One of the most notable features of the PDF is that it is free – there are many free desktop and online PDF creation apps, such as the FreePDF Creator or Create PDF free. But as a professional writer or content creator, you will often need more robust PDF management software that will enable you to easily prepare your PDFs for online or offline publishing or distribution, modify archived work, or make sure that your manuscripts are well-protected from theft. That is where PDF Converter Elite, as a comprehensive and powerful PDF management solution, comes in. If you don’t know how PDF Converter Elite can help you, here are five great reasons to download the trial version and use it completely free for 14 days:

1. Create PDF eBooks & eBooklets

PDF Converter Elite enables you to easily and quickly create professionally looking PDF eBooks and eBooklets. All you need to do is to create a PDF from your manuscript or open the previously created PDF document in PCE 3. Then choose the Create booklet option from the Create menu. The Create booklet dialog offers many options for creating absolutely unique and dazzling booklets. Choose among over 30 paper sizes, along with paper orientation, scaling options, margins, binding type and bleed allowance, and with just a few clicks of a mouse, create captivating PDF booklets ready for distribution or printing.

2. Protect Your Work and Manuscripts

It is necessary to protect your work, especially if you are distributing and sharing it online. PDF Converter Elite 3 offers an advanced set of features for securing and protecting your documents.  Not only can you secure your manuscripts and ebooks with passwords and 128-bit encryption, but you can also protect documents by adding watermark image or watermark text, which will make sure that no one will be able to take your work and try to pass it off as their own. Check out how to easily add watermark text  or stamp PDFs with images.

3. Edit Your PDF eBooks Easily

Have you published a PDF ebook, script, article or any other document, deemed it perfect, archived it and then simply deleted the editable version of your writing because you thought there is nothing more to add or modify? Chances are it did, but don’t worry. Another great thing about PDF Converter Elite 3 is that you can not only create PDFs with it, but turn your PDFs into editable Microsoft Office or other document formats in order to rework and improve them as well.

PCE 3 also enables you to edit the PDF document itself thanks to its comprehensive editing capabilities. Add bookmarks to you writing, merge multiple articles and documents into a PDF, extract pages, add attachments and more.

Most writers will probably know how to appreciate the ability to add not one but three kinds of bookmarks to their PDFs:

• - a link to another page in the document,
• - a link to a webpage, and
• - a bookmark that opens another document upon activation.

4. Convert your eBooks and PDFs into web-pages

PDF Converter Elite 3 allows you to publish your work on the Internet with just one click of the mouse. Take your PDF or ebook files and convert them to HTML in a matter of seconds by choosing the PDF to HTML option in PDF Converter Elite. It will write the HTML code for your article, blog posts, or any other piece of written content.

5. Turn PDFs into compelling publications

The visual aspect has always played an important role in the world of publishing, especially when it comes to writing and publishing promotional materials such as bulletins, brochures, or email newsletters. One of the best known software applications for creating professional looking publications is Microsoft Publisher.

PCE 3 allows you to turn your PDFs into .pub files and create from them eye-catching marketing materials, greeting cards and other publications.

These features really only scratch the surface of what PDF Converter 3 Elite can do for you, and now is a better time than ever to download it free and uncover even more ways that it can help you out in your everyday writing and publishing activities.

There’s so much effort that needs to be put into running a small business that you might not have time to manage your finances efficiently if you are not familiar with accounting. Fortunately, there are a lot of applications that can help you out and make the entire process easy enough for even laypersons to handle. If you are looking to save some additional money by not involving a professional accountant in your business dealings, here are some excellent apps that can help you do it on your own.

1. Less Accounting

Less accounting is the perfect accounting solution for growing companies. Its very slick and intuitive interface makes it easy to keep up with bookkeeping tasks. Whether you need your business expenses categorized or recorded, you will surely have less accounting work to do thanks to this app. You can easily see who owes you money and you can also track your payments. This cloud-based application has a 7-day free trial under the condition that you delete your account after that period, otherwise you will be charged for it.

2. Outright

If you want to organize your small business finances all in one place, Outright is the right choice for you. This free accounting software can keep your books on track, no matter what operating system you use. Outright puts all your transactions in one place and sorts income from expenses. What is interesting about it is that you can connect it to other services that offer small-business tools.

3. Quick Books Online

With the 30-day free trial and 60-day money back guarantee, Quick Books Online attracts a lot of attention. You can track your incoming and upcoming expenses, outstanding invoices – paid or unpaid, written and received checks. In just one click, you can get more than 60 business reports. Its extensive list of features gives you a lot of options for customizing your accounting methods.

4. Clear Books

Clear Books is an online accounting system for small business owners with an aim to free up your time so that you can focus on other aspects of your business. This ICB-accredited software also offers a 30-day free trial on every plan. Using Clear Books allow you to make sure that you are not overstretching your finances. Not only can you view your monthly cash inflows and outflows, but you can also view the financial overview of your business on a monthly basis. What’s more, there is a multi-currency option that allows you to set up your account in the home currency of your choice and create bank accounts, invoices and bills in multiple currencies.

5. Rhino Accounting

Rhino is a perfect companion to your small business and anyone with at least some knowledge of existing accounting packages will find the interface very intuitive. The possibility to integrate with Google apps makes this service very distinctive. Tracking incomes against expenditures, creating invoices (only companies can be invoiced) and keep track of paychecks are the main features of this application.

Once you choose an appropriate application, your accounting tasks will be done quickly and effortlessly. You don’t need to be an accounting expert to have your small business finances managed.

HTML5 is increasingly changing the landscape of our beloved virtual world, and website creators are already using it to structure and present content for the World Wide Web. Paired with powerful editing software which supports it, HTML5 can help you to create amazing web-pages with lots of useful or fun content. Here are five of the best free or commercial, standalone or web-based HTML5 editors:

1) Aptana Studio 3

Aptana Studio 3 is an open source, professional development tool for the open web which enables users to develop and test their web applications in a single environment. Aptana supports the latest browser technology specifications such as HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Ruby, Rails, PHP and Python. Its key features include HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Code Assist, Git integration, deployment wizard, integrated debugger, built-in terminal and IDE customization.

2) Maqetta

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Maqetta is another open source project that provides WYSIWYG visual authoring of HTML5 user interfaces. The Maqetta editor is created in HTML, runs in the browser and doesn’t require any additional plugins or downloads. The HTML pages created by Maqetta usually work across all popular browsers, including Internet Explorer. The project’s code is built using 100% open standards technologies. Some of the key standards supported by the Maqetta project include: CSS3, JavaScript, OpenAjax Widgets and, of course, HTML 5.

3) BlueGriffon

BlueGriffon is one of a kind browser-based WYSIWYG content editor which can actually be downloaded and installed on a personal computer, then accessed and used offline. It is powered by Gecko, the Firefox browser’s rendering engine. BlueGriffon is available on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems, in 17 languages. It is a robust application with support for HTML4, XHTML 1 and HTML5. BlueGriffon allows web authors to directly embed HTML 5 audio or video elements. It also provides users with a simple and intuitive User Interface to easily create and modify their web-pages.

4) Aloha Editor

Aloha Editor is the world’s most advanced HTML5 browser based WYSIWYG editor. Along with allowing for very fast webpage editing, its major advantage is that it makes web-page editing very easy. With Aloha Editor, there is no need for training to edit content of a website, blog, wiki or any other application. It only takes 5 minutes to integrate Aloha Editor into your page and start editing your content. Aloha is a full featured editor that allows users to edit dynamic content live and in place.

5) Adobe Dreamweaver

Adobe Dreamweaver is perhaps the best known web-design software for creating and editing HTML pages. Dreamweaver is a versatile and comprehensive HTML editor packed with lots of functionalities. Users can create compelling websites for multiple platforms and devices with Dreamweaver. Its two latest editions, Dreamweaver CS5 and CS6 both support HTML5. Dreamweaver CS6 boasts the following features and improvements: CSS3-based fluid grid layout system, CSS transitions, improved FTP performance, enhanced jQuery Mobile support, updated multiscreen preview panel and live view.

This is not a cheap HTML editing solution and is best suited for professional web-developers who usually agree that it is a worthwhile investment.

One other option that many companies opt for is installing collaboration software. It is usually the best option for corporations with many employees and multiple teams, but can be pretty expensive and out of reach for small and medium-sized businesses.

Fortunately, there is a free solution that enables teams to collaborate on editing their PDFs, Office documents, presentations and images. They can review Word documents, fill out PDF forms, mark up images or comment on any document online in real-time with Crocodoc.

How does it work?

Simply visit the website and upload the desired document in one of supported formats, like the PDF file format.

Crocodoc will convert it and display the document in a browser.  From there, you can view and mark it up online. You can highlight, strike out the text, add comments and notes, and make revisions.

You can also share the documents with others by sharing a link via email or IM. Jointly, you can collaborate on editing documents in real time.

One more handy sharing option includes the ability to embed documents on your website or blog.

Crocodoc also offers you the ability to download both the original and the marked-up versions of a document.

Crocodoc securely stores these files on their servers as well. For maximum security, users can protect their files with passwords and encrypt them. Users who sign up for a free Crocodoc account can also view their upload history or delete stored files.

This document collaboration tool is excellent for getting and providing feedback on drafts. Real-time, online collaboration is a great time-saver and productivity booster as well.

Social sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have become prevalent in our personal and professional lives. When we want to reconnect with long lost childhood friends or follow world and business news as it happens, or find possible partners and suppliers for our business, we simply log into our account on the appropriate social network.

One great feature of social sites is that they also offer awesome learning opportunities for developing the users’ professional skills. Ongoing learning and skill advancement is simply a must in today’s business world, especially when it comes to improving one’s computer skills. Most office productivity applications are frequently updated with additional, more powerful features and capabilities. But to be able to take advantage of these improvements, modern office worker needs to be in learning mode constantly.

One of the most advanced and popular office applications today is certainly Microsoft’s spreadsheet program, Excel. True MS Excel masters are always in demand. There are many great MS Excel tutorials and manuals, many of them are even offered for free on the Internet. But, if you are not a fan of thick books or you are simply a Twitter addict, why not use that site to advance your MS Excel skills and knowledge?

Here is a list of some great Twitter users who tweet beginner and power user MS Excel tips and tricks:

@Jon_Peltier is an MS Excel programmer and chart master. Besides tweeting excellent MS Excel tips and replying to questions, he also offers Excel tutorials and add-ins on his website.

@TomUrtis is a Microsoft Excel MVP. Tom shares tips, tricks and advice for Excel users whether they need tips for personal Excel projects or large-scale business-related Excel advice.

@howtoexcelatexcel aims to help you excel at Excel.

@excel_training is regularly tweeting everything that has to do with #Microsoft #Excel – news, tutorials, hints, tips and more.

@XLCalibre strives to help HR Professionals with MS Excel.

@Excelmadeasy is trying to create a virtual school where one can learn almost anything for free through simple and easy to understand videos.

@excelzoom  will prove to you that Microsoft Excel is more than just a calculator.

@pimmychart is focused on chart design in MS Excel. Follow this handle if you want to enhance your charts and spruce up data visualization skills.

@rogerfisher  promotes Excel as an easy-to-use and useful tool. His tweets link his followers to very diverse and nifty MS Excel tips.

@MS_Office_  is a Microsoft Office guru and her tweets will improve not only your Excel, but Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and One Note skills as well.

@MrExcel  writes books and does seminars about Microsoft Excel, but he also shares his vast knowledge in the twitterverse.

@r1c1 makes you awesome in Excel and charting.

@spreadsheetzone doesn’t tweet tips, tricks and hacks, but being a huge depository of professionally designed free Excel templates in hundreds of categories, they regularly share and update tweeters about available templates.

@thecodecagecomprovides free MS Office help for all applications.

@UnclSpreadsheet tweets helpful advice and claims in his bio that he is “making the world a better place, one spreadsheet at a time.” So, check out his tweets to see for yourself.

@exceleverest is an interactive, action-packed Microsoft Excel tutorial designed to make you an Excel Jedi as quickly and efficiently as possible.

These are not the only great tweeters who can help you master MS Excel, there are many more experts who tweet helpful MS Excel advice and tricks. As a matter of fact, we curate a Twitter list of reputed Excel geeks. Feel free to follow it and suggest users that you think should be added to it. And if you think that you deserve to be on the list, don’t be shy – let us know on Twitter! Our Twitter handle is @PDFElite.

]]> http://www.pdfconverter.com/resources/blog/15-twitter-feeds-that-will-improve-your-excel-skills/feed 0 http://www.pdfconverter.com/resources/blog/how-to-convert-pdf-to-speech http://www.pdfconverter.com/resources/blog/how-to-convert-pdf-to-speech#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:21:07 +0000 goranka http://www.pdfconverter.com/resources/blog/?p=1267 Continue reading →]]> When you want to save, archive or send a business document or report, school essay or other work, PDF is the best file format for that. But sometimes when you are too tired to read or simply don’t have the time to sit down behind your computer to review some writing or dive into the latest industry white paper, you wish there was a way to convert text from these PDFs to audio so you can download it to your MP3 player and listen on the go. Thankfully, this wish is far from unrealistic, as a matter of fact, there are tools on the Internet which allow you to turn text into speech. Some are even absolutely free!

1) YakiToMe!

YAKiToMe! is an online text reader that automatically converts text to speech. It is fully free for all registered users.  Once you register, you can upload your PDF documents and the software will convert the text to speech in an mp3 file format. Simply download it and save it to a local computer.

Beside PDF documents, YAKiToMe! allows its users to turn their Word documents, text files, emails, web-pages, RSS feeds, books and more into mp3s. It supports numerous languages, including English, Spanish, German, French, Russian, Portuguese, and many more.  You can also choose between male and female voices.

2) Abc2mp3

Abc2mp3 offers free online text to speech conversion services too. Users who sign up for a free account can upload their PDF and MS Word documents, as well as plain text files, web-pages and RSS feeds to MP3. Documents converted to MP3 can be listened to online or saved to an mp3 player or computer. Abc2mp3 guarantees that the documents will be converted into a virus free audio format.

Compared to YakiToMe!, its readers can only read documents in English language.

If you don’t want to create a free account, you are nevertheless able to convert text to speech for free by copying and pasting the text into an online text box. However, there is a limit on the number of characters that can be converted at one time. You can convert up to 2,000 characters at one time. Your recording is sent to the email address you provide once it is converted.

3) iSpeech

iSpeech  converts digital documents and text to voice enabled audio files for free. Supported document file types include PDF, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Rich Text File, Blogs, RSS news feeds, hypertext markup language (DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, PDF, RTF, HTML).  When your file is converted, you can download it, podcast or embed it on any webpage that supports HTML.

4) SpokenText

SpokenText is one more popular and reliable text to speech converter. It comes with a 7-day free trial demo account. It also automatically converts pages to speech PDF, Word, PowerPoint files, plain text and web pages. SpokenText is “fluent” in English, French, Spanish and German. Users can download their recordings as mp3 or m4b (Audio book) files.

SpokenText also offers Firefox and Chrome extensions which let you grab any text you find while surfing the web and easily convert it to speech.

Choose one of these tools and listen to your PDFs on the go!

1. Preview spreadsheet before printing

To see how your spreadsheets will actually look when printed, use the Print Preview option. To preview your Excel document, open it first and then click the “File” tab, which is located in the upper left hand corner. On the menu, choose “Print” and you will be shown a preview on the right side of the screen.  This way you will actually see how the hard copy of your spreadsheet will look. In case you don’t like what you see, you can modify the printing settings before printing it out. Using the print preview option reduces the amount of paper you waste!

2. Scale sheet before printing

If you have one column that doesn’t fit on the page when printing the sheet at its actual size, or two tiny rows that run onto the next page and cause you to waste more paper, there is a quick solution.  Simply scale the page before printing. Click the “File” tab → “Print” button → Settings → No scaling. Here you can set your scaling options and even set custom scaling options for the document.

3. Print only selected parts of the sheet

Excel enables you to print only selected parts of the page. This is a very handy option. To print only part of the page that you selected, click the “Page Layout” tab and choose “Print Area” → “Set Print Area“. Additionally, you can expand the originally set print area by choosing “Add to Print Area“.

Remember that if you don’t “Clear print area” after printing, next time you open the document and choose to print it, it will print out the set print area by default.

4. Print Excel charts

Printing Excel charts is very easy. Simply select the chart by clicking it and then click the “File” tab and then the “Print” button. Here you will see the print preview of your chart. You can further adjust printing settings like margins, collating, page orientation, size, and more. When you are satisfied, click the “Print” button.

5. Print Excel to PDF

The above tips will help you to turn Excel documents into useful printouts, but if you want to send them via email, share them online or simply archive these documents, the best way is to print them to PDF. The PDF has many benefits over other file formats. You can print Excel to PDF from the opened document itself.  A truly professional way to turn .xlsx into PDF is by using PDF Converter Elite 3. If you are not familiar with it, download it here, install it and use it free for a period of two weeks.   To print Excel to PDF, choose PDF Converter Elite from the list of available printers, like this:

Another, completely free way to turn your Excel files and more than 300 other Windows file formats into PDF is by using the Free PDF Creator. The process of converting Excel docs to PDFs is exactly the same.

When working with PDF files, Excel spreadsheets and Powerpoint presentations you may have to cut corners with some of the multimedia parts of the file. Finding some smaller and lossless data compression versions of pictures and other multimedia is a great way to get the file smaller. The smaller the initial file, the easier it will be when it comes to cutting up the last compressed file. Reducing the quality of music to low rate MP3 files, using TIFF or lossless JPEG formats for photos and using low quality animations in PowerPoint presentations are great ways to shrink the size of your files.

The rule of thumb is that if your file is 20mb or less then there is nothing extra that needs to be done. You can send the file as is or compress it into a .zip or a .rar file if you need to. Most email clients have a set limit of 20mb; anything above that needs to be compressed and/or split up into different parts.

Compressing files is a great way to get the file size down; the larger the file the more compression that can be done. But sometimes there needs to be more than simply compression, sometimes splitting up the.zip or.rar file is easier but requires sending multiple emails depending on the size of the file.

By splitting the file up into parts, such as PPPresentation.part01, PPPresentation.part02, etc. you can then send the individual parts in separate emails. This is accomplished by having a paid copy of a file compressor, such as WinRAR  or  WinZIP. The full versions of these programs have a special feature built into them that allows you to split up a single .rar, .zip or any other compression format file. They have multiple options to get the right number of parts to the file size ratio correct. There are pre-made and custom options available depending on which compression software you purchase.

When selecting a compression piece of software, consider the industry standard for the past several years, WinRAR. WinRAR has a lot of options and features, and works with nearly every different archive and compression file format. WinRAR comes with an unlimited free trial for 40 days, after that, you will have to buy the program for a one-time fee and get lifetime updates. WinRAR works great for those who are working with large files and projects; it can compress files better than the competition. It’s been at the top of every best of year-end list for several years and continues to improve with every update.

Compression and archiving are two of the easiest ways to reduce the size of email attachments.

About the Author

Eric Demps is a professional freelance writer and contributor to DegreeJungle.com. He has worked with clients from different fields including technology, education, health, and business and entrepreneurship.

Here are 20 of the best and most essential online business dictionaries for keeping up with the evolution of the language of business.

General Business Dictionaries

1. Business Dictionary

Much more than just a business dictionary, this is a full-fledged resource page that will offer you business tips every day and in-depth articles on all things business-related.

2. Library Spot

This site links to eight outstanding business dictionaries, including the Washington Post’s online business dictionary and CNN Financial’s glossary of business terms.

3. Your Dictionary

One of the best looking and sleekest business dictionaries on the internet, Your Dictionary performs fast searches of its large database of business terms and presents the definitions very clearly. The print version of this dictionary is a very popular option for people who are interested in buying a physical copy of a business dictionary.

4. All Business

A very complete business glossary that allows you to search multiple dictionaries, including dictionaries for business terms, banking terms, financial terms, accounting terms and much more.

5. Glossarist

Another expansive business glossary that features content related to advertising, e-commerce, marketing and many other aspects of the business world.

6. Business Dictionaries

This site is great for keeping up with the ever-changing business jargon and making sure that you are using all of these terms accordingly.

7. Biz Terms

Biz Terms is a very extensive online glossary that not only defines business words, but also explains various business concepts and ideas in great depth.

Financial Dictionaries

8. Barkley’s Comprehensive Financial Glossary

Barkley’s is the best online glossary if you are looking to find definitions of financial terms that you still do not comprehend or financial ideas that are new to you.

9. Finance Glossary

This excellent dictionary of financial terms also has a great feature that lists the top five most popular search terms every day, which presents a great way to learn new ideas with each visit.

10. Financial Dictionary

One of the most popular financial glossaries, created by renowned finance expert Campbell R. Harvey and professor of International Business at Duke University J. Paul Sticht, so you know that all of the content is accurate and informative.

11. Money Glossary

This glossary includes almost 5,000 different definitions of financial and business terms, making it another great resource.

12. Money Terms

This is a great dictionary of financial terms that you can search, browse alphabetically, or search by categories, such as financial theory, capital markets, strategies, valuation, and many others.

13. Bernstein’s Dictionary of Bankruptcy Terminology

Hopefully, you’ll never need this resource, but if you do need information about bankruptcy procedures, this is a great place to get properly informed on the issue.

Management Dictionaries

14. 12 Manage

This is a very comprehensive resource of business and management concepts, methods, theories, terms and much more.

15. Dictionary of Management Jargon

Here is a site that not only works as a dictionary of terms that are searchable, but also includes exclusive content and articles that look to educate you on the language of management and all the niche terms that are involved in this field of business.

Accounting Dictionaries

16. VentureLine’s Accounting Dictionary

This online dictionary is rank highest by pretty much every search engine when searching for accounting dictionaries, which speaks volumes of how thorough and helpful it is on its own.

17. ITS’s Accounting, Business Studies and Economics Dictionary

This is probably the best all-around business and accounting resource that is aimed specifically at helping students who are currently learning about business, accounting and economics.

Other Business-Related Dictionaries

18. E-Commerce and Marketing Dictionary of Terms

If you are interested in the world of marketing and online business, this is the perfect dictionary for you to learn more with.

19. Online Glossary of Research Economics

This is an excellent tool for someone who is interested in gaining more knowledge and business insight by trying to understand economic concepts better.

20. The Air Schott Glossary of International Trade Terms

If you are looking to expand your business dealings to other countries and continents, this glossary might come in very handy.

Keyboard shortcuts can be true time-savers if you are aware of them. All shortcuts available for PDF Converter Elite are prominently displayed in the application itself. You can find them next to each command on the six dropdown menus of the Menu bar.

For your convenience, listed below are keyboard shortcuts for the 10 most used options in PDF Converter Elite 3.

1. Open file

Use Ctrl + O to bring up the Open dialog in a split second and choose the file that you want to open and convert, be it a PDF document, .tiff, .bmp or .jpeg.

2. Create PDF

Just press Alt + C on your keyboard and choose a document in virtually any Windows file format to convert to PDF.

3. Select All Pages

Ctrl + A is a widely-used and handy shortcut for selecting all pages of the active document in PDF Converter Elite, no matter how long that PDF may be.

4. Convert PDF to Microsoft Word

If you frequently use the PDF to Word conversion option in PDF Converter Elite, then Ctrl + D is the keyboard shortcut you will want to memorize.

5. Convert PDF to Microsoft Excel

PDF to Excel is the most used conversion option in PDF Converter Elite. The shortcut for all of you who need this conversion often is Ctrl + E.

6. Batch Conversion

Hit Ctrl + V and select multiple PDFs to convert into the desired format.

7. Crop Pages

Do pages in your opened and active PDF have too much white space around? If the answer is “yes,” you may want to crop the margins. Simply press Alt + X on your keyboard and the dialog for cropping pages will appear.

8. Merge PDF

Alt + M is the keyboard shortcut for merging multiple PDF documents into one.

9. Go to Page

Ctrl + G is a very useful shortcut to quickly navigate PDFs with lots of pages.

10. Close application

Done managing your PDFs for now? Then use Ctrl + Q and exit PDF Converter Elite.

Bonus shortcut

OK, here’s one more shortcut for all our satisfied users. If you like PDF Converter Elite and find it useful, then, please, before you close PCE down for the day, hit F3 and tell your friends about it!