Adobe Acrobat Vs. Adobe Reader

In an effort to exchange documents quickly and safely between individuals and companies, Adobe developed a file format called Portable Document Format (PDF). Using Adobe Acrobat, users can copy the way a file looks into a PDF. Another user can open the document in Adobe Reader and view, print and search the document without the ability to edit the document.

View PDFs

Both Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader can open PDF files. Although Acrobat has more capabilities, if users simply want to view search or edit the files, Reader is a sufficient program. The document will look and print exactly the same in both programs.

Create PDFs

Although Reader is sufficient when it comes to viewing and printing PDFs, it is not sufficient if you want to convert a document into a PDF. To create a PDF, you will need to install Adobe Acrobat. Adobe offers three different versions of Acrobat---Standard, Pro and Pro Extended. The version of Acrobat will determine the creative capabilities. To simply create a sharable copy of your documents, Standard will suffice. If you want to include security or interactivity, you will need Acrobat Pro or Pro Extended.

Edit PDFs

Because PDFs are designed as a secure way to share files, editing features in Acrobat and Reader are limited. Reader is practically unable to edit anything in a PDF, unless the PDF creator enabled form or comment capabilities. Acrobat has a few editing features to work within PDF files. Again, the capabilities will depend on the version of Acrobat. For example, all of the Acrobat family can combine multiple PDF files into a single file. Adobe Pro, however, includes tools that allow you to add comments to the document. Additional tools, such as the typewriter allow you to fill in forms that would otherwise be unusable.

PDF Forms

Forms saved as a PDF are a quick and easy way to gather information. The creator of the form in Acrobat can create the form editable. This means that any viewer of the document will be able to fill in the form, even if the user only has Reader. If the PDF form does not include this function, then Reader users will still only be able to view and print the form. Recent versions of Acrobat Professional have a new feature that allows the user to convert a form into a fillable form.

Price

In order to create the PDF format so that it is a sharable format, Adobe provides Reader completely free of charge. A user simply visits Adobe's website and downloads the latest version of Acrobat. Subsequent version updates and releases will also be free. Acrobat Standard's starting price is $299. Acrobat Pro costs $449, and Acrobat Pro Extended costs $699. All prices are as of 2009. Acrobat Pro is also included in some of the Creative Suite packages.

References

• Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader
• Adobe and PDF