PDF, Portable Document Format (PDF) is a document viewing format created by Adobe Systems back in 1993. It was made in an open format in 2008.
The PDF format was created to help documents retain text formatting, inline images, and typeface settings when shared between two different platforms with different software.
Today it has become a universal standard on how documents are shared while preserving the intended layout and quality of the content. This brings us to everything that makes for a good online PDF storage and viewer.
While there are hoards of plugins and web viewers that can just display PDF documents, you will end up relying on a bevy of solutions to achieve what should be a one-stop solution. More than just the ability to open a document at random, you need a system that can contextualize your documents based on what you need them to do. You need a solution that can perform the following:
- Share with relevant users only, rather than send en masse. And if required in Preview-Only mode, so that the PDF cannot be downloaded, copied from or printed if you so decide.
- Avoid long email chains as documents evolve.
- Acquire approvals over documents.
- Keep everything safe from unauthorized access.
Collaborate for online PDF storage and Viewing
A PDF file, despite its flexibility and ubiquity, is regrettably not an editable document. For that reason, any collaboration on creating that document will have to take place before it is converted to PDF. However, Folderit allows for multiple users to collaborate on a single document. For platforms like Microsoft Office 365 (separate subscription required), all the collaboration can be done remotely as if the collaborator were sitting right next to you. For other platforms, you can work on a single document in parallel with other users. Folderit can be configured to keep versions as the document updates, you can also set up the file such that only one user can work on the file at a time while locking the others out. This helps to prevent loss of effort due to multiple parallel saves (e.g., two people working on Adobe Illustrator and saving at the same time).
Given that you can upload a single file sized 50 GB at a time, this makes it an interesting prospect for most creative professionals.
Once your document has achieved a state where it is ready for the next step, you can export it to PDF and put that up for review and comments from your teams. You can also configure your files and folder such that some users have complete access to the PDF file, or you can grant limited access to other users such that they can only view the document.
Additionally, storing PDF files is about the same as storing an editable file since Folderit’s power OCR enables search lets you find files even though read-only data like PDF files, images, scans, or photographs. So, you don’t have to worry about losing any content as it is all a quick query away.
Secure Viewing
The purpose of a PDF file is to be universally accessible, however, that does not mean your documents should be available for just anyone to view. While you can configure some files to be visible to anyone in the world, you can also set up a secure file or folder where access is granted only by your authorization. This folder is kept secure under 256-bit bank-level encryption that cannot be cracked by even a supercomputer within the lifetime of our solar system. Any files moving in or out of the system are protected under SSL Encryption, so there is no room for tampering with your files mid-transfer.
Moreover, your content is kept secure due to there being backups in triplicate at different locations in the data center to ensure that your data is kept secure (this does not include any backups you might have taken yourself).
Conclusion
PDF files are lifesavers for people on the go, whether you are on your phone, a tablet, laptop, or anywhere in the world with practically any software, you should be able to view a document. Folderit itself is just as accessible as a PDF file, making it the perfect PDF file storage and viewer solution.
