Microsoft has partnered with Adobe to deliver a much-requested feature to Office 365 and SharePoint Online users. Over the years, customers have been asking Microsoft to allow integration between its services more deeply with PDFs.
Specifically, users can now interact with PDF files without having to download and save them to a machine.
Microsoft’s SharePoint Server on-premises version has supported this tool for some time in a rare example of a Microsoft on-premises service receiving a feature before its cloud counterpart. Three years ago, a SharePoint UserVoice thread gained traction asking for deeper PDF file user in SharePoint Online and Office 365.
Many commentators on the thread said the lack of support was a deal breaker for their organizations.
New PDF Support
Under the previous system, customers who needed to view or edit an Acrobat PDF, it would need to be downloaded first. Last week, Microsoft teamed with Adobe to solve this limitation. Users can now leave PDF files in Office 365 for SharePoint libraries.
“In the newest set of updates to PDF tools designed to deepen integrations with SharePoint and OneDrive, Adobe Document Cloud has improved the user experience for its web tools, ensuring that you have all of the major capabilities to work with PDF files on the web and in the context of SharePoint.”
By storing the files in SharePoint Online and OneDrive, Office 365 subscribers have more control over the content.
“Acrobat now also features new form filling capabilities via Acrobat on the web. You can upload and send links to Adobe Acrobat PDF-powered files stored in SharePoint that can collect information. In the future, this integration will also use Microsoft Graph APIs for SharePoint to connect to more data, ensuring a performant integration experience. Because the files continue to stay in SharePoint and OneDrive, you keep the benefits of unified management and governance for content.”
