by Jennie Ruby
This week a past student of my Editing with Acrobat class contacted me with this problem: The page numbers used in the Comments pane at the bottom of her screen did not match the page numbers displayed in the page number field at the top of the screen. Endless confusion resulted when she tried to discuss editorial changes with authors--Is that on page 2? or page 21?
Page Navigation toolbar:
Comments Pane:
Where did these different numbers come from? The number 21 corresponds with the actual printed number on that page as it will appear in the printed publication. Acrobat picked this number up from the desktop publishing software used to create the document. It is called the "logical" page number. The number 2 corresponds with the second page in the Acrobat PDF. I will be calling this number the "Acrobat" page number.
One quick fix to make these two numbers match is to set Acrobat to use the Acrobat page numbers (starting with 1 as the first page of the PDF) instead of the "logical" numbers. To do this, choose Edit > Preferences. In the Preferences dialog box, select the Page Display category, deselect Use logical page numbers and click OK.
Now, within your screen, the numbers are consistent. But how do you discuss your comments with an author who is looking at a printout that has the "logical" page numbers on it? You may need to create a summary of the comments using the logical page numbers.
To create a summary numbered to match the author's printout, return to the Preferences dialog box (Edit > Preferences > Page Display) and select Use logical page numbers. Then choose Comments > Summarize Comments.
Choose a layout and formatting for your summary, then click Create PDF Comment Summary. You will get a new PDF showing the original text and the comments, and any page numbers referred to in the comments will match the "logical" printed page numbers.
Need help with Acrobat's many editing tools? Or do you need a reliable way to get feedback from several people on a document or PowerPoint deck? My Editing with Acrobat class is a great place to start.
Are you an eLearning developer who has been tasked with creating an effective voiceover script? If so, consider attending Jennie's Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts class. Jennie also teaches the Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts and the Complete Review of Grammar class.
About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. She is a publishing professional with more than 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.
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