Adobe Acrobat 5.0

Rating:
Summary: Best way to capture, archive and share electronic documents!
Review: Before truly getting to explore Adobe Acrobat 5.0 I had thought Acrobat had only limited features and therefore limited usability -- to turn MS Word & Excel documents from virus-magnets into platform-independent files.

For most of the documents I create I use a personal layout with my company logo that I do not want tempered with or copied by people I send the documents to. I also use specific fonts that are not common to all computer users. With MS Word it was impossible to control the layout or font of the document when viewed by the customers. With Acrobat, however, I can embed the fonts with the pdf document instead of having to point a customer to a web site to download (or worse, to buy) a font used in the document, or live with the company logo showing up like totally and embarrassingly messed up on the client's machine. PDF documents created by Acrobat solved this problem both on the screen and for the printer.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find daily uses for Acrobat, even for my personal projects. For archiving personal records that I do not want accidentally altered by myself or someone else, I keep them as PDF's with my signature, which has the date-stamp info. I no longer have to worry about new versions of Word being able to open my old Word documents, which, mind you, is a proprietary format whereas PDF is not.

I have also used the Web open/capture feature to capture groups of web pages or entire web sites to my hard drive as a single multi-page document. Instead of having to follow the link for each page from the table of contents page, I just put the web URL in the Web Open address box, and specify how many levels of links I want Acrobat to follow and capture. If you think this is a rare need, try downloading the lyrics for each song of a 2-CD set, or the top 10 recipes using the pumpkin, or even a multi-part study guide for Tommy's calculus class. After capturing all I needed from a web site, I can delete the pages I don't want (legal mumble-jumble, advertisements, or the answer sheet for the calculus review questions included in the study guide), perhaps saving those deleted pages as a separate document (in the case of the answers to the calculus questions), then print out the final document I wanted, or maybe email it, as a single PDF document, to Tommy who's (on a Mac and) stressing out about his calculus test in a college in another state. How convenient is that!

So, if you think Acrobat is too limited in features to justify its price, I can tell you that it is much more than a Word-document capturer, and it is truly indispensible. It is based on a great concept and well-designed, with a easy and short learning curve for a new user and still offers advanced features for those with a more technical background. Scripting to make forms from Acrobat, I've heard, is pretty nifty, but that's beyond me. Try Acrobat 5.0 -- it's a cliche, but it's true -- you'll be glad you did. :-)

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful for filling forms
Review: I have been wondering how people created pdf files for a long time. Now I find out. Besides the benefits described by other reviewers, its ability to save forms benefits me a lot.

Forms in pdf files are very common on the government agents websites and school websites. If you only have a Acrobat Reader, you can view the forms and fill them out. However, you can't save your writing to backup what you wrote. The Acrobat only saves the blank form. If you encounter a pdf college application, there is no way to fill it out perfectly at one time. That's where Acrobat comes in to play. With Acrobat, you can fill out the form and save the whole form with your writing in your harddrive. Another day, you may pull it out and make other changes.

This product has helped me so much! It's worth the price.

Rating:
Summary: An essential tool with many uses
Review: I've been using this program since version 3.0 and it's so thoroughly integrated into my daily tools that I take it for granted. Version 5.0 was a bit of a challenge to get used to because the user interface dramatically changed from earlier versions. It took me months to discover that all of the features in the earlier versions were in fact still in the application, but were hidden by poor documentation and a less-than-intuitive user interface (compared to earlier versions).

Despite the early issues, I cannot live without this application. One of the features I love most is the security that can be set on a document, which can prevent readers from changing, highlighting and copying content to a clipboard, and printing - or any combination. This allows me to share documents without worrying about my content being 'lifted' and used by others without my permission. More importantly, the password protection is solid.

The feature that transforms PDF files into other formats, such as RTF and HTML, does not do a spectacular job, but I was able to use an older plug-in called Iceni Gemini I had purchased for use with Acrobat 4 to overcome those limitations. While the format transformation has some limitations, the forms feature is superb and represents a reason to upgrade to version 5 (or get Acrobat if you're not using an earlier version).

I rate it at 4 stars because of the poor documentation and some of the issues cited above. However, if you work with documents, especially web-based documents, and need to share them across all platforms Acrobat is essential. If you want sophisticated forms handling, then you have yet another reason to invest in this useful tool.

Rating:
Summary: It just keeps getting better
Review: I've been a fan (and user) of Acrobat for many years, and am continually amazed by the number of organizations that *don't* circulate their documents in PDF format. I don't even *read* Word attachments anymore, for fear of viruses and because I *know* they won't look like the author intended.

With each new version of Acrobat, Adobe adds great new features, and v.5 is no exception. The breadth and power of the forms and security features are astounding. And, of course, the preservation of content and layout continues to excel beyond comparison.

Bravo!!

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Summary: Acrobat the Standard for Business Electronic Information
Review: Adobe Acrobat remains the standard for business and government distribution of electronic formatted documents. The free Acrobat Reader is used to view corporate reports, technical manuals, tax forms and formatted online documents. Acrobat Reader works on every platform: PC, Mac, and Unix.

Adobe Acrobat 5.0 software lets you convert any document to a PDF file. Your document's layout, fonts, links, and images will remain intact when your use Adobe Acrobat.

What's new in the Adobe Acrobat 5.0 program?

PDF Writer is missing. Adobe Acrobat Distiller is added as a System printer. Also, added are enhanced security features like 128-bit encryption for passwording files and digital signatures. In addition, you have a new user interface and new Adobe Acrobat palette comments, information, fields and tags.

Adobe Acrobat has new menu commands, catalog, distiller, spelling and the unique function of saving Adobe Acrobat on the web. You can also create eBooks using Adobe Acrobat. In addition, Adobe Acrobat allows you to drag and drop new PDF files into the Master PDF.

Electronic Comments and Acrobat PDF Forms

Adobe Acrobat can shorten your document review cycles. Writers and reviewers can add comments such as electronic sticky notes and text highlights. You can use Adobe Acrobat to receive comments from multiple reviewers. Reviewers can add electronic comments quickly to an online Adobe PDF file.

Gather information and reduce costs with Acrobat PDF forms. Create interactive forms that look like their paper versions. Now you can easily link the forms to a Web server, so that computer users can fill them in and digitally sign them from within their Web browser.

You can use Photoshop 7 or Photoshop Elements to capture your files into Adobe Acrobat. Also, most scanners allow you to save your work in PDF with your scanners' OCR (Optical Character Reader) program. This allows you to print your work as a PDF file.

Pro Reaction

You can determine the skill levels of Adobe Acrobat person from novice to intermediate and finally to expert based on their PDF files work.

In Adobe Acrobat's thumbnail palette you can insert new pages quickly. Create documents anyone can open. Easily convert your Microsoft Office documents to Adobe PDF. Gather research information from the Web by downloading and converting Web pages to an Adobe PDF file. Then, you can save them as an Adobe PDF file with active links.

Con Reaction

Navigation changes in the Adobe Acrobat menus. The Adobe Capture document in Acrobat does not work on the Macintosh.

Final Notes

I use Acrobat both for my business and home use. The cross-platform of Acrobat reader has made my work easier when dealing with clients of the Windows' persuasion. Acrobat has been and remains one of my most important applications.

Rating:
Summary: It's useful, but it has a few bugs.
Review: I was frustrated by the installation process. The program appeared to install with no errors, but when I tried to make a PDF file, I found out the PDF distiller printer had not installed correctly. (For those of you new to Acrobat, you generally make PDF files by "printing" the source document to the Acrobat distiller program) After a lot of system tweaking and searching of help files, I finally found an article on Adobe's web site that said WindowsXP users had to turn off system restore before installing the program. Considering the number of WindowsXP users, it shouldn't have taken a treasure hunt to find that out.

After I finally got the program installed, it worked well. It does a very good job archiving web pages. I am doing some research that uses internet databases, so I need to save a lot of web pages to my hard drive. Acrobat will save multple web pages to a single file, and alter the links so that they point to the correct place in the PDF file. It even scales the pages so I don't lose any text on the right margin. This system is much better than the Microsoft Internet Explorer save function, which has to make a separate folder and file for each web page saved.

I can also convert PowerPoint demonstrations to PDF format and set them up to open automatically in full screen mode, just like a PowerPoint slideshow. This is useful for sending demonstrations to people who don't have PowerPoint.

One drawback I've found is that a lot of advanced features are not available in the free Acrobat Reader. Obviously Adobe needs to make some money, but people who only have Acrobat Reader really should be able to save a PDF form with its data.

I'm confident I'll find more uses for this program, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone who is not a techie.

Rating:
Summary: I Had No Idea How Useful It Would Be
Review: I needed to get an ad to a magazine, in a hurry. This is not something I do regularly. They said they'd take some exotic graphic files or.... A PDF file. PDF files I knew about. Other people send them to me. I encounter them on websites. So I bought the program, had it up and running in a flash and sent it off to the publisher, knowing:

-There would be no problems with compatibility
-formatting would stay the same, unlike sending a WORD file, where anything could happen.

I saved my file then clicked the print option. But now, in addition to my regular printer, there was an option to print to Adobe, to create a PDF file. That's all there is to it.
I sent off the ad and saved myself time, money for overnight delivery, and worry about it coming out okay.

And then something wonderful happened. The next week, I needed to send some flyers to someone to handout in LA, and I live in Philly. I could run to the copy store, then to the post office and pay $ or so to overnight it for Saturday delivery, or I could send PDF files to the local Kinkos. Acrobat saved me time and money. Next, I was surfing on the web and found a web site that had a document I wanted to quote from extensively. But it was presented as a PDF file. Normally I'd have had to key in all the text I wanted to quote. But, owning Acrobat 5.0 I was able to save the file then, select, copy and paste it so I could work with it. This is very handy.

This is a great program. You'll find yourself using it again and again in situations you would have to work harder and spent more money in ordinarily.

Rating:
Summary: LESS Functionality isn't worth the money
Review: Although pdf files are very useful in digitizing paper materials, the fact that Adobe crippled its 5.0 version of its Paper Capture (OCR, text recognition) functionality is shameful. When I purchase an upgrade, I expect BETTER functionality, not worse. With 5.0, you can only capture 50 pages of a document - if its longer than 50 pages, you must purchase the... Adobe Capture product. With the previous version (4.0x), there was NO limit to the number of pages and no need to waste more money. Do NOT buy this product - go... buy somebody's 4.0 version... (Note: the 4.0 version of paper capture does NOT work with Windows XP and no bug fix is provided...).

Rating:
Summary: IT'S GOOD! IT'S SMOOTH-RUNNING!
Review: Adobe Acrobat 5.0 is a smooth-running program that converts any unconverted document into a Portable Document Format, (pdf). The free (downloadable) version is good; but convenient only for viewing documents. Thus, if you must create and manipulate your own pdf files, you'll need to buy this (relatively expensive) full version. It comes with extra flexibility: including enhanced security and integration options. Very few complaints have gone against this 5.0 version. The only sour point I am aware of is that it is exorbitant.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most essential pieces of software I own
Review: Yes, it can be a bit tricky to use this software. For example, the text editor is quite a bit different from the scheme Microsoft Word uses, so there is a lot to get used to. But I DON'T CARE. It's so useful that I found it worth the initial struggle.

If you want to do web publishing, this is a must-have. I found all kinds of uses for Acrobat for my website, which is devoted to knitting (boring, I know, but there are a lot of us who like to knit and it's a surprisingly technical discipline.) I use Acrobat to prepare patterns for distribution on the Web and also by e-mail and snail mail. I frequently use the printing function to "print" a web page or document into electronic form. You can set up a virtual printer in your printer dialog box to be the Acrobat printer and end up with PDF format files. This may be the feature I use the most.

I also transfer charts created in Microsoft Excel(tm) into PDF files to make graphic representations of stitch patterns. I start in Excel(tm) coloring in the cells with symbols and end up with a PDF file that is an attractive graphic chart that can be included in a PDF text file.

In short, this software is versatile for web and publishing applications as well as printing to file instead of paper. I would not be without it.