Adobe Acrobat vs. Bluebeam

I don't want to ignore copy. Rather than send copy for approval as Word docs or as raw copy in email or, god forbid, a Teams message, Slack and other communication tools where it can be changed, deleted, mangled beyond recognition and face stresses and tortures the written word never should, you can print those documents as a PDF. It's not like a recipient can't change a word, but in our experience, non-creatives generally don't know what they've have to hit in order to commit such heresy. Also as you route PDFs of copy or design for approval, it's simple to see who has already weighed in and what they said. No need for crazy direction like "On paragraph 2 on the right side of the page, about a fourth down, rephrase those last 4 words" — that's near-DaVinci Code stuff to unpuzzle! Each person who needs to approve can simply drop their comment on the exact place they're talking about. That encourages others to view those comments and "talk it out" through the comments thread, rather than leave another comment giving similar direction.

Incentivized

The program is great for editing construction drawings, stamping/approving official documents and overlaying revised documents to see design changes. You can use it as an estimating takeoff tool, estimating database, document control, cloud document storage, the list goes on! Bluebeam poses many applications for the user to utilize for the desired needs. There may be some other software that has one specific function that can perform the specific task better, but Bluebeam is a holistic program with many tools for use.

Incentivized

• Organizing large documents and saving individual document from them.
• Editing or updating existing documents within the organization to keep up with most current versions.
• Collecting signatures internally and externally for the organization.
• Drafting policies and procedures that require multiple collaborators and contributors.
• Protecting documents from being edited or modified without permission or by ill intent.
• Great for sending multiple photos in one document!
• Great for document progress, for example, keeping record of who makes edits, when the edits are made, and what edit was done to the document.

Incentivized

• Once you set Bluebeam Revu as your default PDF handler, it launches immediately when clicking a PDF to open. The speed with which it opens documents is impressive.
• Creating PDF's out of other documents, such as Word, Excel, JPG's, etc. is simple.
• Digitally signing documents is a simple, secure process. You can keep your signature password-protected, yet still access it quickly.
• The Bluebeam Revu mobile application ( I use the iOS version on an iPad Pro), is awesome. Not only does it handle PDF's like you would expect it to, it allows for effortless digital signing of documents on the fly. Nice to be able to quickly sign a document and email right back out from the tablet no matter where I am.

Incentivized

• When editing text, it can sometimes get a little tricky getting paragraphs to line back up if too much is added
• Paragraph grouping needs to be a little better when editing. Often times sentences with be split into two separate text blocks

Incentivized

• If you have several tabs open and you try to drag one out for a side by side view then you do not have all the modification options and you have to combine them back together.
• There is a lag time when hitting the print option.
• There is also a lag time when opening files, sometimes I think the window is frozen.
• I wish the basic version also had basic file editing, as in editing a document as Adobe does.

Incentivized

I bought a perpetual license to Acrobat some time ago, but if the software ever stopped being supported in my version of windows or other solution that makes me need to buy another license I would not hesitate to do so since it saves me a lot of headaches. There are workarounds to merge files and edit pdfs with an online interface but I dont think those are a good usage of time when Acrobat exists.

Incentivized

Bluebeam is a powerful PDF viewer and mark-up tool. We are more familiar with it than Adobe Acrobat Pro or other viewers, and it has more features geared towards construction document managers than Acrobat Pro does.

Incentivized

My overall experience with Adobe is great because because the it has almost all of the tools in one place and it can be used it for most of my work without going anywhere else. Because the tools are available right there in the main interface, it makes it very easy to use.

Incentivized

I'm constantly finding that Bluebeam Revu does more than I knew it could. And when I find something that it can't do, I've found that Bluebeam truly listens to its user base and will work to incorporate any good suggestion when feasible.

Incentivized

The software is readily available and rarely has application errors.

Incentivized

One of the best features of Adobe Acrobat is its speed and stability. When dealing with massive multi-page files, having to reload a crashed program over and over again would slow down progress unnecessarily. And expanding on that, having the table of contents generated allows me to skip to different pages with ease, a necessary feature with exceptionally long files. word searches are even more helpful with text recognition.

Incentivized

Because I don't need it. Used it years ago for account management/billing issues but they have changed the user experience so more of that can be managed online. If I have a question the knowledge base or a video that Adobe has posted answers

Incentivized

Its hard for me to give a rating on this one as we rarely have to use the support feature for Bluebeam. However, when we have used it, they have been ultra supportive in helping us get exactly what we needed. I know another engineer was trying to figure out a feature and the rep gave a detailed tutorial on how to complete the task

Incentivized

Easy to follow and understand

Incentivized

Works well with JamF and SmartDeploy. These are our Enterprise imaging solutions for Mac's and PC's. The Enterprise installer is required when pushing out this app.

Incentivized

I just don't feel as comfortable using other PDF editors. They just don't have the same name and look as Adobe Acrobat and I worry about the security of using other software to work on our company's documents. They may have similar features as Adobe Acrobat but I don't see any overall improvement to the features that Acrobat offers

Incentivized

We feel there is not another program out there that would compare to Bluebeam at this current time. Some of the other programs out there do not include studio or the overlaying process which is one of our main uses. The ease of hyperlinking makes this product stand out the most.

Incentivized

The only thing I can think of that may be helpful would be a more flexible tiered pricing options based on usage or document volume.

Incentivized

I find that many users aren't aware of many features of the software they use, nor may they be comfortable with learning multiple-step processes. For the simplest of PDF purposes (scanning, downloading, exporting), it gets a thumbs-up. For anything involving electronic signatures, meh--causes eyes to glaze over, or forgetting what all is involved.

Incentivized

• Savings of time trying to format documents correctly; PDFs hold their format.
• Ease of transfer for print-ready or larger file types.
• It has empowered multiple "non-designer" users to manipulate PDFs in minor ways, saving our design team time and allowing them to use their resources/time on other, more complex projects.

Incentivized

• A major positive aspect is being able to take your computer home without taking the entire set of paper drawings. They have made it so easy to navigate a set of drawings that I can work at home using only the digital drawings.
• Collaboration with owners and architects has been a great feature. Setting up a Bluebeam studio and having everyone get in and mark things up, then having the architect be able to go in and see what markups have been added, has made the constructability review process much much better.
• Even when not working on drawings, Bluebeam is a very good tool for working with standard PDF documents. The markup tools are very easy to use.
• The negative aspect is the takeoff function because some people would like estimators to use the Bluebeam takeoff because it would make their job easier down the road; however, the actual act of doing a full scale takeoff in Bluebeam would require much more time.

Incentivized