| Currently the Acrobat family consists of five products, each having a specific target audience: Acrobat 7.0 Professional provides extensive tools for creating PDF files from images, text files, Microsoft Office files, and Web pages. When you install Acrobat 7.0 Professional, it adds PDF export functionality to Microsoft Office applications, so you can create PDF files from within an open Microsoft Word file, for example, Acrobat 7.0 Professional also offers dedicated tools for modifying PDF files for a wide range of industries from graphics to architecture. Acrobat 7.0 Professional offers a set of print-production tools that make it worth upgrading from previous versions of Acrobat. It's the most popular and widely used version of Acrobat. The product consists of two applications: Acrobat itself, which displays and manipulates PDFs, and Acrobat Distiller, which converts PostScript to PDFs. Acrobat 7.0 Standard is focused on creating PDFs from office applications. Consequently, it lacks the print-oriented preflighting and repair tools found in the professional product, although it does allow users to participate in comment and review processes. Acrobat Standard also consists of the Acrobat application (Standard version) and Acrobat Distiller. Acrobat 3D (available for Windows only) is the newest Acrobat offering, intended for engineering users. It provides specialized tools for creating PDF files from CAD programs as well as the editing and commenting tools available in the professional version. When you install Acrobat 3D, it adds PDF export functionality to 3D applications such as SolidWorks. Even if you don't own a CAD program, Acrobat 3D supports drag-and-drop PDF creation for many CAD files. If you already have Acrobat 3D and need the print-production features of Acrobat 7.0 Professional, you don't need to also purchase a copy of the professional product: Acrobat 3D has all the features of Acrobat 7.0 Professional, including Distiller, plus the whiz-bang, 3D functionality. Acrobat 7.0 Elements (Windows only) is for use in enterprise office environments. Elements enables the creation of PDFs from office applications but has no ability to modify PDFs. Elements is not a shrink-wrapped product. It's sold only in multiseat increments, with a minimum of 100 seats. Adobe Reader 7.0 is the free PDF viewer. Previously, Reader users could do only what the name impliesread (and print) PDFs. But now they can participate in commentandreview processes if a PDF has been rights enabled from within Acrobat 7.0 Professional.
Don't be confused by the growing Acrobat family. For those of us in the graphic arts who need to manipulate PDF files, the appropriate version to use is Acrobat 7.0 Professional. |
