Adobe Acrobat 5.0 Upgrade OSX Mac

Installation is quick and easy; within 15 minutes of opening the box we were saving Web pages as PDF files and adding comments to our documents. New users may want to take a tour around the help sections (either online Help or tool tips) to get acquainted with the program. In addition, checking out the help section will ensure you don't miss out on some of the more hidden features within the application, such as color management and timesaving Windows and Mac shortcuts.

One of the most important new features of version 5.0 is the ability to develop new documents from PDF files. You can now save the PDF file to Rich Text Format (RTF), and then edit the document using your word processor. Another important new feature is the ability to create interactive forms, which actually look a lot like their paper counterparts. And once you figure out how to upload these forms to your company intranet, you can share them with all relevant team members. Team members can even sign these forms, using a password-protected digital signature.

As always, the ability to comment on documents and Web pages remains an important reason to use Acrobat. A toolbar on the left-hand side gives users easy access to the list of comment tools, which range from highlighting tools, note boxes, pencil and line tools, and strikeout tools which let you erase lines of text. Once you've marked up a file or Web page, you can send the file to team members, business contacts and clients. As long as they have the Acrobat Reader (available free from Adobe's Web site), they should be able to read these files. And Acrobat retains the quality of your documents when you print them, so you don't have any nasty surprises when you pick up your documents from the printer.

Companies with employees in different physical locations can only benefit from Acrobat 5.0. While version 4.0 is obviously still a strong and very useful product, upgrading to Acrobat 5.0 promises a host of Internet-ready new features designed to accompany your business to the next level of high-speed communication. --Gisele Toueg--This review refers to the full Windows version.

Amazon.com Review
Adobe Acrobat 5.0 is PDF-creation software, direct from the company that first established the PDF standard. PDF stands for portable document format, and it remains the best way to format documents so they can be read by anyone on any platform. Version 5.0 brings significant improvements, particularly with regard to its interaction with other leading software, such as the Microsoft Office suites and programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator.

Installation is easy. Included in the installation is a function button added to Office applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. When you've written a document in these programs, simply click the PDF button on the toolbar and it will guide you through saving it as a PDF. Anyone with Acrobat Reader--free and available for download from Adobe's Web site--can view the documents.

You can also upload these documents to Internet sites, or onto networks. This is a key feature of this version. This Web-savvy function means you can post documents on an intranet or a network, and other users can simultaneously view, write on, edit, highlight, and stick notes on it using Acrobat's tools in their browser windows. This has obvious merit for anyone running meetings where not all attendees can be physically present.

You can place graphics from leading software products such as Illustrator and Photoshop into these PDFs, and when clicked on later, they will launch the original creation program if editing is needed. You can also create and add digital signatures to the PDF file, and, once the key is exchanged with your chosen recipient, security of the documents will be assured, as only the recipient can open them.

All in all, Acrobat 5.0 should be an essential toolbox element for anyone who needs to share documents. It is easy to use, creates extremely high-quality items--whether business spreadsheets, brochures for customers (it maintains the integrity of the onscreen version on printers, guaranteeing that the look you intended is rendered to a high quality) or Web sites--and ensures that security is maintained through signatures, and through the fact that only the creator can edit the original file. --Alison Jardine

--This review refers to the Windows version of this product.

Amazon.com Product Description
Adobe Acrobat 5.0 lets you easily convert any document to an Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) file. Whether you create business plans, spreadsheets, graphically rich brochures, or Web sites, Acrobat 5.0 is essential. Anyone with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader can open your Adobe PDF file across a broad range of hardware and software. It will look and print exactly as intended. Save on printing, mailing, and warehousing by easily distributing compact, secure, searchable Adobe PDF files with Adobe Acrobat 5.0.

Teams can work smarter by adding comments to your PDF files right from their Web browsers with electronic highlighting and sticky notes, e-signature approval, and more. Control access to sensitive content by adding password protection to your document. Confidently share business plans, spreadsheets, graphically rich brochures, and even Web sites. Use a variety of security options to control access to sensitive content or prevent others from changing or printing your document.

Adobe PDF files retain the originals' visual integrity--with layout, fonts, formatting, links, and images intact. Get enhanced integration with Adobe Illustrator 9.0 and Photoshop 6.0. Acrobat 5.0 provides support for transparency and consistent color management. Click an image in your Adobe PDF file to edit natively in Photoshop, or open Adobe PDF pages or graphics in Illustrator for editing. Repurpose information from your Adobe PDF files by saving the files in Rich Text Format (RTF) for editing in Microsoft Word. Automatically crop, rotate, or insert a large number of Adobe PDF pages with new batch processing capabilities, and use tiling options to easily proof oversized documents.

Accelerate the Web site review and approval process. Capture your graphically rich sites as PDF files so clients and internal teams can approve and comment on your text and layout without having to go online. Attach Adobe PDF files to e-mail or post them to your network server. Adobe products are tightly integrated, so PDF conversion with Acrobat is a natural next step after you've created pages with Adobe GoLive or other graphically rich software.

Two other features that I love are the ability to extract images from a PDF file and save them as Tiff, JPEG or PNG graphics. This is really powerful. A nice touch is the user interface, which now makes Acrobat's tool bars look like those in Microsoft Office applications. I thought this was a quantum improvement over the confusing interface in previous versions.

Adobe touts added security features in this version, but the only thing I found different is the 128-bit encryption. Version 4 gave me total control over protecting documents from alteration, selecting and copying text and printing. As a consultant I sometimes need to provide clients with intellectual property that I need to protect, and the features that I enjoyed in version 4 have been fully carried over in this version. Another nice feature that has been carried over from the previous version is the ability to open a web page from within Acrobat and save it as a PDF file. I have grabbed many pages from many sites for off-line reading using this feature and it still works without a problem in version 5.

Other features that are interesting, but I have not tried, include the ability to create and publish dynamic forms online, and support for XML form data. When I get time I plan to play around with creating and publishing the dynamic forms because I can think of a dozen uses on my web site.

Overall this is a solid product that did not cause me the same pain I endured when I moved from version 3 to 4. Everything works as advertised and some of the new features are plain wonderful.


For functionality and reliable cross-platform compatibility.   July 11, 2001
S Smyth (Belfast, Co Antrim United Kingdom)
65 out of 73 found this review helpful

Acrobat 5.0 can convert any file type from its application?s print command into a PDF, which, when viewed by someone with the free Acrobat Reader, will look the same as you created it, irrespective of their monitor?s resolution setting, or computer platform. This means that a document containing text and images will look correct on screen and when printed. At present, the Adobe PDF format is the only means of achieving this.

You can create a navigation path within your PDF using the Bookmarks feature. Highlight and add annotations to sections of the document. And include hyperlinks as in an HTML page, etc.

Using Acrobat to create a bookmarked photo-gallery, for example, will result in a file much smaller than an equivalent HTML item when you use Acrobat?s screen-optimised Distiller settings, and with all the images retained within the PDF itself, instead of split between a contents folder and its associated HTML page. The PDF can be secured so that your images and text are secure from simple pilfering.

The security settings in Acrobat 5.0 are a little more comprehensive than was available in 4.0. Examples being password encryption at 128 bits, and print resolution options of high and low. Even so, PDF security is a matter of hot debate at present, as is security in any computer format. So don?t get overly confident. Only regard a secured PDF as being safe from access or tampering by Joe Public. In the case of my photo-gallery example I can secure the PDF from interference in the Reader and the application by using a password. But the images can still be extracted in a PC by simply hitting the print-screen key and then pasting the clipboard contents into an image application such as Photoshop. This also applies to text which can then saved as a TIFF file and processed in an OCR application such as Fine Reader 5.0 Pro, or by straight transcription.

Some features are now more easily accessed: Distiller and Security settings being two.

Whether or not Acrobat 5.0 is a major improvement over 4.0 is superfluous, since 4.0 will soon be unavailable. 5.0 does everything that 4.0 did, and more, but some of the features are not backwards compatible with earlier versions of the reader. Users of your files will have to be forewarned if you are using such features, to upgrade their reader. Adobe claim over 200 million Acrobat Reader installations, but that includes readers of 3.0, 4.0, and 4.05 vintage. An example of incompatibility would be an access password set at 128 bits. The recipient must have the 5.0 reader installed to gain entry. Sorry to rabbit on about this, but it is a current point of contention as to why PDFs are not used as often as they might be. Joe Public seems to have an aversion to updating even their internet browser, which is why web-masters have such a fun time keeping their web-sites as compatible as possible. PDFs can be used instead of HTML pages on your web-site but for maximum compatibility you will have to ensure that all important features can be read by a 3.0 reader. Bit of a pain, but there you are. Keep your PDFs simple and there shouldn?t be a problem.

When you buy Acrobat 5.0, and you haven?t any prior experience, I would recommend that you buy and work your way through Adobe?s Acrobat 5.0 - Classroom in a Book. This, in conjunction with the Acrobat help guide ( Help > Help guide ), will tell you all that you need to know. Methodically work your way through the classroom book first though. It?ll be a lot easier if you do.

A well designed PDF is the best way for you to communicate your intentions whether that be an e-book, technical supplement, or a photo-gallery


IT'S GOOD! IT'S SMOOTH-RUNNING!   October 6, 2002
reviewer (Zurich, Switzerland.)
59 out of 62 found this review helpful

Adobe Acrobat 5.0 is a smooth-running program that converts any unconverted document into a Portable Document Format, (pdf). The free (downloadable) version is good; but convenient only for viewing documents. Thus, if you must create and manipulate your own pdf files, you'll need to buy this (relatively expensive) full version. It comes with extra flexibility: including enhanced security and integration options. Very few complaints have gone against this 5.0 version. The only sour point I am aware of is that it is exorbitant.


Essential for web designers and for developing handheld docs   April 17, 2002
Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA)
33 out of 36 found this review helpful

Once I got Acrobat, I wondered how I lived without it. One of the most useful features is the PDF printer, where you can print ANY file (such as an html page from a website, for example) to a PDF format, complete with graphics. The software creates a "virtual printer" that allows you to use the print command and create a PDF instead of printing out to your DeskJet.

Acrobat 5.0 can convert any file type using the print command, into a PDF, which, when viewed by someone with the free Acrobat Reader, can be read online or viewed with the reader and printed out. The advantage of the PDF format means that editing, formatting on any monitor, any computer looks as it should on anyone computer, regardless of the monitor's resolution setting or computer platform.

Another feature, new in version 5.0 is "reflow." Next to the Actual View, Fit Page and Fit Width icons is the new option, Reflow. Select this and the current page?s text will automatically "reflow" or reformat to fit the current window size. Change the window size or zoom, and the text automatically reflows to accommodate! This may seem unnecessary for most applications, but consider the handheld, ie Palm, Handspring or Visor. These devices use smaller screens and zoom-in. If you develop applications or documents to be used on handhelds, this feature is useful to check if you have tagged your PDF correctly for these applications. A nice feature, indeed.

One word of caution: if you have an older Adobe Reader, you may need to upgrade your reader to use files created with Adobe Acrobat 5.0. If you put PDF files on your website, you should indicate the version of reader your visitors should use.


An essential tool with many uses   December 8, 2002
Mike Tarrani (Deltona, FL USA)
31 out of 34 found this review helpful

I've been using this program since version 3.0 and it's so thoroughly integrated into my daily tools that I take it for granted. Version 5.0 was a bit of a challenge to get used to because the user interface dramatically changed from earlier versions. It took me months to discover that all of the features in the earlier versions were in fact still in the application, but were hidden by poor documentation and a less-than-intuitive user interface (compared to earlier versions).

Despite the early issues, I cannot live without this application. One of the features I love most is the security that can be set on a document, which can prevent readers from changing, highlighting and copying content to a clipboard, and printing - or any combination. This allows me to share documents without worrying about my content being 'lifted' and used by others without my permission. More importantly, the password protection is solid.

The feature that transforms PDF files into other formats, such as RTF and HTML, does not do a spectacular job, but I was able to use an older plug-in called Iceni Gemini I had purchased for use with Acrobat 4 to overcome those limitations. While the format transformation has some limitations, the forms feature is superb and represents a reason to upgrade to version 5 (or get Acrobat if you're not using an earlier version).

I rate it at 4 stars because of the poor documentation and some of the issues cited above. However, if you work with documents, especially web-based documents, and need to share them across all platforms Acrobat is essential. If you want sophisticated forms handling, then you have yet another reason to invest in this useful tool.