Editing .pdfs - to do or not to do is the question?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Heidi Colonna wondered: <<...we have a new editor. We are in the 
process of getting an editing process into place. I've been a writer 
for well over a decade and in my expience the rule has always been 
this: "editing the .pdf of a document is not an option". The rule I am 
accustomed to is that any changes to the document are to done in the 
source file, ONLY, then a new .pdf is generated from the corrected 
source file.>>

That's the safest and most efficient way to do the work; PDFs are 
painful to edit, you can't incorporate the changes in the source 
document (which leads to the PDF gradually drifting out of synch with 
the source document), and you can't do any significant editing beyond 
correcting simple typos.

The first point isn't an issue if there are very few edits (see next 
paragraph). The second point is a huge issue if you plan to revise and 
update the source document in the future, because somone will have to 
hunt down the edits to the PDF and add them to the source file. The 
third point completely eliminates PDF as a revision mechanism if, like 
me, you do heavy developmental and substantive editing.

However, PDFs are an elegant way to exchange files for _proofreading_, 
with the corrections returned to the holder of the source file for 
incorporation in that file and regeneration of the PDF. This works for 
two reasons: First, because in a well-edited document, the corrections 
at the proofing stage will be relatively minor and the inefficiency of 
having to retype them in the original document is tolerable. Second, 
because experience has taught me that the only safe way to proofread a 
document is in its actual final format (laid out and in the correct 
medium, whether printed or online).

<<The editing process that is being proposed is this, if a document has 
changes the editor can make the changes in the .pdf and at the same 
time the writer can make the changes to the source.>>

The usual reason for this kind of suggestion is that the editor isn't 
comfortable with onscreen editing, most commonly because they don't 
know how to do it or because they have medical problems of some sort 
that prevent them from working painlessly with keyboard and monitor. If 
the latter is the case, and the editor is good at their work, working 
on PDF printouts might be a kindness and a good way to retain a 
talented editor you might not otherwise be able to keep. Sometimes it's 
also a case of the software (e.g., Frame) not having any kind of decent 
revision tracking mechanism, thereby making it hard to collaborate on a 
document.

If this is just a matter of the editor not having experience with 
editing in Word (or WordPerfect), the solution is to train them. Drop 
me a line for more details.

--Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)