Macromedia Monday announced the release of FlashPaper 2, an application that converts printable files into universally sharable electronic documents.

FlashPaper 2 enables other desktop applications to create documents in PDF or Flash format that can be instantly viewed within any Web browser.

Part of the new Macromedia Web Publishing System, FlashPaper 2 is compatible with Windows and Mac OS X.

According to Macromedia, FlashPaper documents load instantly into a Web browser. The technology can be integrated into any existing website, Flash project, Macromedia Breeze presentation, or Macromedia Breeze Live meeting.

FlashPaper 2 provides one-click generation of web-friendly Flash format documents that can be published using Web-editing tools, including Macromedia Contribute, Dreamweaver, or an HTML editor.

This new version creates Flash documents that include integrated support for text search and selection, hyperlinks, and bookmarks. FlashPaper integrates with all Microsoft Office products on Windows to enable the creation of both Flash and PDF files from an in-product menu. A preview release of Macromedia FlashPaper 2 is available at http://www.macromedia.com/go/flashpaper/.

The product is expected to ship for Windows in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish worldwide in August. Pricing is $79 for one seat and $699 for a 10-pack