Docudesk Labs News

PDFVue for Firefox, override the annoying Adobe PDF Plugin...

Darren Matheny — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:56:38 +0000

There are a couple of well known extensions for Firefox which override Adobe's PDF viewer Plugin due to issues with it hanging and otherwise slowing down the browser. We wanted to allow web surfers to utilize PDFVue.com for online PDF viewing and annotation via the browser in a seamless way which was the impetus for this project. With many new PDF exploits in the news these days, the release couldnt be more timely. Besides providing a cleaner experience workflow wise, opening PDF files via PDFVue.com overcomes the JavaScript and native decoder exploits affecting Adobe's reader which are making the rounds these days. I have used the most popular PDF download extension for Firefox and found it frustrating in many ways. We set out to craft this extension in a way which would not interrupt normal workflows in the browser. No modal pop up is used so using features like ctrl-click to open a link in a new browser window works seamlessly. If a user wants to download a PDF file, they can simply right click and save as they normally would. If the Adobe Plugin would be ideal to view a given PDF, then simply disable the PDFVue extension. PDF files can also be viewed in a much richer and faster way than is currently offered elsewhere. In addition to this, PDFVue.com currently alows free markup and saving of the PDF file and changes. Because of the way in which we hook Firefox's HTTP connections, many PDF files which slip through other PDF download extension's implimentations are correctly handled with PDFVue for Firefox. Because redirected URLs and URLs entered in the address bar are handled properly by our extension, it makes for a more secure way to block Adobe PDF Plugin launches from untrusted sites.

Direct download link, XPI install file for Firefox 3.0+:
http://www.docudesk.com/download/PDFVue_Firefox.xpi

If you find the extension useful, please visit this URL and sign up for a free Mozilla developer account, download the plugin and write a nice review:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10965

Feature/benefit list of PDFVue for Firefox and the PDFVue.com site:

The benefits of the PDFVue plugin include:

No embedded JavaScript from the PDF – your machine can’t be compromised by malicious code in a PDF.
Free and no registration required!
Rendering PDF’s on our servers means your computer is kept safe.
We take care of updates automatically – so you don’t have to worry about it.
Unlike other PDF plugins that can freeze your browser with large PDF’s, with PDFVue, you don’t have to wait for the entire PDF to load – you can start viewing immediately.
PDFVue keeps you safe by catching all PDF’s – even if you open the PDF in a new tab, type in the URL directly, or if it is re-directed from a site such as TinyURL.
PDFVue isn’t just a viewer – you can markup and annotate any PDF you view, and save a local copy for yourself.
The PDFVue plugin is fully compatible with other firefox PDF plugins – and it is easily toggled on or off.
PDFvue retains hyperlinks within the PDF’s, and will not interrupt save-as dialogues or right-click menu options if you are trying to save the PDF to your computer.

PDFVue Beta Now Available! View, Edit and Share PDFs

Brent — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:00:15 +0000

The Docudesk team is happy to announce the immediate availability of the first Beta release for PDFVue.com. This release marks Docudesk’s first initiative in delivering an online application to help users view, edit and share PDFs. In the following weeks, PDFVue developers will be adding features and fixing issues you submit at a rapid pace, so please test out PDFVue and give us your feature requests and bugs.

The PDFVue Beta allows you to read, comment, annotate, and share PDFs as well as create PDF forms. These features alone provide users with a great alternative to buying expensive client software. Forms creation is another highly sought after feature available in PDFVue. Everything that is needed for adding form fields to PDFs is included in PDFVue. By selecting the forms tab, users are presented with the various input elements required for creating customized PDF Forms. During the Beta period while we tune the network and applications performance PDFVue will be available for free with no usage limatations.

Also available as a complement to the PDFVue Beta, is deskPDF Professional with Beta PDFVue OnRamp. PDFVue Onramp provides a simple way to automatically upload documents of any type onto PDFVue. AutoCAD, Photoshop, Word, Excel or documents from any ”printable” application can be uploaded to PDFVue with PDFVue OnRamp. PDFVue OnRamp also includes built-in scanning for bringing scanned documents directly online for sharing, adding form fields, or comments.

Get deskPDF with PDFVue OnRamp here.

The feedback from your unique applications and requirements are what will make PDFVue the best online PDF application. We welcome any and all feedback, ideas, and feature requests.

deskUNPDF 2 Professional / Mac Technology Previews

Darren Matheny — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:03:28 +0000

We are proud to announce the availability of the deskUNPDF 2 technology previews. These are pre-release versions of deskUNPDF 2 Professional and deskUNPDF for Mac.

This preview includes the new OpenDocument (OpenOffice.org Write, Google Docs, KOffice, odt) and the Sony Reader BBeB (lrf) output formats as well as Word97-2003 rtf/doc and text. Under OS X deskUNPDF installs a new PDF workflow, effectively creating a print driver for the supported output formats. The Windows version contains a trial version of deskPDF Professional which allows for the same functionality.

Download:

OS X 10.4+ Intel (21mb) : deskUNPDF-Prev-mactel.dmg
OS X 10.4+ PPC (21mb) : deskUNPDF-Prev-osxppc.dmg

Windows 98/Me/2K/XP/Vista: deskUNPDFPro-TechPrev.exe

Create reflowable content for the Sony Reader with deskUNPDF

J.D. Northrup — Tue, 08 May 2007 18:32:19 +0000

The deskUNPDF LRF Renderer Technology Preview allows Sony Reader users on Windows or Mac OS X to create reflowable eBook content printer output or existing PDFs. This is a major breakthrough because the native support for PDF content on the reader makes it incredibly hard to read the text of a normal letter-sized PDF page. The deskUNPDF LRF Renderer can produce BBeB Book content with structured text that is easily resizable, for easy of viewing on the Reader.

Import PDF files into OpenOffice.org with deskUNPDF!

J.D. Northrup — Tue, 08 May 2007 18:24:40 +0000

The OpenDocument format provides a great alternative to proprietary office application files. For anyone wishing to have easy access to word processing, spreadsheet, or graphics applications supporting this new format, there are a variety of free options. Most of these programs have the ability to create PDF output as a finished product, but often times it would be useful to convert a PDF file for editing.

For users of compatible programs -- including KOffice, OpenOffice.org (OOo), StarOffice, and even Google Docs -- the deskUNPDF OpenDocument Renderer can be used to create OpenDocument .ODT files from standard PDFs. These are fully-editable, native documents.

MacOS-target gcj: create Mactel+PPC binaries from OS X, Linux and Cygwin

Adam Megacz — Tue, 08 May 2007 14:44:23 +0000

These instructions tell you how to build a cross compiler targeting Mac OS X (Intel and PPC) from any of three host platforms: Mac OS X, Linux, and Cygwin. The instructions use the provided tarball

Docudesk PRS Browser for OS X

J.D. Northrup — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:28:25 +0000

The Docudesk PRS Browser allows Macintosh users to easily manage content on the Sony Reader using a native OS X interface.

Both internal and card memory locations are supported, and all natively-supported file types can be added and removed from the Reader (txt, lrf, pdf, rtf, bmp, gif, jpg, png, mp3, and aac) with simple drag and drop operations. You can even copy files from your Reader to a local drive.

This project is based on the ReaderFS file system for OSX. Special thanks to the author, Scott Turner, for his contributions. The PRS Browser is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

OS X 10.4+ Intel/PPC. 2.3 mb : ddprs.dmg Source: ddprs_src.zip