The Bottom Line: From document sharing to document editing, to document archiving, one would be hard pressed to find a better application than Adobe Acrobat.
vemartin's Full Review: Adobe Acrobat Professional 6.0 Upgrade Version Gov...
There was a time believe it or not, when file sharing was relatively hard to do. Sure there were conversion utilities that allowed one to convert a Word file to a Word Perfect file, or a Paradox file to a Excel file etc., but something always got lost in the translation. The whole experience would leave on frustrated and worn out. And lets not even talk about converting a file generated on a MAC, so that it could be read or edited on a PC. Enter Adobe, with their fantastic Acrobat file converter and reader. Acrobat was written to solve the problem of document sharing.
I have been a long time user of AdobesAcrobat Reader available free from their website: www.adobe.com. But not too long ago circumstances warranted the purchase of the full product, so I laid down the cash and became a user of Acrobat 5.0 full version (please see my review of this product below). However when version 6.0 hit the streets I had to have it, and so I am now the proud new owner of AdobeAcrobat 6.0 Professional. I had to have it because I wanted to be able to create PDF from Microsoft (MS) Visio and MS Project.
As you may have been able to deduce, Acrobat is now shipped in two different versions: Standard and Professional.
Feature Sets:
* Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Standard
--One-button PDF file creation from Microsoft Office Applications.
--Review-management and commenting tools.
* Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional
--One-button PDF file creation from Microsoft Office Applications.
--Review-management and commenting tools.
--One-button PDF file creation from AutoCAD, Microsoft Visio, and Microsoft Project.
--Electronic forms creation.
--Enhanced tools for printing, viewing, and navigating large format document.
--Document Layers Support.
First Impressions:
I stated in my review of AdobeAcrobat 5.0 that I consider the program to be indispensable. That hasnt changed with AdobeAcrobat 6.0 Pro. I still love this program, perhaps more so! Next to the OS, and my trusty word processor, Acrobat still remains the most important program on my computer. It has become an invaluable application, one which I would find it hard to be productive without, because it has so many uses.
One of the first things I noticed about Acrobat 6.0 Pro is that saved files are much smaller when compared to Acrobat 5.0. The difference is really quite stunning; e.g. a three paged document scanned in my computer under Acrobat 5.0, which typically consumed up to 3.0MB of hard drive space, is now only 300Kb or less under Acrobat 6.0 Pro! I dont know how the software engineers at Adobe did it, but they did.
Another notable difference is the amount of time it takes to scan in a document. As I stated in my review of Acrobat 5.0, I scan documents (monthly bills, business correspondence, account statements, etc.), via my HP D135 multi-functional printer (see below for a link to my review of this product directly into my computer and save them as graphic files, and then shred the originals. Scanning these documents under Acrobat 5.0 was not overly time consuming, but under Acrobat 6.0 Pro the process appears to be taking twice as long to complete, especially if the document has multiple pages. So be forewarned.
Support for Microsoft applications is in the form of macros which can be inserted onto the tool bar for easy use and manipulation. I have found this to be somewhat problematic especially in the case of Microsoft Word. It is not that the macros will not run, it is that they do not always show up on the toolbar, and I have to run the macros manually. Perhaps this is an anomaly that is just mine to inherit, I cant say.
Installation:
The installation process is pretty straight forward; pop the CD-ROM in and go. If there is previous full version of Acrobat installed on the PC, Acrobat 6.0 Pro will ask permission to remove it. I opted to remove the older version with no ill side-effects; i.e. the newer version will read version 5.0 files without a problem. Acrobat 6.0 Pro will need 245MB of disk space to fully install.
Conclusions:
I still consider AdobeAcrobat by far the best software investment I have ever made. The ability to create PDF files seamlessly from MS Visio and Project increases the programs value to me 100 fold. From document sharing to document archiving, Acrobat 6.0 Pro is the indispensable software package.
Adobe Acrobat Professional software enables business, creative, and engineering professionals to exchange critical documents reliably and efficiently....More at eBay
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.