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• Posted Sept. 9, 2015, 12:34 p.m. - 9 years, 1 month ago

PDF Glossary of Terms

Ever been working with a PDF editor and wondered what the terms being used mean? Redaction, CMYK, Reflow… they might sound like a foreign language (or techy language) to some, but we’ve put together this glossary in case you want to know more…

• CAT  –  Computer Assisted Translation
• Clone  –  The process of recreating a duplicate version of a document, or a “cloned” version
• CMYK  –  Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key – four inks used in colour printing
• Converter  –  A tool used to convert one file type to another, i.e. a Word document to PDF
• Encoding  –  Text characters that are convered to a format that can be transmitted to other users and read
• ePUB  –  Electronic Publication
• e-Signatures  –  Digital signatures used on documents to verify the sender
• Highlights  –  The digital equivalent of using markers to highlight text on a paper document
• HTML  –  HyperText Markup Language
• Interactive  –  The ability to allow users to interact with a document; for example, filling in a digital form
• JPEG  –  Image file type
• Object locking  –  Locking an object on a PDF in place so it cannot be moved
• OCR  –  Optical Character Recognition
• OmegaT  –  Free cross-platform CAT tool
• Overset text  –  Text within a PDF that does not fit and has no room allocated within the document
• PDF compression  –  The process of reducing the size of a PDF for purposes such as emailing to another person
• PDF portfolios  –  Multiple PDF files assembled into a integrated PDF unit
• Redaction  –  The process of editing text for publication within a document
• Reflow  –  The process of when text in a digital document automatically moves to fit the page
• Reformat  –  The process of reformatting text within a PDF to match the rest of a document
• Renumber  –  The process of renumbering the pages of a PDF document when new pages have been added/old pages deleted
• RTF  –  Rich Text Format
• Scan-to PDF  –  The method of scanning a paper file and saving the digital outcome as a PDF file
• Source file  –  The original file containing the information later converted to PDF format
• Spacing  –  The spacing between words in a text section of a document
• Stamp  –  The same methodology as rubber stamping a paper file; stamping a PDF to state document approval, receipt etc
• Sticky notes  –  The equivalent of post-it notes but for digital documents. These allow users to leave comments on a document
• Subset fonts  –  Fonts within a PDF that that are embedded and require other users to have the same font on their machines to edit the copy
• Thumbnails  –  A small preview image of larger images on a document
• Virus  –  A malicious piece of code that can be embedded into a document, and when released steal private information from a computer
• Watermark  –  A faint design that can be placed onto a document to identify the original creator
• XML  –  Extensible Markup Language

 

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