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For the longest time Adobe has had something of a jewel in the Acrobat format. With the release of Adobe Acrobat 6 professional, along with a slew of other new versions of this application, Adobe is making a concerted effort at capitalizing on one of their strongest assets. If you think of Adobe as being strictly a graphic design company with a strong influence in Web design and video production you may be right, but you may be missing the importance of Acrobat Professional 6 as a file sharing utility of importance for those doing business on the Web.
If you have ever wondered about Adobe Acrobat, the file format, known as PDF, and the free reader, are something of a mainstay in computing, and there is a profound need for its existence and importance to those sharing files. Nearly every application it seems comes with an instruction set in the Adobe Acrobat format. There are good reasons for this, and reasons why it is becoming an important part of the Adobe product line.
The reason is obvious when you consider file sharing over the Net. Let's say you create a document using a high end program like Adobe InDesign 2. You proceed to create your document with elaborate formatting, images and art work in this program. Now you would like to share this document with others. Unless those you are communicating with have a copy of InDesign installed on their computers, there is no way they can view your file. Considering the cost of high end applications, and the differing needs of computer users, it may be very likely that those at the other end of your email may not have your specific programs installed. Thus there is a need for a way to send your document to others without losing special formatting, and making sure that the recipients of your email are able to read your files. Not only that, they have to be small enough to email as well.
Filling this gap like a glove is Acrobat Professional 6. What Acrobat permits you to do is to translate files created in other programs into a file format that can be read by anyone using either Adobe Professional 6, or those using the free reader, now renamed Adobe Reader instead of Acrobat Reader as it once was. Of note, Adobe Reader is also free as was the older version Adobe Acrobat Reader. Just visit www.adobe.com for downloading the free reader and information on the entire product line.
As computer users are becoming more savvy, and less inclined to upgrade software only to be on the cutting edge, Adobe has wisely endowed Acrobat 6 with more power, more features and a greater degree of user friendliness. The new user friendly approach is most readily seen in the new "How to ...?" menu available on the right side of the main interface. With this feature, those not familiar with Acrobat are given easy access as to how the program works, and what it does.
As is true with most facelifts, Adobe has updated the main window making it far more aesthetically pleasing than previous incarnations. Taking into account the many improvements made to Windows XP, Acrobat Professional’s appearance is clearly influenced by the many interface improvements and feel of XP. From my standpoint this makes the program not only easier to look at, it makes it less intimidating for newbies.
Acrobat is unlike most applications in that it does not allow you to make files in it as other programs do. Unlike Corel WordPerfect or Office XP, you cannot create files within Acrobat. What Acrobat is in essence is a translator that takes existing files, as well as files scanned into the application, and turns them into PDF files that can be viewed by those using the reader, in this case the free version Adobe Reader, or Acrobat Professional. When you consider the wide assortment of programs available, and the constant problem of finding a common denominator file format, the need and importance of Acrobat as an application of choice becomes clear.
For those who must share files and need to preserver formatting, Acrobat not only permits easier file sharing, it also allows for smaller files sizes. This is all made possible by the fact that Adobe has made its Reader so easy to locate that it makes sense that computer users have seized it as the application of choice for file sharing. Not only that, the application is available for Mac users and OS X. It is also optimized for Windows XP and the Pentium 4 processor.
Several new improvements became apparent to me the moment I installed the Professional version. The first and foremost is speed and file size. Clearly, Adobe has maximized the ability of Acrobat to shrink file sizes. This becomes clear when you save files in this format. Also, the new tighter integration with Office XP is a wonder to behold, and much faster. In fact, Adobe Professional seems much less intrusive than the previous version.
For those using Office XP, the new integration is impressive. For those using WordPerfect 11, which already has impressive PDF file conversion built in, the importance of Acrobat may be a non issue. However, if you are sharing files created in other programs, the importance of Acrobat becomes clear. Office XP has no built in PDF abilities. So if sharing Office XP files is important, the new integration between Acrobat and Office will be of great importance.
As is the case with Acrobat, you can scan directly into the application, and if you are using XP, actually have the document read back to you. Also, tools for navigating within a document have been beefed up considerably.
Shipping with three different versions, Acrobat Elements, Acrobat Standard 6 and the top of the line Acrobat Professional 6, no doubt the Professional version is the one everyone is going to want. While Acrobat Reader, the free version, has taken a new name, the importance of having it is clear.
What is also clear is that for professionals, and even non professionals, that want to share files created in programs not commonly available, Acrobat Professional 6 is an essential for any office large or small. I would even argue that end users may find value in Professional. The only downside to this incredible program is the cost. Sadly, like all high end programs, Professional is not inexpensive. Which is unfortunate since it is powerful, essential for business and now easier to use than ever.
I have to admit I really enjoyed working with Acrobat Professional, and I think nearly everyone computing will as well. This is particularly true if you scan text documents frequently, or need to share formatted files with others. Adobe has done an incredible job with updating Acrobat by creating an update that is more than a facelift.
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