Category Archives: BRCS

Post related to the Boca Raton Computer Society.

Miscellaneous – Rotate Pages in Adobe Reader

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Have you ever received a PDF file, only to discover once you open it the pages are upside down?

This happens to me quite frequently at work, when multiple pages are scanned to PDF using a sheet feeder. If the paper is not in good condition, due to stapling or whatever, the scan is done from bottom to top and unless the full Adobe Acrobat is used can not be rotated before sending.

While this is aggravating, if you want to read the document directly from the computer, there is a way to do this without turning you monitor upside down or standing on your head.

The following directions apply to Adobe Reader v7.0.8, but should be similar, if not the same, in earlier versions:

To rotate left click on the Rotate View button twice.Rotate View Button Image

If the Rotate View button is not showing in your Reader window, select View on the menu bar, then Toolbars and make sure Rotate View is checked. (See image below.)
Rotate View Button Activation Image

If you are going to print out the file to read it, rotating is not necessary.

Freeware – tinySpell

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This is a follow up to the September 21, 2006 post Blog – Lifehacker, after which I have tried out the tinySpell “Download of the Day”.

This little application has been a real help to me when using Notepad or NoteTab Light to draft my blog postings emails and drafts for newsletter articles.

There are two versions tinySpell and tinySpell+, the first being freeware and the second an enhanced version, which will remember the last error, let you added auto-replacements and lists of words to the dictionary, checks capitalization, ignores internet and email addresses, etc.

I have been using the freeware version.

I have turned off the beep notification, and just rely on the tinySpell icon in the system tray to turn yellow and catch my eye.

When the icon turns yellow, I just left click on it and it comes up with a list of suggested corrections, from which I can choose or be allowed to add the word in question to the tinySpell dictionary.

I have been impressed with this little application and recommend it to others as an option for those applications that do not have their on spell checking capabilities. Also, I have seen no conflicts with the spell checkers in Microsoft Word, Publisher and OpenOffice Writer.

The link for the version I have used and written about above is http://tinyspell.m6.net/. There are links to several reviews there as well.

Try it out for yourself and let me know what you think.

If you have some other helpful application and you think I should check it out, leave me a comment with all the particulars and maybe one day there will be a posting about it.

NoteTab Light

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I was unable to access the internet while I was on vacation June 6th and 8th, so this post will be a little longer than most.

I have been using NotePad Light, a free Windows Notepad replacement, for a little while now. I like it because it enables me to create my blog posts in HTML, by using the included library of HTML codings.

The version I am using is the freeware NoteTab Light 4.95,available at http://www.notetab.com. NoteTab Standard and NoteTab Pro are also available at the ame site.

Though most people think that a Notepad replacement would be as relatively simple as what it is replacing, that is definitely not the case. NoteTab is much more than just another plain text editor. NoteTab has all the following and more:

  • Open and edit many documents at once, even huge files (only limited by system resources.
  • Text drag-and-drop editing.
  • AutoCorrect/Auto-replace mode similar to Microsoft® WinWord.
  • Programmable. Add your own custom features using an easy script language.
  • Web enabled: can open links and HTML documents in browser.
  • Supports third-party Web tools: HTML Tidy, TopStyle, and CSE HTML Validator.
  • Each document can have different settings such as font, tab widths, word wrap.
  • Supports outline-type documents
    that help you organize your notes or any kind of information.
  • Supports document templates.
  • Covers all essential features available in Notepad (including LOG).

I particularly like the ability to have multiple documents open in a tabbed interface, similar to the way I work in my Firefox browser. I can have a text only document in one tab from which I am copying information, an outline document in another tab to keep everything in a logical order, and be creating an HTML version in another tab, all at the same time. This results in a much more efficient use of my time and keeps me orderly in the way I work from print to desktop publishing to web page development; I just keep my basic formatting consistent by only utilizing 3 sets of headings, an unordered list, an ordered list, and very basic body text setup.

I currently take the plain text into one of my full fledged word processors for spell check but, in the future plan to see if I can find a freeware or open source spell checker for use with NoteTab to eliminate the crossing back and forth. One of the third party products recommended with the installation of NoteTab is WordWeb but, I can not tell from what they show if it can be used for spell check or, just as a thesaurus.

I can take a plain text file and convert it to HTML easily using the options under the Modify menu in NoteTab as well as stripping the HTML tags if necessary from an HTML email for example; both of these come in quite handy for the various formats I receive information for the Newsletter.

There is a lot more functionality available within NoteTab. As I become more familiar with specific functions, I will post my thoughts on them here.

On a personal note, my hurricane shutters were installed today. We feel a lot better now about this year’s hurricane season and being prepared but, hope that they won’t be needed.