Typically, when you use and interact with something daily it tends to lose its luster. You take it for granted and using it may even be mundane. My relationship with Adobe® Acrobat® began many moons ago. My basic interaction with the software was to use it to create a PDF from a word document. As the software was improved and upgraded, I still used Acrobat® for turning something into a PDF. Over a year ago a colleague shared with me that you could use Acrobat® to create editable and savable files. This allowed the team to create a certificate that could be used to support multiple trainings. Wow- what a time saver!

At that moment, I should have realized that I needed to spend some time and look at what Acrobat® had to offer. Of course, there was already so much on my plate that this thought eluded me. I realize now that I should have made the time. This week I needed to find an alternative to using the Form feature of Google Docs and Spreadsheets. I could not find anything that would work- other than a costly solution the only solution that would work would be collecting the data manually. I was sharing my frustration with Steve Burt, when he asked- "Don't you have Adobe® Acrobat® 9 Pro?" Fortunately, for me I did have that software and when I responded that I did Steve began to show me what I could do with the form features that Acrobat® has to offer.

Happy Dance

I had pretty much given up hope and resigned that I was going to have to do a manual registration process when Steve showed me the quick and easy alternative with Acrobat®. I spent the afternoon exploring the form options within Acrobat®. I ended up creating several forms as I found a new use for my old friend.

Does this mean that I have to be an expert on every piece of software that I own and use? No. However, periodically I need to remember to explore how others are using the same tools that I use or take a closer look at what the software has to offer, especially when there is an updated version. You never know what treasures you may find.