Seamless integration of multi media and the possibility of group document reviews are key features of the new and improved Acrobat 9.

One of the most popular portable document format (PDF) software solutions currently available, the name Acrobat is synonymous with ease of communication, and simplified review processes.

Acrobat 9, launched in June, promises to build on the features of previous versions, further enhancing organizational collaboration by enhancing the opportunity to share documents simultaneously in multiple locations for more time efficient electronic reviews and by synchronizing document views, ensuring that multiple staff are viewing the same page at the same time.

Working across Microsoft® Windows® XP, Windows Vista™ and Mac OS X, Acrobat 9 has a wealth of new and improved features designed to make communication and collaborating across groups more accessible.

Acrobat 9 has been specifically enhanced to enable document reviews across organisations and personnel. The new features of Acrobat 9 will allow group editing and shared reviews to be undertaken with ease, with a sophisticated tracking tool to allow everyone to see changes made to the master document ensuring transparency of the review process and security of the document.

Seamless collaboration with Adobe Flash means you can incorporate Flash widgets into PDFs and also assemble documents using drawings, emails, spreadsheets, and rich media including audio, video, 3D and maps into a single compressed PDF portfolio.

Safeguard sensitive information
256-bit encryption has been added to Acrobat 9 to protect sensitive information enhancing Acrobat’s existing functionality of password protected access and permissions to restrict printing, copying, or altering PDF documents.

With Acrobat 9, redaction tools can be used to remove sensitive text, illustrations, or other information, permanently deleting the content from the PDF document. You are able to inspect PDF documents for metadata, hidden layers, and other concealed information, and remove it before distributing to others; ensuring responsibilities to privacy legislation are easily addressed.

PDF Portfolios
Business Professionals can now share a wide range of information in a cohesive manner as a PDF Portfolio. PDF Portfolios have the ability to bring together PDF, Flash content, Office documents, images and many other file types into a single PDF container that is presented with a rich, structured Flash interface.

Acrobat 9 Pro and Acrobat 9 Pro Extended include the ability to allow knowledge workers to choose and customize polished PDF Portfolio Templates, that can be branded with a welcome page, header and layout that reflects their own personal or corporate look-and-feel.

The documents and content that are presented can be descriptive and have built-in previews right inside Acrobat or Reader 9, so viewers can see what the document is before opening it. And for native files such as Office documents recipients can open, edit and save back in to the PDF Portfolio changes that they make, making PDF Portfolios great containers for all kinds of information that they may have to deal with in a project.

Native Support for Flash
Many organisations are embracing multimedia as a way to ensure their message and content is engaging, and business professionals want to be able to leverage that high value, high impact content in their documents. Acrobat 9 addresses those challenges in many exciting and revolutionary ways.

Firstly, people can make an impact through their documents by leveraging Acrobat 9’s native support for Flash. They can include audio, Flash video and Flash applications within their documents, and it will all playback reliably without causing any fuss about special players or operating system differences.

Acrobat Pro Extended also includes the ability to add QuickTime, Windows Media and other native movie formats to Office documents and convert those to embedded Flash video in the resulting PDF documents on creation.

Group document review
Enhanced document review features mean anyone using the free Adobe Reader can digitally sign documents, and participate in shared document reviews. By extending Acrobat functionality to Adobe Reader users, anyone you choose can participate in the workflows you initiate, making communication across sites immediate and far more cost efficient.

Not only do the collaborative enhancements to Acrobat 9 mean anyone in the organisation can be included in the document review, but the environmental benefits from conducting electronic reviews are immediately obvious.

In addition to standard paperless document reviews, Acrobat 9 has new capabilities enabling you to search, measure, and mark up geospatially enabled PDF maps. Interactive features allow you to discover the longitude and latitude by placing your cursor over a location, and measure distances in kilometres or miles.

Working with forms made easy
Acrobat 9 includes a new Forms Wizard to quickly create forms from paper or electronic documents. With the Wizard you can quickly add, edit, and name form fields. Use the Tracker to see when forms have been completed and who has completed them, providing you with a vital document-tracking tool for audit purposes.

Version control for auditing purposes
Version control is also made easier, with Acrobat 9 having an innovative “synchronized view” feature. Colleagues, clients, and partners will all literally be on the same page at the same time with Acrobat 9s new ability to co-navigate documents. To provide clarity and enhance discussion, Acrobat 9 works with Acrobat.com, enabling you to walk others through a PDF document in real-time by controlling the exact page and page location they see. Acrobat.com is an online hosted service that allows you to share and store documents online, distribute and collect forms, co-navigate and synchronise document views

Acrobat.com provides an easy-to-access place to distribute and store forms, as well as collect and analyse forms data, ensuring that all staff have access to the latest version of forms, creating a further efficiency in version control of documents.

To ensure that you’re working from the correct version, enhanced capabilities automatically highlight the differences between two versions of a PDF document, including text and images, so you can quickly and easily identify what has changed. Save time and money by reducing double handling of documents through this sophisticated enhancement. See exactly who has been involved in the editing process prior to making your comments.

Liven up your presentations
Use newly included Adobe Presenter software (available in Acrobat 9 Pro Extended only) to liven up slides with video, voice-over, demos, and interactive quizzes, then output to PDF for reliable, cross-platform sharing with anyone using the free Adobe Reader. New, native support for Adobe Flash® in Acrobat 9 enables reliable, cross-platform sharing of video, animations, and applications in Acrobat and Adobe Reader® software. Quickly and easily convert a variety of video formats to Flash for seamless playback without the need for a special media player.

Accessibility for all
Ensure your PDF documents are optimized for people with visual disabilities. Create accessible PDF documents from almost any source to comply with equal opportunity standards. Quickly evaluate, correct, and automatically tag PDF documents for optimized accessibility and reflow.

Save time and space by filing electronically
Enhanced Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology and support for a broader range of scanners improves the appearance of and ability to search within scanned documents.

New PDF Standards Pane provides details on compliance to PDF/A, the ISO standard for long-term archiving of electronic documents, PDF/X, the ideal format for high-quality, professional printing, and PDF/E, the standard format for the reliable exchange of engineering documentation and drawings. Improve search and retrieve times for files across the organisation by moving to an electronic system of filing.

What does it all mean?
Acrobat 9 is the most sophisticated portable document format software created by Adobe to date. Enhancements to the already internationally used Acrobat tool enable business, creative, and technical professionals to communicate and collaborate with confidence. Acrobat 9 allows people to seamlessly share resources and ideas, offers easy to navigate electronic reviews, and simplifies the creation and completion of forms so businesses and individuals can efficiently collect, analyse, and use data.