ALPHARETTA, Ga.--Dec. 13, 2005-- Apago Inc., a software developer for the graphic arts and document management industries, today announces the immediate availability of PDF Enhancer 3.1, a powerful production tool for PDF document assembly and preparation tasks. PDF Enhancer streamlines the creation of PDF documents by automating the most common preparation tasks, including assembly, optimization, stamping, cropping, imposition and color correction, which previously required several applications and extensive manual labor. The latest upgrade, which was introduced in September at the Print 05 tradeshow, adds several important features, including support for Mac OS X version 10.4 "Tiger," font repair, new color correction options and digital signatures. "We are pleased to release an updated PDF Enhancer that incorporates many new features and capabilities that our customers requested," comments Dwight Kelly, president of Apago. "With each release, PDF Enhancer is becoming the tool for working with PDF files." PDF Enhancer 3.1 user Gareth O'Brien, CEO of Objective Advantage, says, "We found the selective color correction feature extremely useful. One of our clients has a repository of thousands of EPS logos with RGB colors that are used by their web-to-print system when creating PDFs. They also have several hundred others that use spot colors with an obsolete, color-naming convention. As a result, what should have been 2-color jobs generated up to 8 plates. To correct these problems, we configured the client's OANetConnect workflows to use PDF Enhancer 3.1, which eliminated the need to manually correct the source files--a project that would have taken considerable time and effort." From consumers and small businesses to large magazines and newspapers, PDF Enhancer 3.1 allows users to build a new document from multiple sources, to take "print-ready" documents and prepare them for distribution on the Internet, or simply to modify PDF files to meet specific output requirements. PDF Enhancer does this by taking a single, general-purpose PDF file and targeting it to a specific use. Each "target" consists of a collection of settings about the optimizations and improvements that will be applied to the document. With its industry-standard, ICC-based color conversion engine, full-featured imposition, page box, and stamping managers, PDF Enhancer provides users that have low- to high-volume needs the tools for repurposing PDF files for optimal use according to the intended output target. PDF Enhancer also reduces the size of most PDF files through techniques such as image optimization, unused or duplicate element removal, and analysis of the internal make-up of files to eliminate additional redundancies. New features in PDF Enhancer 3.1 include: -- Mac OS X version 10.4 "Tiger" and Automator support -- Digital signatures to secure documents -- Selective color correction to directly map certain colors to other colors; for example, CMYK to "Coke Red" spot color -- Font repair including rebuilding ToUnicode tables required by the ISO PDF/A document archiving standard -- Font conversion to eliminate problematic CID fonts PDF Enhancer key features include: -- Document Assembly: Build a new document from hundreds to thousands of PDF documents and scanned pages in TIFF and JPEG formats. PDF Enhancer's Merger makes it easy to select source files and set page order. -- Images and Compression: Minimize PDF file sizes by both reducing image resolution to match specific quality requirements and compressing the images. Enhancer supports both lossy and loss-less compression. The Advanced Server Edition supports JBIG2, which can reduce the size of scanned pages by up to 90%. -- Resize and Impose Pages: Resize (A4 to letter), crop and rotate pages. Also create booklets, n-up and step-and-repeat layouts with the imposition feature. -- Stamps, Watermarking and Page/Bates Numbering: Add stamps and watermarks to the foreground or background of a PDF at any location, angle, size, transparency or layer. Include page- or Bates-numbering with complete control over the formatting, location and appearance. -- Fonts: Embed and subset fonts in a PDF file. PDF Enhancer can also convert fonts to "outlines" while retaining full text search capabilities. This unique and exclusive feature, called Searchable Outlines, reduces file size and avoids compatibility issues with certain font formats including CID. -- Color Management: PDF Enhancer incorporates a professional-grade color management system that fully supports ICC profiles, including DeviceLink and ICC 4.0 profiles, and PDF/X to insure the highest-quality color conversions possible. Users can convert RGB to CMYK for printing, or CMYK to RGB for web or screen use. The advanced options allow precise control of CMYK to CMYK conversions. -- Security: Protect PDF files from unauthorized access or use with Acrobat-compatible security settings with 40- or 128-bit encryption. The Advanced Server Edition can also digitally sign a PDF. -- Metadata: Add or modify metadata, including author information, dates and copyrights. PDF Enhancer 3.1 fully supports Adobe's XMP metadata standard. -- Full-featured GUI application is available for Mac OS X and Windows NT/2000/XP/2003. Command-line Server Editions are available for Windows, Mac OS X, Sun Solaris and IBM AIX. The Windows Server Editions include a COM/.NET component. Pricing for Standard Edition is $199, Professional Edition $399, Server Edition $999, and Advanced Server Edition $1,999. PDF Enhancer 3.1 is available as a free upgrade to customers who previously purchased PDF Enhancer 3.0. Upgrade pricing and free evaluation software is available at http://www.apago.com/pdfenhancer. To order PDF Enhancer 3.1, contact Apago at 770-619-1884 or visit www.apagostore.com.