Acrobat 6.0 Standard Win

Acrobat 6.0 has an enhanced user-interface along with several important new features. It's easier than ever to convert documents and a neat new feature is the option to combine several source documents into a single PDF. It's also possible is to scan documents directly into Acrobat. Once they're converted, you can touch up the content and add multimedia elements.

Acrobat 6.0 Standard has a greatly improved system for reviewing and commenting, so that a PDF can be e-mailed or posted to a Web location where others can suggest changes. Acrobat 6.0 Standardcan gather all the comments into a new document and each change can be approved or rejected.

Another vital area is security: a PDF can be password-protected or digitally signed to authenticate its content. You can also add trusted certificates to the document, enabling selected individuals to make amendments. A PDF can be exported in a variety of formats and you can create special versions for reading on a Palm or Pocket PC.

All these features are available in the Standard edition. Those in the design or print industry should look at the Professional Edition, which adds essential features such as preflight checking and preview of colour separations. The Acrobat 6.0 Professional Edition is also necessary to create interactive forms, work with document layers and optimise accessibility. Many applications can now export in PDF format, with or without Acrobat installed, but for optimised output and to take full advantage of the format's features Acrobat is highly recommended. --Tim Anderson

You will find comprehensive helps that guide you through the basic operations. Well paced and in a simple language. But most importantly, which is the core message of my review, Acrobat works to spec and does not crush! You quickly acquire this comfortable confidence that you will manage to finish your task before the software will hang, crush or do something different to you.

(Should Adobe deliver alternative to the Office, I will switch to it immediately. I dream about the spreadsheet or word processor that would work so reliably as the Acrobat or Elements, other product from Adobe I use on a daily basis).

Other thing worth noting is that Adobe Distiller (part of the Acrobat suite that helps you manage export to the PDF format) gives you total control over the process. This is really what I expected and no doubts it is worth every penny paid!