Print
Discuss
Send to friend
As a subscriber to PC Magazine, you'll need no introduction to Adobe's PDF format, which is by now ubiquitous throughout the Web and becoming more and more common in general business use. Perhaps you're already using the new Adobe Reader 6.0 to read this magazine - if so, it will come as no surprise to discover that the new reader is partnered by a new version of Acrobat.
In this version, Adobe has delivered many new features and improved ease of use, making the PDF format attractive to new classes of users, especially those in corporate environments, while delivering greater power and control to high-end pre-press users such as professional magazine production departments. With new support for AutoCAD and Visio, users with an architectural or engineering bent can create, share and collaborate on portable documents that preserve the logical layering of their original application files.
If this sounds like a horrendous amount of software bloat, you'll be pleased to learn that Acrobat has now been split into Standard and Professional versions. Although they share the same revamped user interface, the former is aimed more towards general business use and omits the advanced editing and pre-press functionality of the Professional version. Professional users also get built-in OCR, rules, guides and measurement tools plus interactive form creation.
If you're familiar with Acrobat 5.0, the first thing you'll notice on opening Acrobat 6.0 is the new-look user interface. To help you find the functionality you want, menus are now arranged by task, such as Create PDF and Review & Comment. Under each heading, you'll find drop-down command menus appropriate for each task. There's also a handy, context-sensitive How To ...? pane which provides helpful hints while you're working. If you're an advanced user, you'll find all your power-user commands in the new Advanced Editing toolbar and you can disable the How To ...? pane to regain some useful screen space.
New, one-button PDF file-creation features make it much easier to create PDF documents from within Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office applications and from the Windows Desktop. Inside applications such as Microsoft Word and Excel, a new Acrobat toolbar lets you convert to PDF, convert to PDF and email, or convert to PDF and send for review-integrating nicely with Acrobat's enhanced collaboration tools. You can easily combine assorted Office documents into a single PDF by right-clicking them on the Desktop and selecting Combine in Adobe Acrobat. Another great feature is the ability to create PDFs of Web pages directly from within Internet Explorer. From within Acrobat itself, you can capture an entire Web site into a single PDF, complete with embedded Flash and multimedia content - these features are now supported in the new PDF 1.5 file format.
The new PDF Optimizer integrates much of the functionality of Distiller into the main Acrobat application. It adds supports for JPEG2000 for greater image compression and PDF/X-1a for pre-press work. Of course, you can also use settings here to maintain compatibility with previous versions of Acrobat. New security options allow for greater control over who can view and edit your documents as well as what they can do with them. For example, you can now allow only low-resolution prints to be made by those without the proper credentials. There's also support for digital public signatures.
Acrobat 6.0 widens the appeal of the PDF format by appealing to new classes of users and providing enhanced functionality for its existing user-base, most of whom will find it well worth the £119 (ex. VAT) for the Professional upgrade pack. The Standard upgrade is cheaper at £75 (ex. VAT). If you haven't considered using PDF as part of your business workflow until now, Acrobat 6.0 could be the product that changes your mind.
Contact: Adobe (0870) 606 0325
http://eurostore.adobe.com
System requirements:
- Windows NT/2000/XP/Tablet PC Edition, Macintosh OS X (Note-Standard version also supports Windows 98)
- Memory 64MB
- Hard disk 245MB Display 1,024x768
- CD-ROM drive
See also:
All Desktop Publishing (DTP)
del.icio.us
Digg this
reddit!
