Question: We’re really a “TIFF shop” right now, with all our processes and workflow geared up for TIFF processing. We are thinking of converting our files to PDF. Why convert to PDF right now? It seems costly, time-consuming, and involves taking some risk to undergo an entire PDF Conversion?

Answer: All change in the industry happens for a reason, PDF conversion is no different. There is a large migration currently in progress across many industries from TIFF to PDF. Assuming that all these IT directors are not just wasting time and money at their respective firms, there must be some compelling reasons to convert from TIFF to PDF.

Among the pros behind conversion to PDF include: hidden OCR text layer, meta-data insertion, web-optimization, compression, and portability. These are all reasonably important considerations from an IT director’s perspective.

Hidden text OCR means the OCR layer is embedded directly into the PDF document, not as an extraneous file. It is not directly apparent visually, but can be searched on. Meta-data insertion is very useful for keeping important document information such as creator, author, etc. directly embedded inside the document. Web-optimization allows rapid, constant-time access into the middle of a large document without streaming the entire file. It’s ideal for keeping large files on a web-based database server. Document compression is often the key in efficient file uploading and downloading in a distributed, web environment. PDF supports both bitonal and color compression so transmission and storage requirements are minimized 5x-10x. The fact that annotations, OCR text, and meta-data are directly embedded into the PDF file makes portability between databases much more straightforward.

There is never an ideal time at the corporate level to migrate between file formats, but the advantages and ROI of migration to PDF are certainly evident. Please feel free to contact us with any other questions concerning PDF conversion.