fill in form fields.

Digital signatures. In 2000, then-President Bill Clinton signed the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN), allowing the use of digital signatures in legally binding transactions in the United States. Digital signatures use sophisticated public-key infrastructure technology to ensure that the person who sent and "signed" a document is who he or she claims to be, and that the document itself has not been altered in transmission. (For more on digital-signature technology, see Rebecca Porter, Do Electronic Signatures Mean an End to the Dotted Line?, TRIAL, Sept. 2003, at 52.)

Viewers of a PDF document can append a digital signature to indicate their final approval. It identifies the person who has read, reviewed, or possibly altered the document. This is invaluable if, for example, you have worked extensively on a settlement agreement that is passed around electronically via e-mail to numerous defense counsel and cocounsel, and critical language is added, deleted, or altered that changes---even if unintentionally--the value or structure of the settlement.

This is just some of what Acrobat can do. Adobe offers a flee 30-day trial version, which, however, comes without tech support; purchasers of the software do receive support and can sign up for online training.

With many federal and state courts moving to PDF format for e-filing, as well as the need to electronically exchange documents without fear of alteration, Acrobat 6.0 offers the tools to truly manage these types of files.

RELATED ARTICLE: Third-party 'plug-ins'.

Because PDF is becoming the de facto standard for exchanging electronic documents, several companies have created software that works with Acrobat to enhance its capabilities. These programs are called "plug-ins."

Acrobat 6.0 offers the everyday editing tools you will need, but there are a number of reasonably priced, easy-to-operate third-party plug-ins for more advanced use.

The largest line of plug-ins useful for law offices is from Acrobotics, Inc. (available at www.pdfstore.com). The programs are written by Steve Harris, a business litigation attorney from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who provides personal tech support. Here are a few of my favorites.

* AutoCapture-X or AutoCapture-X Pro

This software batch-processes PDF files automatically. You select the directory or folder in which to place the PDF files, and the software uses Acrobat's Paper Capture feature to convert non-searchable images to searchable text without altering the physical appearance of the scanned image. The Pro version is designed to run constantly, but the computer on which it is running cannot be used for other tasks at the same time. However, if you have a products liability case where document production can exceed a million pages, it is worth designating a computer for this task, rather than converting the files to PDF format one at a time.

* AutoStamp

This batch-process tool automatically stamps or labels an unlimited number of PDF files; you just specify a directory and the type of stamp, then walk away. The program automatically loads each file for processing, retrieves the file, places the stamp on each page and saves the file, then moves on to the next file. This could eliminate the labor-intensive Bates Stamp method of identifying documents, which often smudges the numbers. Another feature of AutoCapture is AutoSize, which will resize PDF files without changing the image--much like reducing it on a photocopying machine--which provides margins to accommodate stamping and hole punching.

* Other plug-ins that perform similar functions are Mapsoft's Impress Pro 2.1 ($495 from www.mapsoft.com) and Appligent's Stamp PDF Batch ($2,995 from www.appligent.com). Both will automatically run batches of PDF documents to add watermarks, page numbers, and date/time stamps.

Additional resources

For Acrobat plug-ins, news, resources, and support via online discussions, visit www.pdfzone.com.

Acrobotics' Web site (www.acrobotics.net) offers other custom automation tools to enable your computer to perform repetitive functions related to PDF files.--SHARON TRAYLOR RUSSELL

SHARON TRAYLOR RUSSELL is a paralegal specializing in document and discovery analysis for the Law Offices of Leon Russell in Dallas. The views expressed in this article ate the author's and do not constitute an endorsement of any product by TRIAL or ATLA.