Skim is no better as far as access to things like tables in PDF's, compared to preview is it? On 2012-08-05, at 1:16 AM, Esther <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi Chris, > > Skim has been referred to as "Preview on steroids". It's free and open > source with a creative commons license, and gets frequent updates. You can > download the latest version from Source Forge: > http://sourceforge.net/projects/skim-app/files/ > I don't know that there are any "cons" about using Skim, except that since it > has a lot of options, there's more to navigate in the basic distribution, and > it has more features than you will use. The quick description is that it is > laid out very much like Preview, but supports annotation, so there is a > second sidebar for notes. Because it uses the same base as Preview, any > limitations that you find when reading PDFs in Preview will show up in Skim. > So, for example, bookmarks take you back to the page you were reading but not > to the exact spot in the page (unless you set hotspots). On the other hand, > there are expanded features, such as being able to organize your bookmarks > into folders. > > One situation where someone might clearly want to use Skim over Preview, is > if they were reviewing a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation that was exported > to PDF. These don't play nicely with Preview, even using Full Screen mode. > But Skim has an additional "Presentation mode" for viewing, and you can > easily display presentations in this mode, controlling page transitions, etc. > So this is an easy and accessible way to give a text-based presentation or > to review notes from the text content of a presentation. > > I originally started using Skim because it maintained more stable focus > behavior than Preview in operations like search and find. When there are > really good Skim features eventually they get adopted and show up in later > versions of Preview. > > By the way, since Skim is supported as an open source effort at Source Forge > and is freely available there and not through the Mac App Store, there's a > Skim rip-off being sold in the Mac App Store as "PDF Reader". It's based on > an old version of Skim, and I'm rather surprised that Apple hasn't pulled > this, since there's no support, and the distributor is just profiting from > the (old version) open source efforts of Skim. Since a number of Mac users > follow Skim, and it's highly rated at various download sites like MacUpdate, > a few people bought the version in the App Store when it showed up thinking > that it was put out by the people who work on Skim. It's not, and you'll > just be paying for an unsupported, old version. > > HTH. Cheers, > > Esther > > On Aug 3, 2012, at 11:28 PM, chris hallsworth wrote: > >> The subject says it all. What are the pros and cons please. Thanks! >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Esther" <[email protected]> >> To: <[email protected]> >> Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2012 2:43 AM >> Subject: Re: merging several PDF files into one. >> >> >> Hi Chris, >> >> It's actually possible to merge PDF files with Preview if you can drag and >> drop to the thumbnails in the sidebar, but I don't think this works with >> VoiceOver drag and drop -- at the very least it would be difficult. If you >> have Skim downloaded there's an embedded SkimPDF command line tool that lets >> you perform operations like merging and extracting PDF files in Terminal. >> >> If you look under: /Applications/Skim.app/Contents/SharedSupport/ there are >> three applications: displayline, skimnotes, and skimpdf. You need to copy >> skimpdf to somewhere in your default path with executable permission using >> your Admin password. >> >> Open Terminal and type or paste in: >> sudo cp -p /Applications/Skim.app/Contents/SharedSupport/skimpdf /usr/bin/ >> >> and press "Return". You'll be prompted to authorize with your Admin >> password. The "cp -p" does the copy preserving permissions so you can >> execute the commands. >> >> Then to merge two pdf files from the command line you can type: >> skimpdf merge file1.pdf file2.pdf merged.pdf >> >> The specification of an output file like "merged.pdf" is optional. I think >> if you don't specify an output file, the second file just gets appended to >> the first, but you should experiment. You can also find out the syntax of >> commands by typing: >> skimpdf help >> >> For more information, take a look at the SourceForge wiki for Skim: >> http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/skim-app/index.php?title=Main_Page >> >> Then use the link for the "SkimPDF Command Line Tool" to find out more. >> There's also a specific SourceForge wiki for the SkimPDF command line tool: >> http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/skim-app/index.php?title=SkimPDF_Tool >> >> There are probably other sources of merge tools around the web, but this >> works if you already have Skim anyway, and are comfortable with the Terminal >> command line. >> >> HTH. Cheers, >> >> Esther >> >> >> On Aug 3, 2012, at 2:26 PM, Chris Gilland wrote: >> >>> okay, so here's the deal. >>> >>> I was e-mailed five pDF files today. basically, to make a long story short, >>> it is an owners manual. I am not sure why he did it this way, however each >>> page of the manual is a separate PDF file. Granted, the manual is only five >>> pages long, so it's nothing really to write home about, I am curious >>> however, if there is a program that I could use, that would allow me to >>> take all five of these PDF files and basically merge them into one file. >>> that would make my life so much easier! don't get me wrong, I have no >>> problem viewing each page separately, but it's going to be a pain in the >>> neck trying to view each page separately. >>> >>> yes, I definitely do you use Docuscan Plus, but I do not believe that that >>> will do the trick. >>> >>> I also know almost beyond a doubt that preview will not do the trick >>> either. Someone correct me should I be wrong. >>> >>> I almost wonder if Pages would be able to do the trick. I do have a copy of >>> iWork 2009. >>> >>> thank you for any help, and all suggestions. >>> >>> Chris. >>> >>> Sent from my iPhone >>> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
