Sep 24, 2020 11:25:00

Adobe announces 'Liquid Mode', a function that makes it easy to read PDFs on smartphones and automatically adjusts them

Adobe has announced ' Liquid Mode ' as a new feature of

Acrobat Reader , a document management system. Liquid Mode is a function that uses machine learning to automatically adjust the character line breaks and image size of PDF according to the width of the device, making it easier to read PDF on smartphones and tablets.

Adobe unveils ambitious multi-year vision for PDF: Introduces Liquid Mode
https://blog.adobe.com/en/2020/09/23/adobe-unveils-ambitious-multi-year-vision-for-pdf-introduces-liquid-mode.html#gs.gyvr16

Adobe's Liquid Mode leverages AI to reformat PDFs for mobile devices | VentureBeat
https://venturebeat.com/2020/09/23/adobes-liquid-mode-leverages-ai-to-reformat-pdfs-for-mobile-devices/

You can see what Acrobat Reader's 'Liquid Mode' really is by watching the following movie.

Liquid Mode in Adobe Acrobat Reader | Adobe Acrobat --YouTube


In conventional PDF, the paper size and the size of characters and images are fixed, and there is a problem that the characters are too small to be viewed on a smartphone or tablet with a small screen.

Therefore, when viewing a PDF file from a smartphone, it is necessary to enlarge the part you want to read and scroll the screen finely vertically and horizontally, and viewing the PDF file with dense characters was a painstaking task.

Therefore, Adobe developed 'Liquid Mode,' an automatic PDF adjustment function that uses Adobe's unique machine learning platform, '

Sensei .' When you tap the drop icon at the top of the screen ...

Characters are wrapped at the edge of the screen as shown below, making it possible to read characters without enlarging or scrolling horizontally.

The size of the image can also be adjusted automatically according to the screen width of the device. In Liquid Mode, the size of lists and tables is also adjusted automatically.

If you want to make the letters bigger, tap the icon labeled 'A' at the top of the screen.

Then, a screen is displayed in which the user can set the character enlargement ratio, character width, and line spacing.

For example, the screen on the left shows the character enlargement ratio of 120%, and the screen on the right before the character enlargement. Line breaks are automatically performed even if the characters are enlarged.

Adobe has announced that Liquid Mode will be available in Acrobat Reader for iOS, Android, and Chrome OS within a few months after September 2020.