The use of PDF
Conversion and Editing Software and data tools in the creation of valuable data.
In the investigative industry, especially the investigation of white collar crime, electronic data is used extensively.
This applies in particular in the data analysis division, which is an essential component of any forensic inquest.
In forensics the data interrogation function extracts useful information from volumes of data from different
sources. Typically Microsoft Office ™ applications are used to analyse, with the use of Ms Excel, present, with Ms
PowerPoint and report with the use of Ms Word ™.
The use of digital information is, however, not restricted to the investigation of crime. Computer
software such as the Ms Office ™ packages is commonly used at the workplace and at home in almost any imaginable
capacity. Despite the fact that Microsoft software is so common and popular, these are not the only applications in
use. Some software titles such as Open Office is in direct competition with Microsoft.
Adobe another software giant specialises in amongst others PDF creation and conversion, as with Adobe Acrobat ™,
which is a field, which is not in competition with Microsoft ™. Both Microsoft ™ and Adobe ™ despite their hefty
price tags are often still considered the standard benchmarks in computer usage. The advanced users of some
Microsoft ™ applications stand by their products of choice despite the cost, simply as a result of their acquired
expertise and familiarity with the programmes.
PDF conversion from Microsoft™ applications are traditionally as a standard done with the use of Adobe Acrobat ™.
Adobe Reader ™ comes pre-installed on most computers on purchase and as a result users are familiar and accustomed
to the Adobe ™ brand name. The reasons for converting documents or spread sheets into PDF, or Portable Document
Format, are amongst others compression, concealment of codes and standardising the format to be used on any machine
without the applicable Microsoft™ software installed.
Adobe Acrobat ™ needs to be purchased separately at a considerable cost. There are, however alternatives to
Adobe that perform equivalent functions at a fraction of the price. Nitro PDF ™ is
such an application with all the required functions to perform PDF related tasks. With Nitro PDF Ms Office
documents can be converted to PDF at the push of a button. Conversely PDFs can be changed to Ms Word or Ms Excel
documents. The programme also comes equipped with powerful OCR functionality to make scanned documents editable and
convert image documents to text.
OCR or Optical Character Recognition is a state of the art technology whereby an image of intelligible words and
characters are converted into editable text. This process saves an enormous amount of time especially for those who
work with large amounts of data or when it is not economically viable to capture data from source documents.
Nitro PDF ™ Professional comes with a potent optional OCR version, which competes
extremely well with the competitors.
The OCR functionality that comes with the industry standard software programmes is good for normal usage, however
lacks the control and precision required for those “hard to reach places” or extensive analytical purposes, where
broad strokes just won’t do the job. Abbyy Fine Reader ™ is considered one of the best OCR tools on the market and is used by
many of the major investigative bodies in South Africa to convert image data accurately and efficiently.
Abbyy Fine Reader ™ is in the author’s experience the best out there for the job, but does come with a heavy price
tag. There are other slightly more modestly priced alternatives yet the author
has no personal experience with these options and can only convey other’s recommendations based on his
enquiries.
In the same way the author stands by his personal experience of Nitro PDF
Professional ™ to fulfil the challenging and demanding roles required in information and data analysis. Nitro PDF ™
is a considerably more economical alternative to Adobe Acrobat ™, however, as a comprehensive set of software tools
that caters for most PDF needs, is still expensive for someone with less challenging requirements. Anybizsoft is a
software company that the author has also had personal experience with many packages, which may prove just what is
required for most users.
PDF Converter for Mac is a powerful 6-in-1 PDF conversion tools which is special designed for Mac users. It can convert PDF to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, EPUB, Text and HTML.
AnyBizSoft PDF Password Remover for Mac is a small yet powerful PDF decryption tool on Mac OS X. It enables Mac users to remove copying and printing restrictions from encrypted PDF files.
AnyBizSoft PDF to EPUB Converter helps you convert eBooks from PDF to EPUB format, so you can read eBooks more easily on your iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Sony Reader or other eBook Readers.
AnyBizSoft PDF to EPUB for Mac is designed to convert eBooks from PDF to EPUB format on Mac OS X. So Mac users can transfer EPUB eBooks to iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch.
Convert PDF files back to PowerPoint presentations. Convert PDF files to PPT presentations quickly and accurately. Retain all the layout, images, and hyperlinks in the output documents;
AnyBizSoft PDF Splitter is a quick and easy-to-use PDF splitting tool, which helps you produce new PDF files by extracting any specific pages from the multi-page PDF file.
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