Adobe Acrobat 5.0 [OLD VERSION]

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Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 1.7 x 9.6 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Note: Gift-wrapping is not available for this item.
• ASIN: B00005ATST
• Item model number: 22001438
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 12, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,850 in Software (See Bestsellers in Software)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #4 in	Software > Web Development > Internet Utilities > Electronic Publishing
  #12 in	Software > Business & Office > Document Management > Document Creation
  #54 in	Software > Graphics > Professional Design

• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review
Any business that requires documents to be shared, reviewed, and edited across broad networks will undoubtedly benefit from Adobe Acrobat 5.0. If you've never used Acrobat before, you'll be amazed at how easy it is to convert Office documents and Web pages to PDF files (portable document format). If you already use Acrobat, new features and enhancements--including the ability to upload documents to Web sites and intranets--make this version a worthwhile upgrade.

Installation is quick and easy; within 15 minutes of opening the box we were saving Web pages as PDF files and adding comments to our documents. New users may want to take a tour around the help sections (either online Help or tool tips) to get acquainted with the program. In addition, checking out the help section will ensure you don't miss out on some of the more hidden features within the application, such as color management and timesaving Windows and Mac shortcuts.

One of the most important new features of version 5.0 is the ability to develop new documents from PDF files. You can now save the PDF file to Rich Text Format (RTF), and then edit the document using your word processor. Another important new feature is the ability to create interactive forms, which actually look a lot like their paper counterparts. And once you figure out how to upload these forms to your company intranet, you can share them with all relevant team members. Team members can even sign these forms, using a password-protected digital signature.

As always, the ability to comment on documents and Web pages remains an important reason to use Acrobat. A toolbar on the left-hand side gives users easy access to the list of comment tools, which range from highlighting tools, note boxes, pencil and line tools, and strikeout tools which let you erase lines of text. Once you've marked up a file or Web page, you can send the file to team members, business contacts and clients. As long as they have the Acrobat Reader (available free from Adobe's Web site), they should be able to read these files. And Acrobat retains the quality of your documents when you print them, so you don't have any nasty surprises when you pick up your documents from the printer.

Companies with employees in different physical locations can only benefit from Acrobat 5.0. While version 4.0 is obviously still a strong and very useful product, upgrading to Acrobat 5.0 promises a host of Internet-ready new features designed to accompany your business to the next level of high-speed communication. --Gisele Toueg

Product Description
"* Convert any document to Adobe PDF * Share documents across a broad range of hardware and software * Approve and vomment on ducuments from within your Web browser." "SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: * Pentium class processor * Microsoft Windows 95 OSR 2.0, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 5 or 6, Windows 2000, or Windows XP * 32 MB of RAM (64 MB recommended) * 120 MB of available hard-disk space * Additional 30 MB of hard-disk space for Asian fonts (optional) * CD-ROM drive * Additional Acrobat 5.0 requirement: Internet Explorer 4.0.1, 5.0 or 5.5 required for Windows NT users." " What good is a document you can't open? Whether you create business plans, spreadsheet, graphically rich brochures, or Web sites, Adobe Acrobat 5.0 software lets you convert any document to an Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) file. Anyone can open your document across a broad range of hardware and software, and it will look exactly as you intended---with layout, fonts, links, and images intact. With Acrobat 5.0, you and your team can increase productivity by approving and commenting on documents from within a Web browser." "Preserve documents exactly as intended: * Easily convert any document to Adobe PDF so anyone can open it across a broad range of hardware and software. * Convert Web pages or entire Web sites to Adobe PDF files with all links intact for office viewing, comments, and archiving. * Produce interactive Adobe PDF forms complete with pop-up boxes, buttons, and text fields that include automatic calculations and operations. * Efficiently process Adobe PDF files using batch capabilities to rotate, crop, and insert pages." "Work smarter as a team: * Quickly approve Adobe PDF files with e-signatures. Or add comments with electronic sticky notes, highlight and strikethrough tools, and more---right from your Web browser. * Save time by easily repurposing the information in Adobe PDF files: Simply save your PDF files as Rich Text files..." [from box]

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Has features I only dreamed about using earlier versions, April 24, 2001

By	Linda Zarate "IT Ops Consultant" (Azusa, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Version 5 has features I dreamed about in 3.0 and 4.0, but despaired of ever seeing. Adobe made my dreams come true. Here are the highlights that make this an essential tool if you work with PDF files or transform other documents into PDF format: You can now save files in rich text format (RTF), which can be directly opened and edited in Microsoft Word (and other applications). I was able to do this in version 4 with an expensive third-party plug-in that did not always produce the results I was looking for. Version 5 does not need the plug-in and does a much better job.

Two other features that I love are the ability to extract images from a PDF file and save them as Tiff, JPEG or PNG graphics. This is really powerful. A nice touch is the user interface, which now makes Acrobat's tool bars look like those in Microsoft Office applications. I thought this was a quantum improvement over the confusing interface in previous versions.

Adobe touts added security features in this version, but the only thing I found different is the 128-bit encryption. Version 4 gave me total control over protecting documents from alteration, selecting and copying text and printing. As a consultant I sometimes need to provide clients with intellectual property that I need to protect, and the features that I enjoyed in version 4 have been fully carried over in this version. Another nice feature that has been carried over from the previous version is the ability to open a web page from within Acrobat and save it as a PDF file. I have grabbed many pages from many sites for off-line reading using this feature and it still works without a problem in version 5.

Other features that are interesting, but I have not tried, include the ability to create and publish dynamic forms online, and support for XML form data. When I get time I plan to play around with creating and publishing the dynamic forms because I can think of a dozen uses on my web site.

Overall this is a solid product that did not cause me the same pain I endured when I moved from version 3 to 4. Everything works as advertised and some of the new features are plain wonderful.

64 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For functionality and reliable cross-platform compatibility., July 11, 2001

By	S Smyth (Belfast, Co Antrim United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Acrobat 5.0 can convert any file type from its application?s print command into a PDF, which, when viewed by someone with the free Acrobat Reader, will look the same as you created it, irrespective of their monitor?s resolution setting, or computer platform. This means that a document containing text and images will look correct on screen and when printed. At present, the Adobe PDF format is the only means of achieving this.

You can create a navigation path within your PDF using the Bookmarks feature. Highlight and add annotations to sections of the document. And include hyperlinks as in an HTML page, etc.

Using Acrobat to create a bookmarked photo-gallery, for example, will result in a file much smaller than an equivalent HTML item when you use Acrobat?s screen-optimised Distiller settings, and with all the images retained within the PDF itself, instead of split between a contents folder and its associated HTML page. The PDF can be secured so that your images and text are secure from simple pilfering.

The security settings in Acrobat 5.0 are a little more comprehensive than was available in 4.0. Examples being password encryption at 128 bits, and print resolution options of high and low. Even so, PDF security is a matter of hot debate at present, as is security in any computer format. So don?t get overly confident. Only regard a secured PDF as being safe from access or tampering by Joe Public. In the case of my photo-gallery example I can secure the PDF from interference in the Reader and the application by using a password. But the images can still be extracted in a PC by simply hitting the print-screen key and then pasting the clipboard contents into an image application such as Photoshop. This also applies to text which can then saved as a TIFF file and processed in an OCR application such as Fine Reader 5.0 Pro, or by straight transcription.

Some features are now more easily accessed: Distiller and Security settings being two.

Whether or not Acrobat 5.0 is a major improvement over 4.0 is superfluous, since 4.0 will soon be unavailable. 5.0 does everything that 4.0 did, and more, but some of the features are not backwards compatible with earlier versions of the reader. Users of your files will have to be forewarned if you are using such features, to upgrade their reader. Adobe claim over 200 million Acrobat Reader installations, but that includes readers of 3.0, 4.0, and 4.05 vintage. An example of incompatibility would be an access password set at 128 bits. The recipient must have the 5.0 reader installed to gain entry. Sorry to rabbit on about this, but it is a current point of contention as to why PDFs are not used as often as they might be. Joe Public seems to have an aversion to updating even their internet browser, which is why web-masters have such a fun time keeping their web-sites as compatible as possible. PDFs can be used instead of HTML pages on your web-site but for maximum compatibility you will have to ensure that all important features can be read by a 3.0 reader. Bit of a pain, but there you are. Keep your PDFs simple and there shouldn?t be a problem.

When you buy Acrobat 5.0, and you haven?t any prior experience, I would recommend that you buy and work your way through Adobe?s Acrobat 5.0 - Classroom in a Book. This, in conjunction with the Acrobat help guide ( Help > Help guide ), will tell you all that you need to know. Methodically work your way through the classroom book first though. It?ll be a lot easier if you do.

A well designed PDF is the best way for you to communicate your intentions whether that be an e-book, technical supplement, or a photo-gallery

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Adobe Acrobat 5, February 6, 2002

By	Robert D. Shull "shullrd" (Fairfield, OH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Have you ever tried to send someone a file, only to find out that they don't have the same program you do? What about, them getting a copy where all of the formatting has changed? Maybe you've asked them to revise, and you have to sort through and find all the corrections? All of these things have happened to me, and I'll tell you it's time to get Adobe Acrobat 5!

Adobe Acrobat 5, has the amazing capability of being viewed across platforms, so that you'll never need to worry that your Mac friend can't view the file created on your PC (or vice-versa). You also don't need to worry about different programs messing up your formatting, unauthorized users messing with your documents, or different programs refusing to open your documents! All the other party needs, is the FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Acrobat is simple to learn and use. All you need to do is create your file in your favorite program, print the document (using the Acrobat Distiller printer included) and you have a new PDF file. Using this program you can convert virtually any file to PDF! Once in PDF format, set your security options, and send away. You can even use advanced features such as electronic signatures and highlighting, to work in an editorial environment (others will need the full Acrobat to view these kinds of additions).

Documentation for Acrobat is terrible! If you are unsure that you can learn Acrobat, I would recommend buying a companion guide for this product (Excellent product is: Adobe Acrobat 5 Classroom in a Book).

Once you begin using PDF, you will find that it is so practical and useful you won't know how you got by without it...