An industry go-to; wish the price would decrease or the free version offered more standard features
June 17, 2022
An industry go-to; wish the price would decrease or the free version offered more standard features
Score 4 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Adobe Acrobat DC
My client's documents are often necessarily encrypted to meet HIPAA compliance requirements. We use a SaaS for secure online storage for these documents, which often must be signed by authenticated electronic signature. When securely prepared for signing, the SaaS auto converts, and stores these documents in PDF format. Because Adobe Acrobat DC is such a universally accepted PDF software, it is extremely useful for this purpose. I also use it for downloading state government-generated forms, notifications, and payment remittance advice for the same client. At another organization, the accounting department has started uploading purchase and billing receipts (online and scanned) into Quickbooks for future auditing purposes. Doing so with Acrobat is a pretty painless procedure.
- Seamless conversion of MS Office and Google Drive file formats.
- Is compatible with other online software services for conversions to other platforms (when using the free Acrobat version).
- Easy highlighting, and deleting highlighting, when necessary.
- Easy sticky note insertions at desired locations in docs.
- Easy "find" feature using universal Ctrl-F keystroke.
- Digital signature secured by password with free version.
- Variety of stamps with free version.
- No easy way to send out a doc for e-signature without using other software workarounds.
- If using black highlight text for redaction purposes in the free version, it is not a final/permanently fixed feature in a saved PDF (can be removed by anyone accessing the PDF).
- Unless you right-click in the menu bar, it can be difficult to locate the "show properties bar," which is the menu for changing highlight colors.
- Converting docs in other format to PDF
- uploadable PDFs when required as submittable files
- highlighting and sticky note comments
- I use the free version, no budget impact to me.
- Because PDFs are required for a significant amount of compliance-required signed file transfers, Acrobat makes this rather seamless in the process.
- Not everyone on staff uses MS Office software products. The ability for staff to have Acrobat as an export option, and for manually-signed documents to be scanned to a PDF and emailed or uploaded to online storage is great efficiency advantage.
- Shared PDF files that include authentication trails (through the client's HIPAA-compliant online storage) are extremely useful for licensing audits.
- Shared PDF files reduce the chance of direct edits.
No appreciable impact.
ShareFile and rightsignature are HIPAA-compliant for securely sending/transferring PDF files and offer authenticated signing/reviewing trails. DocuSign can be used for signing and sending docs for signing. Adobe Acrobat DC is not as robust as any of these other platforms in those regards. I use Adobe Acrobat DC as an industry-standard go-to, it is universally downloadable and exportable for PDF purposes.
Do you think Adobe Acrobat delivers good value for the price?
Not sure
Are you happy with Adobe Acrobat's feature set?
Yes
Did Adobe Acrobat live up to sales and marketing promises?
No
Did implementation of Adobe Acrobat go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Adobe Acrobat again?
Yes
Using Adobe Acrobat DC
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Technical support not required Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Saving a scan--easy
- Highlighting--visually appealing
- Saving an MS Office file to PDF--easy
- Downloading a Google Drive file to PDF--easy
- Creating an electronic signature on a PDF--confusing for first-time setup
- If you only need a feature and you're using the free version, if it's not available in the free version, you have to sign up for one of two subscription services before you can finish what was started.
- If you use the free version, you have to upload an Acrobat DC file into another software platform to do convenient things such as merge PDFs, sort pages, add/delete pages.
- If you use the free version, you need an alternate way to obtain electronic signatures from others. Or you can have them sign using the Acrobat drawing tool, which is a pain.
Yes, but I don't use it