One of the top requests we get from our customers is to offer a viewer so that they can share data with someone who doesn't have Power*Log, Power*Curve or Power*Core. Now thanks to Adobe's Distiller software package, you don't need a viewer to share your data.  The package consists of a Writer that allows you to create digital files and a Reader that allows you to view those files.  

In more detail, the Adobe Distiller gives you the ability to 'print' any document to a special electronic file called a Portable Document Format or PDF.  This file can be saved on a floppy disk or emailed to anyone you wish.  If the person on the receiving end of the file has the Reader, (which can be downloaded for free from our website) they can open the file and view or print it.  They don't need Power*Log or Power*Curve, just the free Reader and they can view any PDF file.

Creating an Image File with PDF

A. There are a couple ways that this can be done.

1. Try Informatik. It is a printer driver we have used and recommend that prints logs to bitmaps, gifs, tiffs and jpg. For information and a full use demo license click here.

2. What you do is print the log to PDF and then open it in Adobe Photoshop where you can easily manipulate the well, add a comment, etc, and then save it to whatever format you want.

3. If you have Acrobat,  you can save the PDF as a jpg, gif or tiff. Open the file in Acrobat and click, File/Save As. Then click the drop down box Save as Type and select the type of file you want to save it as.  It will take about the same time to save it as, as it does to print to PDF. If you only want a single page of the log, just splice it to that page.

It works like this: you create your log, reports, etc using Power*Log or Power*Curve.  Now if you have Adobe Distiller, you simply print like normal, except to select the Adobe Distiller as your printer and then 'print.'  The file is now in PDF format.   Next you can send the PDF file to someone who needs your data .

On the other end, to open a PDF file, (once you have installed the Reader) simply open the Reader and open the file you want to see.  It's very easy to do.   The PDF documents can also be saved as black and white or full color depending on your needs.

In terms of security, an effective and easy way to add password protection to your PDF files is to use WinZip.  WinZip is a compression tool that not only gives you slightly greater compression for your PDF, but also allows you to seal that file with any password you choose.  For more information, visit our WinZip page.

You can only get the Writer as part of the Adobe Acrobat package which retails for approximately $349CAD.

If you would like to try the reader out to see how it works, download the Reader and then visit the Logs section of our website and try opening a few of the many PDF files we have listed