Adobe Acrobat

Score8.8 out of 10

3,846 Reviews and Ratings

What is Adobe Acrobat?

Adobe Acrobat DC is the current version of the well-established document / PDF management solution, part of the Adobe Document Cloud (the other part being Adobe's eSign services based on technology acquired with EchoSign in 2011).

Categories & Use Cases

Media

Screenshot of where to create, edit, convert, and share PDF files all from within Microsoft Teams – as part of Acrobat integrations with Microsoft 365 apps.

Screenshot of Liquid Mode in Adobe Acrobat Reader mobile app, where users can read PDFs on phones and tablets without having to pinch and zoom. Navigate lengthy documents with intelligent outline and search tools, while maximizing readability and comfort with font size and line spacing that are adjustable.

Screenshot of where to fill and sign PDF forms from anywhere and on any device. Here, users can collect signatures, digitally track progress, and automatically archive the signed document.

Screenshot of the Adobe Scan mobile app, used to capture and convert documents into high-quality, interactive PDF documents that can be filled out, signed, and shared. This eliminates the hassle of finding a printer, filling a form by hand, and scanning it again.

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Screenshot of where to create, edit, convert, and share PDF files all from within Microsoft Teams – as part of Acrobat integrations with Microsoft 365 apps.

Carl Grivakis View profile

Business Owner, Graphic Designer, Visual Design Mentor in Professional Services at Holy Carp Design (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Adobe Acrobat DC is an essential tool in the digital publishing and professional training industry for virtual and in-person instructor lead courses. In a world looking to reduce print costs, the 'fillable' form is a great tool for people to gather notes, annotate, and make learning their own interactive experience. We utilize everything from check boxes, fillable text, and image placement for prework, in-class, and post-class referencing.

Pros

Interactive digital publishing that is portable between platforms
Annotation the is both cued and un-cued for people looking to create their own notes
Creating a varied learning experience, allowing for placement of interactive elements, including external web pages, internal anchor indexing, and audio/video

Cons

As far as I'm aware, it's not able to make files that detect the viewing platform and adjust for that platform
Some users have trouble working with interactive text, which is somehow not intuitive to them
Files can be overly large, designers should be trained up on reducing file size

Most Important Features

Interactive PDFs for classroom use
Annotation / sticky notes for editing between client and designer
Clickable resources to link outside and within the document

Return on Investment

Net positive, as it gives me more deliverable options for my clients
Some clients require no use of print materials, limiting the number of learning resources they can have access to, an electronic PDF helps close the sale
Issues with protecting IP can come up, opening up problems with having content plagiarized

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Google Slides, Google Drive and Microsoft Powerpoint

Other Software Used

Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Powerpoint Online, Google Slides

Monica Guerrero

Associate Manager- Visual Communications Men's and Licensee at Michael Kors (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Adobe Acrobat to quickly edit PDFs and combine files. In order to meet deadlines with quick turnarounds we use Adobe Acrobat to edit files, link websites and combine files that would normally take a longer time to execute using Adobe InDesign.

Pros

Link hyperlinks
Combine files
Add comments for reviews

Cons

Compressing file size

Return on Investment

Helps with workflow effectiveness
Saves time with editing
Quickly input feedback

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe Premiere Pro

Other Software Used

Adobe InDesign, Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe Premiere Pro

Alan Gilbertson View profile

Creative Director at G&G Creative (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Adobe Acrobat is how we export design work for client review/comment and for print production. We use ISO standard PDF/X for production, and screen-friendly PDF versions for clients to review and comment on. In both cases, this avoids releasing working design files and avoids licensing issues with fonts or stock imagery, which are increasingly important in commercial work.

Pros

ISO standard PDF creation is critical for print production, so that there are no surprises on press.
Adobe Acrobat's security features are simple to use, and effective.
Most clients have no difficulty with the commenting features in Adobe Acrobat, which makes review quick and simple.

Cons

The UI is awkward to navigate in professional workflows.
Major UI changes are much too frequent, which affects productivity adversely even when the changes are "improvements." Muscle memory is a thing.
The new AI features tend to be intrusive and distracting if you turn them on, and there are better alternatives for document summary and analysis.

Return on Investment

Adobe Acrobat is a core necessity in our creative workflow, for all the reasons mentioned. There is no other tool that fulfills all requirements. Every piece of artwork destined for print runs through Adobe Acrobat.
Encouraging use of Adobe Acrobat or the free Adobe Reader by clients has eliminated problems of third-party tools not rendering a professional PDF correctly.

Alternatives Considered

Foxit PDF Editor and Jotform PDF Editor

Other Software Used

Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe PhotoShop, Microsoft 365

Heidy Hernandez

Graphic Designer in Social Media at Design (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use it to scan my paperwork, and create folders to be able to share or preserve and share any documents as needed. I also enjoy using it for signing paperwork, sending paperwork to get signed. I like Adobe Acrobat because it is a portable way to carry a folder around. I like the products and always recommend to my business partners.

Pros

sign
fill in papers
edit paper
share packets

Cons

Sometimes the format for editing is difficult, I wish I could somehow edit a small typo if it's my personal document.
I enjoy making PDF grouped items and documents.

Return on Investment

easy to use
transferable documents
organized paperwork
easy to sign documents

Alternatives Considered

Adobe Express

Other Software Used

Adobe Acrobat Sign, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe Advertising Cloud

Usability

Phillip Tusler

Graphic Designer in Marketing at Costco (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Adobe Acrobat on a daily basis to help organize and manage my PDFs! Most days I'm having to do some form of PDF organization so combining PDFs and shifting pages around! We also use more specific tools within Adobe Acrobat like using print production to easily adjust the sizes of the PDFs, and creating editable PDFs for clients.

Pros

Ability to manipulate a PDF in various ways.
Print production is incredibly helpful for checking off and making sure PDFs are ready for print.
Commenting in Adobe Acrobat is awesome! So nice to be able to hand off a PDF and get it back with edits that are easy to navigate and resolve!

Cons

For as amazing as Adobe Acrobat is, a lot of the time it does feel like one of the more clunky and slow Adobe programs.
Ability to edit text! Adobe Acrobat sometimes struggles with fonts and editing the text ends up messing with the text in weird ways.
It would be cool to have multiple versions of the same preflight single fixups! I use the same single fixup but need to adjust it for multiple sizes! I'd like to be able to save another version of it with the different sizes.

Return on Investment

Again, the ability to make multiple versions of a PDF has helped speed up getting them to the warehouse and making it easier to print for them!
In marketing, there are multiple uses of Adobe Acrobat where it speeds up our process making us more efficient.