Using Third Party PDF Apps with Time Matters - Revisited

/

The current paid versions of Adobe Acrobat are expensive. They require annual subscriptions. Third party options now offer very competitive feature sets at much lower cost.

The catch is that you can’t put a TM Save button in third-party software.

Here are some tips for using third party apps with Time Matters.

Drag-and-Drop

When you receive a PDF file, you don’t need Adobe Acrobat to save it into Time Matters. All you need to do is have Time Matters and Windows File Explorer open at the same time, either in side-by-side windows or overlapping windows.

  1. Open Time Matters to the Matters List and find the Matter to which you want to link the PDF file.

  2. In Windows File Explorer, drag or copy the PDF file to the documents folder for the Matter.

  3. Click and hold the mouse on the PDF file in the documents folder.

  4. Drag the PDF file over to the Matter List and drop it on the Matter.

  5. Now you can complete the Document Form that has been automatically created for the PDF file and linked to the Matter.

Install Both Acrobat Reader and Third Party PDF Software

Another option is to use a third-party PDF program. I like PDF-XChange Plus, but there are many good ones.

You can have two PDF programs on your computer. Use free Acrobat Reader with its TM Save button to open and save PDF files into Time Matters, linking them to Matters or Contacts or both.

Use your third party software when you need features like redacting text or inserting Bates numbers.

Switch between Acrobat Reader and a Third Party App

You can set the app you use the most as you default app for PDFs. Then when you need to use the other app with a file, right-click on the file and select: Open With. A list of programs that work with PDFs appears. Choose the app you want.

Set the Default App for PDF Files

pdf-default-app.png

To set the Default App for PDF Files in Windows 10:

  1. Click the Home button (lower left)

  2. Click: Settings / Apps / Default Apps / Choose default apps by file type

  3. Hover the mouse over the right edge of the window to reveal the scroll bar.

  4. Scroll down to .PDF

  5. If the current app is the one you want, you are all set. If not, click and and select the app you want as your default.

Questions? Call me at 800.575.0007 or Send me an email…l