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But if your client calls in confusion, you may realize that you have done the equivalent of dumping an unorganized collection of drawing sheets in their laps. Even if you were savvy enough to name the PDF files so they would sort consecutively in a folder directory, it might be difficult for your client to make sense of their organization.

Fortunately, Adobe Acrobat allows you organize a collection of related PDF drawings into a master PDF file with a linkable index. You can add a "bookmark" for each sheet with self-explanatory titles, producing, in effect, a clear table of contents that allows your client or consultant to go to directly to the sheets that most interest them. The recipient no longer has to repeatedly open and close a multitude of files.

Additionally, you can link any part of any page to any other part of any other page. For example, on your sheet of wall section drawings, you may have called out enlarged details on another sheet. Acrobat will allow you to link that wall section, so that in one click, viewers can go directly to the enlarged view of the detail.

These features are so convenient that you may want to use them in-house for referencing and navigating your own job set.

Thumbnails, Notes, and Links

One nice feature for the visually oriented is that you can ask Acrobat to create thumbnails images of each page or sheet. A display of these provides a visual index for your drawing set so you can see the whole set at a glance.

Another enhancement is a red-marking function. Acrobat provides some rudimentary tools for drawing over an area — as if with a marking pen — or for highlighting particular areas, drawing elements, or phrases.

An excellent feature for review and consultation is the Annotation tool. You can write short messages, as you might with those ubiquitous Post-It Notes, then "stick" a little digital notepad box on your drawing.

The note minimizes to a yellow flag that opens when the viewer clicks on it. You can use these to explain, for example, that a particular window type was specially selected to handle the project's seacoast environmental demands. You can also insert links in the PDF file to manufacturers' Web sites, offering highly detailed background information about selected products.

Another useful aspect of Acrobat is that you can link from your drawings to other types of files. For instance, you can make a link from a portion of a floor plan to a rendering or animation that shows the client what the space will look like.

Edward Wolfstein, AIA of Wolfstein Architects did just that in packaging a beautiful set of drawings for his client. One click brings up a fully rendered view of the room, which his client can then manipulate. With simple mouse clicks, the viewer can "navigate" 360 degrees within the space and zoom in or out on any aspect of the design.

You can also link to sound files. Imagine your clients viewing their future seacoast home with the sound of waves crashing in the background!

Security Controls

Part of the inherent beauty of PDF files is that they are WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) for viewing and printing yet are not readily editable by the viewer. With Adobe Acrobat, you can secure your file from change with additional protections.

Once you collate the master PDF file in Acrobat, the Save As command allows you to install password protection for viewing only or for mark-up editing and annotating by a consultant or client.

You can also attach "digital signatures" that verify your approval. In many cases, a digital signature can also serve as legal signature. (Laws may vary between jurisdictions.) It may be common in the near future to submit PDF project documents to building authorities for permitting and review.

Other Sweet Features

There are a host of other excellent bells and whistles in Adobe Acrobat to discover once you start to use the program. You can capture Web pages and convert them whole into PDF files. You can scan in a page and have Acrobat's optical character recognition (OCR) engine convert it into searchable/scalable text.

You can create your own fill-in forms for others to return to you online. Combine that feature with the scanning ability, and you can quickly convert your existing forms to PDF format. Indexing and cataloging features are also available.

The newest version includes features for teamwork and enhanced sharing capabilities. Reviewers can do markups from within a Web browser, and other features extend the usability of PDF documents for easy, interactive use on the Internet.

[Note: Clients and others who receive PDF files may initially need some extra support to ensure successfully viewing. And when used as part of a Web site, PDF files will typically be viewed by only a fraction of those who would see a simpler JPEG image file. When you want to maximize viewing of a drawing on the Web, consider presenting JPEG as a primary option, with PDF also available for visitors you've inspired to dig deeper. — Editor]

PDF has become a widely accepted standard, and Adobe is steamrolling ahead with more capabilities. It is only a matter of time before the file format sweeps the architectural and CAD worlds. So now is a good time to start using PDFs and get ahead of the curve by using the extra features of Adobe Acrobat.

Evan H. Shu, FAIA, is an architect with Shu Associates Inc. in Melrose, Massachusetts. He is a frequent contributor to Architectural Record and publisher and editor of Cheap Tricks, a monthly newsletter for DataCAD users and computer-using architects.

This article was reprinted from the April 2001 issue of Cheap Tricks © Shu Associates Inc. with permission of the publisher.

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A floor plan with a link to an animation. Image: Edward Wolfstein, AIA Mark-ups of CAD detail drawings in Adobe Acrobat. Image: Shu Associates A building section with materials hyperlinked to building product manufacturers' Web sites. Image: Edward Wolfstein, AIA Clicking on a thumbnail brings up a rendering. Image: Edward Wolfstein, AIA Deck detail linked from a thumbnail menu. Image: Edward Wolfstein, AIA A floor plan linked to elevation renderings. Image: Edward Wolfstein, AIA   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.