Adobe Acrobat isnt aptly named for a software so simple to use no leaps or bounds required
Updated August 29, 2025

Adobe Acrobat isnt aptly named for a software so simple to use no leaps or bounds required

Rod Lott | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Adobe Acrobat

As a creative agency within a corporation, we use the full version of Adobe Acrobat (not the free Reader) on a daily basis. For design layouts and proofs, even copy, it's the single-best, single-easiest way to gather and compile feedback of our stakeholders. Everyone can see each other's comments and reply directly. Additionally, unlike a Word document, we don't have to worry about our stakeholders changing anything.

Pros

  • Leaving and replying to comments are extremely easy.
  • In most cases, the PDF retains the designer's true work.
  • Although you can make large files, Adobe Acrobat gives you the opportunity to generate smaller, compressed files for email systems with limited megabyte capability for attachments.
  • Even if a recipient doesn't have Adobe Acrobat, they can download the free Reader for viewing.
  • I especially like Adobe Acrobat's ability to handling pages, whether removing, switching around or even rotating. It couldn't be easier.

Cons

  • Fonts can default (but not always) if the designer doesn't perform due diligence before generating PDFs.
  • The one area Adobe Acrobat is not good at: generating PDFs straight from a website. The results are touch-and-go.
  • The basic nav controls take a little getting used to. What I initially expected to be in one spot could only be found elsewhere.
  • No worries about compatibility, as files created on PCs can be read on Macs, and vice versa. That has 100% saved us from having to find a workaround.
  • While we still have people who like to print on physical paper, it's becoming less and less as they get used to the ease of reading PDFs on their monitor and storing them on the computer. I now rarely print any paper — maybe 5 pages a week, if any. For the designers, paper is printed only for live "proof of concept" presentations to leadership.
  • In the rare cases we've had sensitive information within a PDF, locking it down and requiring a PIN to open is simple to set up. We've had 0% of those PDFs becoming breached.
  • Cloud Solutions
  • Scalability
  • Integration with Other Systems
  • Ease of Use
At this point, our group was born with Adobe products and tools — particularly Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator — in our office, so the Adobe brand is most important to us. We know it works, works well, and works well with those programs with which it shares a well-respected name.
On an earlier question, I touched upon cases in which we've been asked to "lock down" certain Adobe Acrobat files. These might contain "for your eyes only"-type information or sensitive data regarding an upcoming campaign — or even metrics of performance from a now-closed campaign. For those PDFs, it's a cinch to require the recipient to "unlock" (that is, "view") the document simply by setting a PIN. I've not been made aware of any PDFs like these being breached.
I've only tried two other PDF software offerings: WinZip for Windows and PDFgear. I find *all* software for Windows not intuitive and more difficult than it needs to be. PDFgear was much less frustrating, even on mobile use, but still lacking in overall functionality. That could be because it's free, unlike WinZip was, but this is case where you get what you pay for, meaning Acrobat is worth every penny. (And honestly, it's not that pricey.)

Do you think Adobe Acrobat delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Adobe Acrobat's feature set?

Yes

Did Adobe Acrobat live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Adobe Acrobat go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Adobe Acrobat again?

Yes

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.

Using Adobe Acrobat

While I can't speak for every single department in my organization, various teams in the marketing department use Adobe Acrobat regularly, including (but not at all limited to) the creative teams of writers, graphic designers, videographers and traffic managers, not to mention all the supervisors of these people. All other teams in marketing that are not part of marketing use it as well.
1 - I am uncertain of a dedicated number. We have one contact in the IT department who take care of our installation, usage and ongoing support of Adobe Acrobat (as well as other products in our Adobe Creative Suite, including but not at all limited to Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign and more). I only ever see him when we require a software update. Otherwise, I never do and have never had an issue using Acrobat that would require his assistance. It's that easy.
  • Accurate visuals for approval purposes
  • Commenting functionality for capturing feedback
  • Ease of file sharing, even with outside vendors
  • Flexibility in file sizes, from print-ready to screen-only
  • Using the interactive functionality to create checklists
  • I don't know of extra ways, but it is flexible and scalable for our long-term needs
Honestly, I don't think our department or organization would know what to do or how to operate without it. Adobe Acrobat is such a standby that we've come to rely on it as naturally as one would air, water or food. Throw electricity in there, too, since we need that to run our machines.

Evaluating Adobe Acrobat and Competitors

Actually, I would revolt against anyone even floating the idea of looking at an alternative to Adobe Acrobat. As the adage goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." That certainly applies in our situation, as there is nothing needing fixing about it.

Adobe Acrobat Implementation

I was not involved with the implementation process, so I cannot answer this question. However, when it was installed on my computer system, they did so virtually. I just sat there while they took control of my computer over the network and watch them install it, lickety split.
Not sure - I was not involved with the implementation process, so I cannot answer this question.
  • I was not involved with the implementation process, so I cannot answer this question.

Adobe Acrobat Training

Adobe Acrobat is enormously easy to learn without training. It's incredibly intuitive — so much so that you could almost (again, I repeat: *almost*) use it just by looking at its icons. Now, that could be because I was already a long time user of Adobe products like Adobe Photoshop and especially Adobe InDesign, but I still believe most people can figure it out on their own.

Configuring Adobe Acrobat

I have to go neutral on this question simply because I have not had to configure Adobe Acrobat at all. If it was done in my organization, I do not know about it. That said, I don't know what I would need or want to configure on it as is.
I cannot really answer this one, either, because I have not had to configure Adobe Acrobat at all. If any configuration was performed on the software in my organization, I do not know about it. That said, I don't know what I would need or want to configure on it as is.
I have to answer no on this question as well, but only because I have not had to configure Adobe Acrobat at all. If it was done in my organization, I do not know about it. That said, I don't know what I would need or want to configure on it as is.

Adobe Acrobat Support

I have never had to contact support for Adobe Acrobat — not once in two decades! It won't let me skip this question as directed, so I'm forced to give it a 10.
ProsCons
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
No escalation required
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
None
Our organization did purchase premium support. As a software company ourselves, that's just what we do: Buy the support, buy the number of seats as those who will actually use it.
I cannot describe such a time because I have never had to contact Adobe for support for Adobe Acrobat. It's just that easy to use and that reliable and does what it says.

Using Adobe Acrobat

ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
Not well integrated
  • Rearranging pages
  • Deleting pages
  • E-signature approvals
  • Text replacement (in most cases)
  • Commenting
  • Text replacement with specialized fonts
I've only used it on Mac desktops, so I am giving this a neutral rating right down the middle. I've not used a mobile version of Adobe Acrobat for cell phone or for a tablet (like an Apple iPad). I've also not used Adobe Acrobat on a PC, although Acrobat Reader, yes. (But that's not the point of this review.)

Adobe Acrobat Reliability

Dozens of teams and department in my organization use Adobe Acrobat on a daily basis. Furthermore, we send its PDF files and back and forth to various vendors (including but not limited to printers and trade show vendors) and simply do not encounter issues. We used it as a company of 750 and now we are a company of 7,000. It's worked on both ends and in between.
We have not had availability issues with Adobe Acrobat, or at least none that I am personally aware of. Some may encounter crashes of the software during outages of electricity in their city or neighborhood, which no one can plan for, but with generators in our organization, we have been lucky not to have outages.
Adobe Acrobat performs like a dream. The program itself loads very quickly and PDFs are generated in a snap. Obviously, larger files that are exceedingly graphic heavy can take more time to load but we are talking by a couple of seconds difference, not minutes. Acrobat does slow down when you have multiple applications open, but that's a memory issue all programs encounter.

Integrating Adobe Acrobat

I have to say Adobe Acrobat gets a 10, solely based on my lone experience with its integration, that being with our organization's single sign-on functionality for our network and software. Outside of that, I don't have the knowledge to know if this any other integrations have been pursued, discussed, planned or even carried out.
  • I don't have that knowledge.
I don't have the knowledge to know if this was attempted in my organization and, if so, what its results were, successful or otherwise.
  • I don't have this knowledge
I don't have the knowledge to know if my organization has plans for this one way or another. I have no involvement with planning systems integration for the company.
I'm not qualified to answer this with confidence or know-how, based on my duties in my organization. I do not work on that side of things.

Relationship with Adobe

As I was not involved with purchasing, vetting or executing implementation of Adobe Acrobat (or other Adobe products in its creative suite), I am not qualified to answer this question with any degree of knowledge.
As with the previous question, I was not involved with purchasing, vetting or executing implementation of Adobe Acrobat (or other Adobe products in its creative suite), and still am not involved in working them with as direct contact. I am unable to respond to this question with any degree of knowledge.
As I was not involved with purchasing, vetting or executing implementation of Adobe Acrobat (or other Adobe products in its creative suite), I am not qualified to answer this question. I would be surprised, however, if there were no negotiations regarding price per seat given the sheer amount of people using it at our workplace.
I am unable to share any tips or advice for effectively dealing with the vendor since I was not involved with purchasing, vetting or executing implementation of Adobe Acrobat (or other Adobe products in its creative suite). I'm simply a very satisfied daily user of the software.

Upgrading Adobe Acrobat

Yes - Upgrading to new versions of Adobe Acrobat have been seamless at my organization. They have happened in one of two ways: a download took just a few minutes from start to finish, or occurring overnight while I was not at work. Our company has moved toward the latter as a standard practice, but both ways have worked with no negative impacts.
  • Seamless
  • Instant or near-instant
  • Zero negative impacts
  • Continued seamlessness
  • Ongoing consistency of ease
  • No further negative impacts

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