Adobe Acrobat 5.0 [OLD VERSION]

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

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.