The cross-platform standard of stability: Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional Edition, Adobe Acrobat 7.0

Citation

Pitta, D.A. (2006), "The cross-platform standard of stability: Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional Edition, Adobe Acrobat 7.0", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 23 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcm.2006.07723cab.001

The cross-platform standard of stability: Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional Edition, Adobe Acrobat 7.0

When Adobe introduced its Portable Document Format (PDF), it changed the way in which organizations communicate. In an era of multiple word processing platforms, stability was an issue. Opening a document created in a competitor’s word processing program would result in subtle or obvious formatting changes. Thus the carefully written and presented document containing those beautiful illustrations would morph into something like a junior high school typing exercise. Adobe’s PDF preserves the look and feel of the creator’s work. Moreover it offered security that prevented hackers from subtly altering a file to embarrass or harm the author. The stability across platforms is still prized. Perhaps the most important element in Adobe’s dominance of the PDF format is its decision to provide updated versions of the Adobe Acrobat Reader program free to all. Its accessible downlink function made it reasonable to provide PDF documents and links to the reader.

The format became so common that other software utilities allow saving or converting PDF documents. However, Adobe Acrobat and Adobe’s other products remain the best and provide up to date productivity enhancements. The newest release, Adobe Acrobat 7.0, provides a number of enhancements including new collaboration tools, a revised organization, and new office-related features. The program has also been released in a Standard version, which costs less and still provides the most essential program functions. The Standard version does not include a few of the most workgroup-critical features.

Acrobat became an indispensable tool for creating and distributing digital documents. In its various releases, the program added features and began to degrade system performance. While users have complained about its increasingly slower speed, the tradeoff against stability was worth it. Things have changed. The newest release, Adobe Acrobat 7.0 is speedy and users should be satisfied. It loads and displays PDF files quickly. One should note that Adobe Acrobat 7.0 only runs on Windows 2000 SP2, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003 platforms. If you have a machine or network running one of these operating systems, the speed increase is one reason to upgrade to the latest version.

In addition, users will find that the new release’s interface is easier to navigate than those of earlier releases. The designers knew that Microsoft Outlook is one of the most used e-mail programs. Consequently, they allow Outlook message folders to be archived as hyperlinked PDF files. Now one can select part or all of a web page in Internet Explorer and save it as a PDF file. Scanning to PDF has been made even simpler.

The Professional version now includes an XML-based forms designer: a very handy feature. The improvements even extend to Adobe Reader 7.0. This version of Reader seems faster and it has some new features. For the first time, Reader 7 will allow users to annotate documents created in Acrobat 7 Professional. This is very worthwhile. In the past one had to buy a full version of Acrobat. The implications of this benefit are huge. Now owners of the full program can collaborate on documents with others without requiring them to buy the somewhat pricey Acrobat program.

Installation

After commenting about Acrobat 7’s performance speed, we may complain about its installation speed: it is slow to install. However, once installed, the program launches very quickly. It also makes navigation simpler by adding a “New Window” feature. Users can now view two or more places in the same document at the same time: a real advantage.

Features

The new version allows users to search in several ways. One can use the full-featured Search PDF sidebar to search for multiple files that have been indexed or by using a new floating toolbar that will search the current document.

Many of us use e-mail attachments for many items including pictures and documents. Adobe has improved the file structure of newly generated PDF files. As a result they occupy smaller file sizes than those produced with earlier versions of Acrobat. The benefit is that larger documents can be e-mailed or posted to a web site.

There is a new PDF viewer and manager, called the Organizer. Organizer allows users to scroll quickly through previews of all PDF files that have been viewed over the past year. This is a great improvement over the slow and somewhat tedious method of “finding” previous work. For those of us with multiple clients, the new release will permit creating “collections,” which are links to multiple PDF files. They can reside on a specific PC or a network. Organizer increased functionality greatly. Users can open, print, combine, or e-mail files directly from the Organizer. There is another unexpected benefit: a new Security Policies dialog. Now users can specify a complex set of password protections that can be applied to a file simply.

Recognizing the dominating market share that Microsoft Office enjoys, the new release is tightly integrated with Microsoft Office 2003. It will allow users to convert most Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files within the applications themselves to PDFs. This feature is a great time saver and will allow those unfamiliar with Acrobat to be productive. Given the familiar nature of web paged, Acrobat 7.0 now allows users to create PDFs from captured web pages. In addition, the new release can convert Outlook e-mail and Publisher, Visio, Access, and Project files to PDFs.

Security

Acrobat 7.0 Professional has newly added security features, including custom password protection for PDF files. There is also a thumbnail-based organizer and new commenting tools, such as virtual sticky notes. That ability for users of the free Acrobat Reader 7.0 to review documents and add their own comments has another dimension. All of the various collaborator reader comments will appear in each user’s PDF document. This is very helpful for office collaboration on team projects.

Cost

Acrobat 7 comes in a $299 Standard version suitable for most individual and small-business users. The Acrobat 7 Professional version costs $449. The professional version has tools that are perfect for corporate use. Both versions install toolbars for one-button PDF creation in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. They each supply thumbnail views of each page as well as active hyperlinks. Both versions let you attach the original document to the PDF file it is based on.

Service and support

The company provides a variety of free support options for Acrobat 7.0 Professional on the company’s web site. They include user forums, as well as links to user groups and FAQs. The various site options are easy to navigate and cover specific issues or design topics.

Telephone technical support is less impressive. There is no way to tell in advance if the call will be a free tech-support call, or one that will cost the user. If it is installation or product-defect support it will be free. In contrast, other problems may or may not cost the user. In any case, Adobe’s procedure it to ask for a credit card number first, and ask questions later. If the support technician decides not to charge, there will be no charge after listening to the problem. If Adobe decides a charge is necessary, the support person will state the charge and ask whether to continue or not.

Forms design

The Professional version also includes Adobe LiveCycle Designer 7, which was previously sold separately. It is used to create editable Acrobat forms that can collect user input in XML. XML is very common for sharing data but it is aimed at expert users. There is a lot of work that goes on behind the monitor. The LiveCycle Designer 7 program is much more usable in this release. In fact, Designer aids the user by generating XML-enabled forms using a variety of sources.

Designer 7 provides about two dozen templates for common business documents, such as purchase orders, invoices, and timesheets. Users can also generate forms from databases and web services. They can also import existing PDF files directly. Completed form data can now be e-mailed as XML to a central mailbox. Designer 7 is a helpful aid in building forms.

Designer 7 offers a visual editor for building forms, which is vital. There are a number of types available including static text, images, and bar codes. The most interesting type features editable controls for accepting user input and converting it into XML. Users familiar with designing HTML forms with tools like Macromedia’s Dreamweaver should recognize the process.

Over the years, Acrobat has been the standard for creating exact electronic replicas of paper-based forms. The new Designer also allows you to create dynamic items in forms, a function that was not included before. For example, one can create line details on an invoice that expand or shrink according to how many items are ordered. At any stage of form design, one can view its XML to preview what it will look like in PDF.

After publishing a form, end users enter data using Reader 7 or Acrobat. By clicking on the Submit button, XML data are sent to a designated mailbox. In testing, we used this feature successfully to simulate a completed purchase order, an invoice, and a customer survey.

CAD integration

Most readers will not have much use for Acrobat’s integration with computer aided design programs. On the surface, PDF files created by Adobe Acrobat do not seem useful for viewing 3D models. However, the functionality built into the new release is startling. The first time one views an animation running in a PDF file, it is remarkable. The format enables viewing an object from various angles. For engineers and CAD users, this new feature will be invaluable.

Acrobat 7.0 Professional now allows users to import U3D files into a PDF file. Moreover, users can manipulate objects in 3D using the free Adobe Reader 7.0. One can rotate, zoom, pan and perform a walkthrough. U3D offers efficient exchange of 3D CAD data over the internet and on affordable hardware. It does so by removing the extensive detail needed by manufacturing. It does retain the integrity of the original data model.

Marketers will be more impressed by the multimedia presentations functionality. Now multimedia can be distributed in the new PDF documents. The promotional aspects are immense. A user can create a presentation that combines 3D walkthroughs, animation, audio and video. For real estate professionals dealing with clients in distant cities, the ability to create a property presentation, ship it over the internet and be sure that the receiver sees things in the proper perspectives with the proper colors and shadings is extremely helpful. Presentations in the PDF file can be manipulated using JavaScript. Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional can collect all relevant files into one PDF file, including 3D content. This is very helpful in design review and collaboration.

If users simply need to create PDF files with hyperlinks and bookmarks, other less expensive programs work fine. However, Acrobat remains the only corporate-level software for managing PDF files. The new release, version 7.0, finally adds the speed, convenience, and flexibility that the PDF format deserves.

Adobe Acrobat Professional – (v. 7.0), available from Adobe Systems (www.adobe.com).

Edited by Dennis A. PittaUniversity of Baltimore