PDF Editing and Much More from Adobe

excellent
key review info
application features
  • Create and optimize Adobe PDF documents
  • (3 more, see all...)

A lot of things that become notorious after a while start with a dream and a handful of people that believe in it. The dream we're going to talk about today is that of being able to send full text and graphics documents using email that can be viewed on any machine and any selected document could be printed locally, changing the way that information is managed. Today, this isn't something out of ordinary, but this is what John Warnock from Adobe was dreaming at the beginning of the last decade.

The first time this technology made it to the public eyes and years was in 1991, when it was called Interchange PostScript, but the next year, at Comdex Fall, this new technology called PDF 1.0 won a "best of Comdex" award. On the 15th of June 1993, the tools required to create and read files using this new document format were launched. Everything that followed is history, and today things look great - the PDF format supports a lot of features, and the last version of Adobe Acrobat Professional, the tool used to create PDFs and to manipulate them in various ways is here waiting to be reviewed...

After almost two years since the last version, 7, which was released in January 2005, Adobe takes out the new weapon called Adobe Acrobat Professional 8. This version was released a few days ago, and its setup package is 263MB in size. To install this program you'll have to own almost 1GB of free space on your hard drive, but this size doesn't come just to host a nice interface and a comprehensive documentation, since what we have here is a heavy-weight champion, as we are already used with most Adobe products.

The version that I have here is a 30 days trial of this application, and you can register it at any time, because there are no functional limitations here. Unfortunately, you won't get away cheap, since the price required for this program is 449$. Anyway, try to have a positive attitude - there are 30 days available for you to get to know this program better and save the money required to buy it. These being said, let's check Adobe Acrobat Professional's interface and features, as we do with all programs here!

After the painful installation process ends, you will be facing a wizard-like interface, a Getting Started screen that has eight options available. Of course that you don't have to be a specialist to install this program, and the only problem is that you won't get to the end in a minute and you'll have to wait a while until the setup process ends.

Do I have to say that Acrobat's interface is up to date from every point of view you may think of? I guess that's not necessary, and the best thing to do is to talk about the tasks that can be started from the startup screen.

First of all, there's the PDF creation, of course. Anything you may think about, you got it, from opening an empty PDF file to creating a new document from a website. I really enjoyed creating PDf files from the image in the clipboard or straight from the scanner, and if you wonder about the spices that can be added to your documents...you have to taste them for yourselves, because otherwise it would be just like telling you how chocolate tastes like without giving you a sample...

Management is a word taken seriously in Adobe Acrobat Professional 8, because creating PDF files using entire directories contents with different file types inside isn't something you do just for the sake of it. Even more, you can use this program to work together with your team mates, no matter if they are located two meters away or some thousand kilometers away.

Telephone and email have their good parts, but you can't use them as a serious way of doing business. I am not crazy about video chat, but when you can use Adobe Acrobat to connect with your partners, exchange documents, edit together business plans and more, that sounds better, isn't it?

OK, so you get to edit your documents, sign them electronically, add notes, interactive forms, security certificates, 3D objects and even file attachments, but what about exporting your work? Don't worry, Adobe has this side covered well, and I wasn't expecting things to be much different. Adobe Acrobat Professional allows you to export your work to Microsoft Office Word's DOC format, HTML/XML or JPEG/PNG/TIFF, but it doesn't stop here, TXT, PS and RTF formats being also available.

If you want to sign and/or secure your documents, there are a lot of ways to do it. Just hear this: watermarks, digital signatures, security certificates, comments and stamps... sounds interesting? I am sure it does, and everything is really easy to use, so no worries about writing code or digging through countless menus...

The batch processing capabilities and all the other outstanding features of this product make it the PDF editing tool we all dreamed of, and for now, you can get it from Adobe's website and try it for 30 days, just enough to decide if this is worth 449$.

The Good

Adobe Acrobat Professional is a legendary software package that brings new powers from Macromedia (the Acrobat Connect module is the former Macromedia Breeze) together with its excellent PDF editing features updated to suit the needs of the moment: ease of use when editing, security and personalization of your documents, accompanied by a top quality documentation.

The Bad

Don't dream about using your five years old computer to use this program, because it won't stand a chance. You need a fast computer to work efficiently with Adobe Acrobat Professional, and...guess what? Although I consider Adobe products to be reliable, this one crashed on me once!

The Truth

Do you want the truth? I'll tell you the truth! Adobe Acrobat Professional 8 carries on the dream and takes it higher, faster and better than ever before! It may not be a budget software and the system resources taken may be pretty high for most of us, but you can't think about the budget when it's about your dreams. Dream on with Adobe Acrobat Professional and start the download now!

Here are some snapshots of the application in action:

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user interface 5
features 5
ease of use 4
pricing / value 3


final rating 5
Editor's review
excellent
 
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