The 5 Best PDF Hacks for Agents
The Portable Document Format, or PDF, was created by Adobe in 1993. Adobe officials estimate that there are some 2.5 trillion PDF documents in the world. And PDFs have become a mainstay for real estate, empowering the digitalization of today's transactions.
Adobe offers free versions of its Adobe Reader DC (Document Cloud) for Windows and Mac personal computers (here). With this basic Adobe Acrobat Reader version, you can open, read and print PDFs.
But if you want to edit a PDF, convert a document to a PDF or do more complex tasks, such as sign or annotate a form, Adobe wants you to subscribe to access Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. A monthly subscription will set you back at least $12.99 a month!
Fortunately, we have some PDF hacks to help you accomplish more with a PDF without the Adobe monthly subscription. Because as a real estate agent, sometimes you want to do more with a PDF than just read it or print it out.
A couple of caveats: If you are a Mac user, you are in luck, as you have a built-in program named "Preview" for editing and even signing PDFs – for free. Preview will allow you to accomplish most of these hacks and more. If you are a Windows user, many of today's programs – such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint by Microsoft – will allow you to create a PDF as an option when you go to print.
Here are five of the best PDF hacks to help any agent do more with a PDF:
1. Sign up for a free Adobe Cloud account
This hack can help you do more with PDFs. Also, by signing up, you create a free basic Adobe account, which will give you access to other PDF tools that Adobe provides for free online. If you don't make an Adobe Account, you can still access their online tools, but most of them will only allow you one free file conversion or download. With a free Adobe Cloud account, you can share, fill, sign, and comment on an unlimited number of PDFs.
However, for access to advance PDF features – such as converting a document to a PDF, reducing its file size, converting a PDF to an image, etc. – you can only use a tool once every seven days without upgrading to a monthly subscription. You can sign up for free here.
2. Copy text from a PDF
If your PDF is not a scanned image or the copy-and-paste functions are not disabled (try to highlight the text, and if you can, it is not a scanned image), you can use Adobe Reader to select and copy text. Then open a Word or text document to paste the copied text. However, sometimes when you paste your text, you may find symbols where there are letters.
Instead, try this hack: Open the PDF in Google Drive as a Google Doc. That's right, when you open a PDF from Google Drive and preview it, you can then open it as a Google Doc. Google will automatically populate the text (and images) from the PDF and allow you to edit and copy and paste elsewhere. Step-by-step instructions are here.
3. Convert a PDF to a Word doc
If you only need to convert one PDF to a Word doc, Adobe offers an online tool that works amazingly well here. Again, without a subscription, you only can convert one doc every seven days.
Try this hack: If you need to convert PDFs to Word docs routinely, try this hack. FormSwift offers a free account that allows you to convert a PDF beautifully into a Word doc here. While all of your fonts may not match, you will have a Word document version of the PDF that allows you to edit all the text.
4. Create an image from a PDF
Again, Adobe's online tool works excellent, instantly converting a PDF to a JPG image here. Try this hack: You can convert more PDFs to images with a slew of different format options at PDF Converter here. You will have to wait one hour between file conversions to download your next one or choose a subscription option. Still, this online converter offers the ability to convert multiple PDFs to images for free, as long as you can wait 60 minutes.
5. Reduce the size of a PDF
Have you wanted to email a PDF document to a client, but the file size was too large? Then, you must "compress" the PDF to reduce the file size. The challenge is that most of the free PDF tools online that reduce file size will result in a fuzzy-looking document. The best hack comes from Adobe, as few online tools can match Adobe's magical conversion in reducing the file size here.
If you do a quick Google search for the PDF task you need, you will discover many websites set up to specifically help you accomplish a particular PDF task – for free. The problem is you don't know which online tools you can trust. You also often need to be careful not to click on the accompanying advertising, as adware is abundant on these sites. Finally, you don't know where these files are stored and, therefore, must avoid uploading any PDF that contains confidential information.
The good news is that in 2008, there was a universal standard created for PDFs. This allowed software developers, besides Adobe, to offer free and more affordable PDF software tools. For example, highly rated PDFelement offers software programs from $63 to $127 here, so you avoid the monthly or annual subscription. In addition, you'll find dozens of other PDF programs offered on sites like Amazon, complete with verified user reviews to allow you to pick the one that may work best for you.
Just remember, the easiest solution is often the best solution, and you can always contact Tech Helpline to walk you through any PDF conversion task.
To view the original article, visit the Tech Helpline blog.
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How to Electronically Sign a Word Document
Your or your clients can add an electronic signature to a contract or offer letter from a Word document in less than five minutes. It's easy to create an electronic signature on a Microsoft Word document without ever leaving the application. Electronic signatures create a binding and enforceable legal contract that is widely accepted throughout the industrialized world, and more secure than traditional paper-based signatures because they're less susceptible to forgery. Read on to discover how to do an electronic signature in Word in just a few steps with this easy guide.
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3 Easy Ways to Scan Documents, Create PDFs with Your Phone
In the past, sending photos and documents from a remote location meant spending time in front of a fax machine. You would stand there, waiting for it to connect and then slowly watch each page crawl through the scanner. Then the most crucial part: remaining until the final "Fax Confirmation" page printed to tell you everything went through.
But in the mobile age, sending photos and documents can be done on your smartphone through text or email. Best of all, today you can turn just about any image or document into an Adobe Portable Document Format, or PDF. With a simple smartphone app, you can teach your clients to do the same.
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[Best of 2019] The Top 6 Things Agents Need to Know about PDFs
There are just 10 publishing days left in 2019, and we're continuing an annual tradition of counting down our top 10 articles of the year. The following article was originally published back in February and is #10 in our countdown. Stay tuned tomorrow for #9!
PDF files are so prominent, you probably have at least one open on your computer screen right now. Many people utilize and share PDF files as documents or contracts in their business and daily life. Because at Tech Helpline we often get calls from real estate professionals asking about this file format, today we bring you the top six things real estate professionals need to know about PDFs.
Read on to learn some quick basics that will help you harness your files in this type of format with more confidence.
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Want to Use Mobile Scanner Software? Be Very Careful!
I'm not sure how many of you heard about the malicious Android scanner app that had more than 100 million downloads from Google Play. We always expect Google Play and Apple's App Store to be safe from malware, they can't be 100% safe with the number of apps being built daily.
We are in the middle of a seven-part series about Apple Notes and Google Keep, and the next subject I want to discuss is scanning documents. Both Notes and Keep have scanning capabilities that have been around for years, and I feel are safe from malicious malware.
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Using OneDrive: 5 tips for storing and sharing photos, videos and docs online
Microsoft created its cloud storage service, OneDrive, to allow people to "access, share and collaborate on your files from anywhere." Eighty-five percent of Fortune 500 companies and a quarter of a million organizations worldwide have OneDrive, according to Microsoft. While Google and Dropbox may have more individual users, for business, OneDrive is dominant.
The best thing about OneDrive may be how it allows you to work securely from any device: your desktop, laptop or on your phone through its mobile app. In terms of flexibility, OneDrive is powerful because in addition to supporting Office files, it is also compatible with more than 300 file types, from Photoshop files (PSD) and Illustrator (AI) to Adobe PDF and 3D image formats.
Here are our five successful OneDrive tips and tricks for agents:
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7 Google Sheet Templates for Real Estate Businesses
The secrets to take you from an organization zero to a real estate spreadsheet hero
In the real estate world, there's no telling what will come up or what you'll have to tackle in any given day. Fire drills aside, it's crucial to have a base plan for your business. A cozy home of organized data to fall back on. But fret not. If you're not the savviest when it comes to spreadsheet sorcery, Google Sheets has you covered. They have a library of pre-made templates to help make organizing your business (and your workouts, finances...life!) much much easier.
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The Real Estate Top Producer's Filing System
They think we have an easy job!
One of the things we read about in consumer-focused articles about a real estate career is that it is a great self-employment opportunity to make lots of money and take great vacations. NOT! It can get you down when even your customers and clients think that you're going to make a pot full of money in the few, short weeks you work with them.
Disregarding the fact that you work with many more customers who never result in a commission, there is a lot more to this job than they think. However, you can make a great living—maybe even a pot full of money—in real estate. You just need to get your own real estate top producer's filing system.
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Paperless Files like a Pro: Fast, Efficient Document Management
Tuesday, February 21, 2017 at 10:00 AM PST
This session will cover how to set up transaction templates and start a new transaction file while automatically associating forms and features to have more efficient and consistent files.
We will also cover document management, how to link a document to an MLS listing, slice / merge and mark-up documents, as well as how to add sub-folders.
Register now!
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Selecting the Right Document and Transaction Management Solution
Realtors no longer have to spend precious time making sure nobody missed a signature or driving across town to send an expensive FedEx package. Instead, significant productivity gains and expense reductions can be achieved by the use of electronic signatures for most transactions. While the benefits of going digital for document and transaction management are indisputable, Realtors need to be selective by asking some of the important questions listed in our Technology Guide before choosing a service provider.
For instance, what security features does the document and transaction management provider offer? E-signature technology allows clients to easily complete purchase, sales, and financial documents from their computer or mobile device, but some companies are vague about exactly who can see or share the documents. Clients share highly sensitive personal and financial information and it is the Realtor's duty to ensure document security. The best electronic document and transaction services employ an encryption technology such as Secure Socket Layers (SSL) to prevent any unauthorized individuals or malicious third party services from accessing the information.
In addition, the document and transaction management service provider should ensure that documents are tamper-proof through signature validation. For real estate transactions, it is important that documents are marked with time-stamped audit trails showing identity of individuals who accessed the documents and which device they used. Some companies also offer two-factor authentication that either probes the client to answer a secret question or texts a code to their mobile phone, which can further safeguard document access. Should an agent ever face a legal question, the proof of access timelines can protect the validity of the signatures.
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How to Convert a Document to PDF in 3 Easy Steps
Need a quick, easy way to turn a document into a .PDF without having to pay for conversion software? You're in luck! If you have a Google account, you already have access to a free online tool that makes it a snap to change files to the format you need. (If you don't have an account, you can sign-up here.)
One of the most underappreciated features of Google Drive is how it lets you convert documents to different file formats like rich text, plain text, Open Office, PDF, Microsoft Word, and more. It's a simple hack that anyone can do in just a couple of minutes. Here's how.
Step #1: Upload a File for Conversion
First, upload the document that you want to convert to Google Drive. To do this, click the orange New button and select File upload. Then browse to the file on your hard drive you want to convert and hit Open.
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Document and Transaction Management 101
Document management and transaction management represent two distinctly different product categories. However, some companies have chosen to offer solutions that combine the two categories into a single solution. Thus, we are discussing them together here. Borrowing from our previous article on this very subject, here's a quick review of these product categories.
Document management technology is intended to help real estate professionals manage documents with functions that support: digitally storing documents, sharing documents with other interested parties, organizing documents, tracking the status of documents, and (in some instances) electronically signing documents.
Transaction management products are intended to help real estate professionals manage a transaction through functions such as: contact management, a calendar tool, some degree of document management, and a wide variety of other features. It provides a collaborative space for working with all the parties to a transaction through tasks (for instance ordering home inspection, coordinating mortgage, etc.).
Forms management is also often a component of products that fall into this category.
Choosing the Right Tool
If you're in the market for a document or transaction management platform, there are questions you can ask to evaluate which option is right for you, like:
What is offered by my broker, MLS or Association? Your broker may work with a Transaction Coordinator and you'll want to be using the same solution they're using – it will make things easier for you and for them. The more people that use the same solution, the more effective it can be.
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Friday Freebie: Realty Commander
Last month, we took our readers on a visual tour of transaction management platform Realty Commander. Though we covered most of the solution's features in depth, I don't think we put enough emphasis on just how user-friendly this program is. After all, however helpful an article and screenshots may be, nothing beats real, hands-on experience.
Fortunately, Realty Commander offers a two week trial so agent and brokers can try it for themselves--at no charge.
Free 14-day Trial of Realty Commander
Realty Commander lives up to its tag line of "Automate. Track. Succeed." Color-coded calendars, built-in task lists, daily email reminders, integrated email with tracking, and more all work together to ensure your business runs smoothly.
As we mentioned last month, Commander handles the varying needs of different file types with ease. For example, buyer files require things like showings and financing information, but listings need HOA and expiration dates. The program handily accommodates both. Commander also offers solid short sale features, like a HUD editor and a short sale package generator.
Other notable features include:
Customizable Task Management
Paperless Document Management
Smart Drag-and-Drop Calendar
Lender Forms Library
Client / Guest Access Login
Showings Manager for Buyers and Listings
Multi-User Access Levels for Teams or Brokers
Broker Document Approval
Guest Access Document Upload
Click here to sign up for Realty Commander's free trial!
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Introducing Realty Commander
There's a wide variety of transaction management software on the market today. And it's no wonder--using a great solution is probably the easiest way agents can save themselves time and hassle, and better communicate with their clients. The key is finding the product that works best for you. Today, we'd like to introduce you to a transaction management solution that should be on the radar of any agent or broker.
Realty Commander covers all the necessities of a solid transaction management platform--document sharing, task manager, calendars--but it's the extras that differentiate it. The solution excels in handling multiple different file types, like a buyer, regular listing or short sale.
Other notable features include:
Customizable File Flow
Integrated Quick Search
Daily E-Mail Reminders
Task Management
Paperless Document Management
Smart Drag-and-Drop Calendar
E-Mail Integration with Smart Tracking
Lender Forms Library
Short sale package builder
HUD Editor
Client / Guest Access Login
Showings Manager for Buyers and Listings
Multi-User Access Levels for Teams or Brokers
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Product Review: Form Simplicity
There is a world of solutions available to agents and brokers. It's no surprise, though--real estate is one of the largest sectors of our economy, and many technology companies have recognized our industry for the opportunity that it offers.
While there are plenty of solutions offered by industry "outsiders," a smaller number are created by professionals with hands-on real estate experience. Today, we're going to introduce you to one such solution.
Form Simplicity is a transaction management solution created by a professional real estate organization, Florida Realtors®. Its ongoing development is, in part, shaped by a panel of REALTOR® members who ensure that the program stays in step with what agents and brokers need to be successful.
A Closer Look
True to its name, Form Simplicity is simple. Right from the home page, users will notice its pared down interface that offers only what agents need to work fast.
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The Cloud is for Collaboration
Most people are familiar with the Cloud primarily for its storage capabilities. From music and movies, to documents and other files, the Cloud has become the place for saving the things you care about but don't want to store on your computer. In industries like real estate, however, the Cloud also serves another essential purpose--collaboration.
Real estate transactions involve many parties--not just agents and their buyer or seller clients. There are appraisers, loan officers, attorneys, and home inspectors, just to name a few. You can pick up the phone and call any of these people easily, but what happens when you need to share documents or have forms signed? Do you really want to drive all over town, or wrangle everyone's schedules to have a meeting in some central location? What if one of the parties lives out of the area?
The solution is simple: take your collaboration to the Cloud. Web-based products for transaction management, document management, and electronic signatures make this possible. With mobile technology and the use of permissions to grant the appropriate level of access to the appropriate parties, Cloud technology can allow you to collaborate with anyone over any distance for a more efficient transaction.
The best way to clarify this concept is to use some examples.
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Where are Your Tech Pain Points?
Real estate technology is all about "pain points." We recently heard this perspective from David Lester, Founder and CEO of Sequent Systems, and we asked him to talk a bit more about it.
"Discomfort is a great motivator," David explains. "In that way, it serves an important purpose. In our industry, one of the common pain points seems to be managing the many documents associated with a transaction. Some people may be great at developing their own systems for staying organized, but most of us need help in that area. Technology is developed to address these pain points and help make business easier and more profitable for REALTORS®."
But what if I have a lot of pain points?
Most real estate professionals we know have a variety of factors that slow them down. We asked David what real estate professionals should do if they've got more than a single pain point.
"Well," he says, "you're right; it's usually not as simple as a single source of frustration. That's why you often see people working with 10 different tools to address 10 different problems. Which, of course, creates a whole new world of pain. You've got people trying to remember which tool does what, forgetting 10 different usernames and passwords, and wasting a lot of time on redundant data entry. That's why I think the industry is moving toward integrated solutions."
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Don’t Force It
We've talked about how to assuage the anxiety of technology-challenged clients, and that's an important conversation to know how to have. But a call we had today with Cartavi brought up another, equally important point: at the end of the day, you don't want to force it. Push too hard, too far, and your client relationship will break – not bend.
It's All About Repeat Business
As we've said time and again, repeat business is the key to being successful as a real estate agent. There are many ways to earn that repeat business. Certainly being tech savvy may be one of them, for SOME CLIENTS. But for any consumer, buyer or seller, young or old, the most important thing they'll remember is your customer service.
While it's reasonable to explain the benefits of digital document delivery methods and electronic signatures, it won't help your customer relationship to be inflexible or to push too hard. Show respect and consideration to your clients at every step of the process. And if your client wants a document faxed or printed, go ahead and do so.
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Friday Freebie: Real Estate Dashboard
GoPaperless Solutions is no stranger to our Friday Freebie series. Earlier this year, we featured their eSignOnline. Today, we bring you another freebie from GoPaperless – a 30-day free trial of their Real Estate Dashboard software, designed specifically for use on Tablet PCs.
Free Trial of Real Estate Dashboard
Now you can try the Real Estate Dashboard from GoPaperless Solutions for 30 days free. To sign up, you'll only enter your contact information – no credit card is required. A download link of the trial version is emailed to you for setup. With the trial version, you can import forms (PDF, Word, and Tiff files), fill them out, hand sign with clients, and email them out. The full version packs in these great features:
Paperless document management: creating/managing digital files and folders, saved notes, imported forms, and imported contracts or documents
Integrated fax and email: send or receive faxes anywhere, receive faxes by email, unique toll-free number
Electronic signatures: biometric signatures use pen-to-paper simulation and web-based digital signatures use the integrated eSignOnline (with unlimited use).
Work online or offline; no internet needed.
Cloud sharing: view, download, or upload large files with permission based access for clients and contacts.
Offsite backup: automatic secure backup that can be accessed anytime, anywhere.
Register for the free trial today at GoPaperless.com.
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Product Review: eSignDashboard for iPad
At the end of 2011, electronic signature and document management provider GoPaperless Solutions launched their eSignDashboard app for the iPad. You can check out our sneak peek of the app here: "Going Paperless and Mobile with the eSignDashboard iPad App." The company has recently released some updates to the app and we decided it was about time to create a quick product review.
Take a Test Drive
If an image is worth 1,000 words, then video must be worth 100,000. We think this video from GoPaperless is a great way to get introduced to the app.
We Walk through the Basics
We downloaded the app on our iPad (it is available in the app store). Following along with the training video, we began by creating a folder for a fake transaction. The next step would naturally be to add some documents for that transaction. Forms can be added via email or from the Internet ("From URL"). Now, this is pretty cool – when I searched for a W9 online and found a .pdf version AND when I clicked on an attachment to an email, I was automatically given the option to "Open in eSignDashboard." It was really easy.
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Looking Forward with Austin Allison
We figure Austin Allison, CEO of DotLoop (www.DotLoop.com), is doing many things right. After all, DotLoop blows up our Google news alerts on a daily basis. The news tells us that Austin’s company is growing by “loops” and bounds – unsurprising, once you get to know his product. So we decided to play “crystal ball,” and get Austin’s take on where the future of his company – and the real estate industry – will go.
“The market is ripe for a solution that works,” says Austin. “That is why DotLoop is growing at an unusually fast pace for this industry. This isn’t just blind optimism; we have every reason to believe that we can:
Introduce new revenue streams.
Reduce administrative time by 70%.
Achieve a 100% savings on carbon copy/paper forms.
Eliminate contract disputes.
Eliminate document storage cost.
Increase the number of deal conversions by 4 to 5 deals per year, per agent.
This week DotLoop will be announcing another national brand partnership. Also stay tuned for the largest DotLoop announcement yet at the NAR Convention and Expo starting this week. We will be announcing a new offering that people cannot afford to say ‘no’ too.”
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Are You Meeting Your Goals for 2011?
June is officially here, marking the middle of the year. It's time to start asking yourself if you've accomplished, or set the wheels in motion to accomplish, the goals set early in the year. For many Realtors®, that goal was to ditch traditional real estate practices and adopt the right technology solution to make their business interactive.
The end of 2010 promised the future of real estate as more people were adopting smartphones and tablets – meaning Realtors® would quickly need to adopt a solution to meet prospective home buyer and seller demand.
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The Queue: A Look at RETechSouth, Bob Hale, and 4 New Technologies!
I have been to a conference or 12 this year. I had a chance to attend RE Tech South in the Atlanta suburbs this past week and for lack of a better analogy I am dubbing it the Roy Jones Jr. of real estate conventions.
Pound for pound this was the best event of the year.
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Cloud Computing and Social Media in Today's Business World
New technologies are always being released upon the public with promises of boosting efficiency and simplicity in our lives. However, for those who don’t consider themselves tech savvy, the world of new technology may seem overwhelming. It’s understandably difficult to keep up, especially for people who learned how to do their job before the digital age. Nevertheless, failing to keep up essentially gives competitors the upper hand.
In most sectors of the business world, including real estate, one of the most important technological advancements of recent years is social media. Potential customers and clients are attaining information through online contacts that serve as references to make important decisions. They spend more time interacting with fellow users through online forums and groups because social media because it’s less formal and easy to use. The main reason why social media is so easy is because it incorporates cloud computing; using networks and software hosted by third parties.
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Track My File
Track My File is currently marketed directly to real estate companies and they emphasize that what you get with Track My File is more than the product. They stress the importance of learning how to integrate transaction management processes into the business culture and their ability to help companies do this.
The Document Management and Transaction Manager Product are combined. They pride themselves on offering a user-friendly system that all agents can use. Track My File is easy to navigate though the interface appears a bit dated.
The Track My File team schedules a one-time consultation with new clients to get to know them, the processes they currently have in place and the way they work. Then they create custom software tailored to both the currently office requirements and workflow.
This tailored, consultative approach sets Track My File apart from the competition in this regard where most vendors expect the client to adapt to their system.
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