Just after I declared full-text online the pinnacle of legal materials, iPad and GoodReader have breathed new life into the PDF. Of course, full-text online legal reference materials remains the best way I can think of to share and collaborate on a large amounts of materials with multiple users.

However, the iPad and GoodReader make a PDF library an outstanding option for a single person or for a particular purpose; a trial or deposition come to immediately to mind.

For me, the animating force is the prospect of having thousands of cases, statutes, and reference materials with me and ready to go- it was the "ready to go" part that concerned me.

Acrobat has a range of features to help organize and deal with long documents, including bookmarks, full search, portfolios, and the constellation of commenting tools that each create the functional equivalent of a bookmark in dizzying variety.

Initially, I thought by viewing PDF on the iPad, I would be giving up most if not all of the Acrobat features. And I was right, but not so much so that it really matters in the scheme of things.

Here is a how I use bookmarks, rapidly applied in Acrobat, to create an document outline in iPad's GoodReader. Like most things great things, this is simple.

First. Apply the bookmarks to your PDF in Acrobat and nest them as you desire. See short demo video on bookmarking in Acrobat.

Second. Save your PDF in a convenient place to access it with iPad's GoodReader. I use Dropbox and MobileMe for this. Review of Using Dropbox and GoodReader.

Third, Open your PDF in GoodReader and touch the bookmark button and see the bookmarks saved as an outline. I applaud GoodReader's programmers for doing it this way because it leaves the bookmarks section for case-by-case application.

Now you have an outlined PDF ready for repeated use.

As to the loss of commenting and annotation, iPad has an App for that. It's called iAnnotate PDF- but that's a separate review.

Check out the iPad Screen Shots
 

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The icons to the left of the document in the Panel Pane are every useful.  I use the bookmark panel to organize long PDFs.  Tip- If you create bookmarks and want them to be open by default when the PDF is first opened, go to "File">"Document Properties" and click on the "Initial View" tab to set those options- the keyboard shortcut for Document properties is "cmd + d" (ctrl on a PC)

The problem with them is that we often forget to use them.  In this video, I go over the Pages Panel in Acrobat which is very handy to move, reorder, and combine pages from multiple PDF documents. 

If you are missing the old days of shuffling papers between files then this video will may make you feel better. 

I also show you the fastest way I know of the rename a file, which is great for cases. 
 

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  Acrobat carries a relatively large price tag at $300 for Standard or $450.  If you buy it from Amazon the price comes down a a bit but it is still not cheap.  So why is it worth it?

With its comment and mark up tools, Acrobat is like a bottomless drawer of supplies.  There is the highlighter, the sticky notes, and the stamps of various kinds.  But what many Acrobat users don't know is that these great features of Acrobat can be extended through the free Adobe Reader to people who don't have an installation of Acrobat.   

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