PDFs are an incredibly useful and widespread type of digital content, and a PDF file is a great choice for creating and distributing reports. However, the flatness of PDF reports can be a disadvantage, and because they lack interactivity, these reports can be dull.

Interactivity can make a PDF report engaging, enjoyable, and visually appealing. While interactivity can be created with software like Adobe InDesign, the process is manual and can be time consuming, tedious, and even cost prohibitive.

PolyVista has developed a browser-based report-authoring tool to programmatically create an interactive PDF (iPDF) report in minutes. The tool has three primary components:

1. Data Access Manager – Because data is required to create an iPDF report, this component aids a user in specifying where to get the data, which data to get, etc.
2. Report Designer – This tool allows a user to design the layout of an iPDF report by using Smart Widgets (e.g., visualizations, icons, tooltips, text, and other objects). A Smart Widget is embedded with necessary metadata to facilitate interactivity.
3. Interactivity Creator – This component is a diagramming interface that allows a user to specify the navigation (interactivity) within an iPDF report. This tool leverages the metadata provided by the Smart Widgets to accomplish this task.

The result of PolyVista’s technology is an easy-on-the-eyes report that provides dashboard-like navigation – but within a PDF file.

You don’t need training to learn how to read an iPDF report. You don’t have to worry about the interface; you can just look at the content. The interactive content captures the attention of the user, and the reports can be easily shared via emails, portals, or shared drives with users who can benefit from interactivity to gain deeper understanding.