New Version of Practical:PDF Portfolio Utilities Available

In my last post, I talked about how I recently updated the Portfolio Utilities that I created when I was still at Adobe. Since then, I’ve completely overhauled one of them. I’ve replaced “Export Portfolio Metadata to Console” with the more powerful “Generate Portfolio Metadata Report.”

Generate Portfolio Metadata Report

Selecting “Generate Portfolio Metadata Report” will create a new PDF file that lists the item metadata in an eMail Archive or PDF Portfolio. You can customize the page size, font size, and column widths of the report. It will even create a tab delimited ASCII file and attach it to the report so you can bring the data into Excel or your spreadsheet of choice.

Installation:

Begin by downloading a .zip file of the utilities and decompress it onto your desktop. You should see a file named “PracticalPDF_PortfolioUtilities_v2.1.js”. Keep this file handy. After installation, you should see a new menu under “Edit” called “Practical:PDF Portfolio Utilities”

Download the Practical:PDF Portfolio Utilities

Windows Installation:

1. Enter “%appdata%” in the file Explorer window path bar and press enter. Depending on the version of Windows you are using, you’ll end up in a different folder but in all cases you should see an “Adobe” folder in the location that just opened.
2. Open the “Adobe” folder. You should see an “Acrobat” folder within the “Adobe” folder.
3. Open the “Acrobat” folder.

Acrobat 9.x

4. You should see a “9.0” folder within the “Acrobat” folder.
5. Open the “9.0” folder.
6. If you see a “JavaScripts” folder, open it. If not, create it.
7. Move “PracticalPDF_PortfolioUtilities_v2.1.js” to the “JavaScripts” folder.
8. Restart Acrobat if it’s running.

Acrobat X and XI

4. If not already present, create a new folder called “Privileged” within the “Acrobat” folder.
5. Open the “Privileged” folder.
6. If not already present and depending on your version, create a folder named either “10.0” or “11.0”. In the remaining instructions, I’ll refer to this as the “version number folder”
7. Open the version number folder.
8. If not already present, create a new folder called “JavaScripts” within the version number folder.
9. Open the “JavaScripts” folder.
10. Move “PracticalPDF_PortfolioUtilities_v2.1.js” to the “JavaScripts” folder.
11. Restart Acrobat if it’s running.

Mac Installation:

1. Find your version of the directory below.
   Acrobat 9
   /Macintosh HD/Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Acrobat/9.0_x86/JavaScripts/
   Acrobat X
   /Macintosh HD/Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Acrobat/10.0/JavaScripts/
   Acrobat XI
   /Macintosh HD/Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Acrobat/11.0/JavaScripts/
2. Move “PracticalPDF_PortfolioUtilities_v2.1.js” to the “JavaScripts” folder.
3. Restart Acrobat if it’s running.

Use:

Open a Portfolio and hide/show the metadata fields that you want to appear in the report by putting the Portfolio into “Files” mode unless you are working with an eMail archive Portfolio in which case you’re basically already there.

Right-click on any of the metadata column headings then select “View”. Check or uncheck any of the fields shown. Checked fields will appear in the report.

From the Acrobat menu, Select View -> Portfolio -> Cover Sheet. The script needs to run against the Portfolio, instead of any of the individual files within it. This is the simplest way to make the Portfolio the active document. You’ll know you’re in the right mode when you see the Portfolio Cover Sheet.

To run the report, select Edit -> Practical:PDF Portfolio Utilities -> Generate Portfolio Metadata Report. You should see a small dialog box pop up. The page size is measured in points (72/inch) and is set to 11 x 8.5, landscape, but you can modify it and the font size via the options in the dialog box.

Initially, the column widths are evenly divided (roughly) across the page but you can, for example, provide a larger percentage for the “Subject” field vs. the “Size” field. The dialog will check your math but won’t fix it for you. The OK button will be disabled until you’ve provided a set of percentages that equals exactly 100.

Click OK to run the report.

You should end up with a document that is one or more pages full of the Portfolio metadata. In addition, a tab delimited file has been generated and added to the report. This is the raw data which you should be able to open in Excel.

I hope this new tool is helpful and I’m open to any feedback or suggestions.