Adobe Acrobat vs. Square 9 Softworks

If your organization uses PDFs frequently, then Adobe Acrobat feels like must-have. I could not imagine our organization not using it. The ability to create, organize, and edit PDFs easily and intuitively are the main reasons my organization uses it. The other additional functions and features are "nice to haves", but ultimately, don't impact our day-to-day

Incentivized

I don't recall a period of time when we couldn't access our data in the Square 9 cloud. The software works really well. I can't remember the last time I had to submit a support ticket. While we were working on the project, the technicians were great at utilizing software like ScreenConnect and Calendly to complete tasks.

Incentivized

• Easy to understand- the program has a very intuitive layout that is great for people who doesn't use the product very much
• Includes all features you might need. There are many features I didn't even think we would need that they have included.
• They have a very recognizable name so my clients feel they can trust what they are being asked to open/sign since the Adobe name is next to it.

Incentivized

• It's easy to design a form - many featured features allow you to create what you need.
• The workflows allow you to set conditions to take it in different directions based on the request - such as skipping approval levels.
• You do not have to be a programmer to design a form and workflow (although similar skills are needed).
• It's not hard to check on the status of a user request (form submission).

Incentivized

• It would be good if Adobe Acrobat could utilize less system resources. I have had crashes due to memory and CPU load this week
• Quicker load times from a cold launch
• Easier collaborative commenting for offline documents - knowing where and who wrote what
• Ensuring documents don't have issues where text cannot be copied before publishing

Incentivized

• The functionality is great but it can be a bit overwhelming. There's so much you can do that it's hard to remember how to do it - even if they've reviewed it with you and left themselves available for follow up. I don't want to necessarily have to take a class to learn how to use the product in full.

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

We absolutely can't imagine not continuing software maintenance as there are always new additions that improve the system not to mention the excellent tech support when issues are encountered. Response times for troubleshooting are very quick and usually, my issue is resolved in less than an hour after connecting with support.

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

Not sure if 10 is favorable or not, but this is supposed to be an unfavorable rating. I find that the solution lacks intuitiveness that should be inherent. I liken it to a large stack of papers and you have to be creative in finding what you want.

Incentivized

The software is readily available and rarely has application errors.

Incentivized

Square-9 can get this product out to you in almost the same hour your order it. We got ours very fast.

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

With the PDF projected viewer, the document retrieval-to-display can drag for a second more than some systems, and the capture workflow if you overload a server array can also drag, but those are the only two issues we've ever seen with this product, and they are not serious issues at all.

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

Support is always extremely helpful and responsive. Whenever we have a question, it is simple contacting them and also setting-up an appointment, if necessary. Scheduling the appointment is easy and they are willing to talk on the phone, which is not always true with software companies. Their report support tools are also really east to use.

Incentivized

It would have been higher, but the training is a bit muted for the lesser qualified office equipment vendors who signed up as partners to sell and support it. The more experienced ECM vendors and customer end-users will find the training very good, but a bit slow.

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 think the implementation could have gone a little smoother than it did. Now that I know how to use the software, I could do it myself. I feel that as an organization, we could have been a little better prepared. If the consultant was more aware of what we were looking for, they could have assisted in setting up some workflows for us as per the contract. But because we were not prepared, the initial implementation process was a little painful. That said, adding a document management system to ANY business kinda means everyone has to re-think the way they do their work which can be difficult for some staff.

Incentivized

There really is no comparison. Although we use other PDF programs, we mainly utilize Adobe. Not only because we find it to be a better program but also because everyone is more familiar with it. However, the other products are implemented for various reasons, such as a feature or 2 that we find necessary to use at times.

Incentivized

A similar product I have used was Time Matters. For a Law Firm, I think Time Matters is more useful as it keeps track of everything for a client, including billing. However, since I now work for a legal department of a corporation, SmartSearch is definitley more useful. It is not possible to seperate the documents we have internally in neat client files. We have various miscellaneous documents for many different services and customers or vendors. SmartSearch allows us to organize in broad categories that make sense to internal employees using it and to make sure security is set on specific documents. Time Matters would not have been sufficient for our managers to have access to, since it uploads all documents to the file - some of which are confidential.

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

The scale-ability is quite good actually, but you need competent sales/support folks providing it to you, so the scale is set right for the demands of your system use. Some resellers are not good at doing this, some are fantastic. If you are scaled correctly at first implementation, you'll be very happy with this system.

• Adobe Acrobat has improved the security of our documents, resulting in less risk, as protecting documents is essential to ensure compliance with privacy laws.
• It saves our company money, as the product makes it easier for our employees to complete their jobs.
• The product assists our employees with providing quality work product.

Incentivized

• Elimination of all filing activities, labor $$$ of at least $20,000 per year.
• Elimination of file cabinets, retention management, boxing and storage, purging and shredding... again, thousands of dollars of savings
• Estimate that we paid for the software in the 1st year and would never go backward to our old processes

Incentivized