Adobe's Acrobat is the standard for creating and using high quality, cross-platform PDF files. Acrobat 7.0 Professional is significant upgrade that adds new security, collaboration and organisation features. It also includes tighter integration with Microsoft's Office 2003 suite, allows Acrobat Reader users to annotate PDF documents for the first time, and is noticeably faster than its predecessors - both in the creation of and reading of PDF files. Newly generated PDF files are also smaller file sizes than with previous versions, allowing you to e-mail or post larger documents than you could before. The Standard version is a bit pricey, but workgroups who publish documents that can be read on any platform will find Acrobat 7.0 Professional's new tools invaluable. There are utilities from other companies that allow you to save or convert PDF document (some are even free), but Adobe's Acrobat family remains the premier option.

Pros: Powerful workgroup tools; stronger XML support; security tools
Cons: Reduced Mac functionality; no Linux version; resource hungry


Adobe's Acrobat 7.0 Professional software is the most advanced way to create, control, and deliver secure, high-quality Portable Document Format (PDF) documents. It also allows you to assemble electronic or paper files - even Web sites, engineering drawings, and e-mail - into reliable PDF documents that are easy to share with others using Adobe's free Reader 7.0 software (bundled with suite).

Acrobat 7.0 is available in two versions, Professional (reviewed here) and Standard (£245 ex. VAT). The main differences between the two are that Acrobat 7.0 Professional retains layers and object data in technical drawings (Windows only), lets you manage specialised content from AutoCAD, Visio and Project (Windows only), lets you build intelligent forms with Adobe's LiveCycle Designer software (Windows only), and enables anyone with Adobe's Reader 7.0 software to use highlighter, sticky note, pen, and other commenting tools.

Either package lets you create PDF documents from any application that prints, manage content from Outlook, Internet Explorer, Access, and Publisher (Windows only), protect documents with passwords and apply restrictions on printing, copying and alterations, digitally sign and certify documents, combine application files into a single PDF document, as well as organise comments from multiple reviewers with sorting and filtering tools and view, print, and search PDFs.

Acrobat 7.0 Professional provides capabilities beyond converting documents into Adobe's PDF and is focussed on workgroups and document management. Now, workgroups can use Acrobat 7.0 Professional to manage a range of essential business activities including assembling documents from multiple sources, creating 'intelligent' forms, and collaborate more securely on projects inside and outside the company firewall.

The interface remains largely unchanged from version 6.0, with the exception of new toolbar buttons for Commenting and Markup, Send for Review, Security, Signature, and the single-button Create PDF option. There are also new tabs that allow you to access reader comments and file attachments. Finding your way around the software is intuitive, and the software's clear and uncluttered interface makes creating and sharing PDFs a snap - at least until you start customising the conversion settings!

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