What Is It?

AutoInk™ is a plug-in for Adobe® Acrobat® software. The plug-in provides a set of Acrobat tools (pens and highlighters) for easy annotation of PDF files using pen input. The software is capable of converting handwritten ink into text or sticky notes. Use these tools to write notes, draw, doodle, fill form fields and highlight document content.

Is It Smooth?

The plug-in uses smooth inking provided by Microsoft operating system and feels very easy and natural to use with a pen input. It can be also used with any other pointing device such as mouse.

How It Differs From Acrobat's Pencil Tool?

The plug-in is designed for writing with a pen and uses very smooth inking interface found in Windows 7, Windows XP and Vista. The Acrobat's standard "Pencil" tool is designed for a mouse input and does not utilize a pen support that comes with latest operating systems. As the result, AutoInk provides a much better user experience.

Supported Platforms

The plug-in is designed to provide a native support for new handwriting recognition, inking and pen features available in Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP Table PC edition. The software can be also used with regular XP with extra download.

What Do I Need?

You need a Windows Tablet PC computer running Adobe® Acrobat® or you can use a regular Windows PC with a pen input device such as a Bamboo Wacom tablet. Although, the plug-in works even with a regular mouse, it is recommended to use a pen writing device for a smoother and more natural experience.

Quick Links: 

• Functionality Overview
• User Interface
• Review and Press Coverage
• Trial Version
• System Requirements
• Download ink support files for regular Windows XP

Write, Draw or Doodle

Use 5 different pen tools (black, blue, red, green and white) to write or draw anywhere on the document. Adjust pen thickness and color for a custom appearance. Easily erase ink with a top of the pen or use a special "eraser" tool.

Highlight Document Content

Use 5 different adjustable highlighters to markup document content (text, images, graphics). AutoInk can create both regular text highlighting (anywhere on the page, not just over text elements) or semi-transparent inking annotations. Adjust highlighter's width, color and transparency for a custom appearance. Here is sample of document marked up using various highlighters:

Highlight Text By Search

The plug-in can search for user-specified words and sentences and automatically highlight them in the document. Text can be highlighted with a single color or using 20 different automatically assigned colors (each search term is highlighted with a different color).

Use Acrobat's "Comments" panel to navigate, search and work with text highlights created by "Highlight by Search" function:

Fill PDF forms

Write right on top of the text form fields using pen input. Easily convert ink into a text with a click of a button. The plug-in performs a handwriting recognition using latest Microsoft technology and automatically fills form fields underneath.

Convert Ink To Text

Easily convert any inking into either native PDF text, text box annotations or sticky notes. Use advanced recognition settings and custom word list to improve recognition results. Control font style, color and title case of the output text.

Optionally convert handwriting into a text box annotation or a sticky note.

Save Inking As Pencil Annotations or PDF Line Graphics

The plug-in allows saving inking either as pencil annotations or directly as PDF line graphics(for improved performance).

Flatten Ink Annotations

Easily flatten ink and other annotations to preserve their content and appearance. All interactive content and inking annotations will be converted into native PDF graphics that cannot be easily changed.

Insert a Blank Page

Conveniently insert a blank page with a single mouse click to make room for more inking. The plug-in automatically creates new pages based on dimensions of the current page.

Adjust Ink Appearance

The plug-in provides full control over the color, thickness and transparency (for highlighters) of all inking pens.

Plug-in adds a toolbar and a menu to the Adobe Acrobat user interface for a seamless integration.

Plug-in's Toolbar:

Plug-in's Menu (available via "Plug-ins > Pen Inking" menu):

• Watch live demo and product review in "Acrobat For Legal Professionals" blog by Rick Borsten, Business Development Manager specializing in the Acrobat-Legal Market for Adobe Systems Incorporated.
• AutoInk review in "Family Lawyer Tech & Practice" blog.
• Another review published on "PDF For Lawyers" website.

Download and evaluate a 30-days fully featured trial version of the plug-in. All what you need is a copy of Adobe Acrobat® software and a Tablet PC computer (or any computer with a pen input device such as pen tablet) running Windows Vista® (except Home Basic) or Tablet PC edition of Microsoft Windows XP® operating system. If you want to run plug-in on a regular Windows XP operating system then you need to download and install pen inking support components first.

Platforms:

Windows Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate

Windows XP - Tablet PC Edition

Windows 7

Regular Windows XP:
If you want to run the plug-in on a regular Windows XP system, then you need to download and install ink supporting components from Microsoft first. These components do not come with a regular Windows XP. Click on this link to download a Windows installer file (MSI). Run this file on your computer to install all necessary system components before installing AutoInk plug-in.

Download Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 Recognizer Pack from Microsoft for enabling ink to text conversion on a regular Windows XP computer.

Software:

Full version of Adobe® Acrobat® software is required (versions 6, 7, 8, 9, 10). This software will not work with free Adobe Acrobat® Reader®. Batch processing functionality requires presence of Adobe® Acrobat Professional®
(Adobe Acrobat Product Comparison Chart).