<b><i>Product Review:</b></i> Adobe Acrobat X -- Sleek and Efficient

Proponents of a nationwide flat tax argue that it would resolve decades of clutter and confusion and streamline the existing tax code.

Adobe embodies this premise in the latest version of Acrobat ' the entire interface has been overhauled for efficiency and accessibility. The design even trickles down to the numeric version indicator, where Adobe forsakes the traditional Arabic numeral “10″ for the hipper, Roman equivalent of “X” (although it is still pronounced “ten”).

Cleaned Up and Ready to Work

The biggest news by far in Acrobat X is the renovation of the main user interface. When Microsoft released Office 2007, the company replaced the long-established File|Edit|View menu system with a peculiar creature called the “Ribbon.” Microsoft acknowledged that the Ribbon was a response to the fact that users had trouble finding functions buried in sub-menus. The Ribbon ushered in a new model for software design that focused on revealing existing features and making them more accessible. [Editor's Note: For more on the Ribbon, see, "Converting to Office 2007 and Struggling with Word? You Are Not Alone" in the January 2011 issue of LJN's Legal Tech Newsletter; www.ljnonline.com/issues/ljn_legaltech/28_11/news/154734-1.html.]

Adobe decided it was time for Acrobat to get a similar makeover. Acrobat was first introduced in 1993, and the application had accumulated quite a number of menu items over the years. Acrobat 9 boasted 10 menu items, with lists that sometimes stretched halfway down the screen. Acrobat X cuts that menu list in half and rips out many menu items to populate a new “Tools” pane on the right side of the application. The icons in the top toolbars were also condensed and redesigned, which provides a sort of digital feng shui to the application.

The new “Tools” pane on the right uncovers a simple dropdown list of features when it is opened. The pane holds the most commonly used functions for Pages (Rotate, Delete, Extract, etc.), Content (Add Bookmark, Add Text, etc.), Forms, Recognize Text, etc. Adobe has done an excellent job of placing the features in the pane so that the most frequently used functions are at the top of the list.

The Tools pane stays hidden until you choose to have it show (click the word “Tools” in the toolbar on the right). You still have the left pane that has always shown Page Thumbnails and Bookmarks, so now with both panes open, you'll be well served to have a widescreen monitor for viewing your PDF files. Overall, the new design makes a lot of sense, and if you ever have to go back to using an older version of Acrobat, you'll get a little disgusted with the messy menu system you were forced to use for so long.

If you prefer a little more clutter to your Acrobat experience, you are welcome to add icons to the top toolbars. A new “Quick Tools” toolbar lets you pin icons there by right-clicking features in the Tools pane (such as the former “Typewriter Tool” which has now been re-branded as the “Add or Edit Text Box” tool). Right-clicking anywhere on the toolbars brings up a menu that allows you to add items from any menu, as well as bring up the helpful “Properties Bar” necessary to tweak certain functions (e.g., choosing fonts for text).

While the redesign of Acrobat's interface is helpful and necessary, not everyone embraces change kindly so there is sure to be some belly-achin' from the user community.

One change that hit me wrong is that there is no longer a separate “Export” feature under the File menu, since all of those functions have been collected under the “Save As” menu. It's been a struggle to get my mind and fingers retrained after years of clicking the same menu item.

The other change that rubbed me the wrong way is the elimination of the permanent “Find (Search)” box in the toolbar. In previous versions of Acrobat, the Find box was always a small white box in the toolbar where you clicked and typed your search term. In Acrobat X, this box got axed in the name of minimalism. You can still access the Find box by clicking the Edit menu and selecting “Find,” or hitting the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F, which brings up a temporary, hovering search box, but I like the old version better. Ironically, the old version required less clicks.

Tantalizing Tweaks

The revamped interface is by far the biggest change in Acrobat X ' most everything else is more of a tweak and improvement on existing features.

For example, Acrobat has always been able to “recognize” the text of a scanned document through its built-in OCR feature. In Acrobat X, the OCR engine has been significantly upgraded in accuracy, speed and resulting file size.

Another improvement is in Acrobat's ability to save a PDF as a Microsoft Word document. Adobe knows that legal professionals use this feature quite a bit, where they need to “reuse” the content from an existing PDF in another document. Adobe significantly improved this feature to make the resulting Microsoft Word document a much closer facsimile to the original PDF, except that it's now editable in Word. Adobe also added the ability to save a PDF out as an Excel spreadsheet that can be useful for tables of information.

Yet another improvement is in the Redaction tool. Adobe introduced its own redaction tool in Acrobat 8 and has improved the function in versions 9 and X. In Acrobat X, you can now apply redactions that will repeat across pages, which is helpful if you need to redact the same line in the header or footer of a multi-page document.

Finally, the PDF Portfolio feature received some enhancements, with different layout options and the ability to import custom themes. It's obvious that Adobe spent time to improve PDF Portfolios since their introduction in version 9, but I haven't seen the legal industry embrace them. I find that most lawyers are still learning how to combine PDFs together and create Bookmarks, much less create an interactive PDF presentation. The PDF Portfolio, however, is an impressive feature for those that dare to explore the capability.

Learning to Share

Adobe has also been generous on the Acrobat Reader front with the new release. Acrobat Reader is the free PDF viewer that is stripped of the features you find in Acrobat Standard and Pro.

That statement changes slightly with Acrobat Reader X. If you have Acrobat Pro X, you now have the ability to enable commenting tools in Reader. This can be a powerful way to collaborate on a document with a colleague who may only be using the free Reader.

The sharing mentality was obviously a top priority for the folks at Adobe. Acrobat Pro X now also integrates with Microsoft SharePoint environments. This may not mean much unless you work at a firm or company that has SharePoint deployed, but it is significant for those who do that Acrobat can now access and edit PDF files directly from SharePoint.

Sharing also shines in a new service from Adobe called “SendNow.” Lawyers treat e-mail as their de facto document delivery service, but attachments clog up e-mail servers on both sides. Adobe SendNow is an online service where you upload a document that your recipient can download when they choose. You can get a delivery confirmation and set an “expiration” date for when the document is no longer available. Adobe SendNow is very similar to services like www.yousendit.com, but I like that SendNow is incorporated directly into Acrobat X (under the “Share” pane on the right).

Saved Searches Are Super

Searching has always been a vital component of working with PDF files (which is why I'm still baffled as to why the Find box is gone from the toolbar). The “Advanced Search” pane now has the ability to save searches as either a PDF file or a CSV report.

Once you run your search on a single PDF or multiple files, you can click the Save button to generate a nicely formatted PDF report that lists all of the “hits,” along with their page location. I can see this feature being extremely helpful in generating a search report for discovery purposes, since you can run the search on a whole folder of PDF files.

Wizardly Actions

For serious PDF-heads, previous versions of Acrobat offered a mysterious function called “Batch Processing.” A Batch Sequence was a programmable interface that allowed users to execute multiple tasks on a set of PDF files. This has always been a very powerful feature of Acrobat, but it was out of the league of folks who held a day job that didn't involve programming in JavaScript.

Adobe responded to the cry of the PDF layman and completely simplified the former concept of “Batch Processing” into the friendlier “Action Wizard.”

The Action Wizard is a simple, guided dialog where users can automate routine tasks such as OCRing or Bates stamping a folder of PDFs. It is fairly easy to create your own customized Action that can be shared with colleagues who can import the Action into their own Acrobat environment. I see this being very advantageous for larger firms that have IT support folks who can create these “one-button” Actions and send them out to users at the firm.

Conclusion

The reworked interface of Acrobat X is a work of art. Gone are the muddied menus; replaced with a minimalist design focusing on accessibility and efficiency. The new interface alone may not be enough for many users to upgrade, but Acrobat X offers plenty of tweaks and improvements to make the purchase worthwhile.

I recommend that legal professionals purchase the Pro version of Acrobat X, which retails for $449 or upgrades for $199. The Standard version is less expensive, but does not offer some of the more advanced features that are important to a law practice, such as document comparison, redaction tools, the ability to share Actions, etc.

Proponents of a nationwide flat tax argue that it would resolve decades of clutter and confusion and streamline the existing tax code.

Adobe embodies this premise in the latest version of Acrobat ' the entire interface has been overhauled for efficiency and accessibility. The design even trickles down to the numeric version indicator, where Adobe forsakes the traditional Arabic numeral “10″ for the hipper, Roman equivalent of “X” (although it is still pronounced “ten”).

Cleaned Up and Ready to Work

The biggest news by far in Acrobat X is the renovation of the main user interface. When Microsoft released Office 2007, the company replaced the long-established File|Edit|View menu system with a peculiar creature called the “Ribbon.” Microsoft acknowledged that the Ribbon was a response to the fact that users had trouble finding functions buried in sub-menus. The Ribbon ushered in a new model for software design that focused on revealing existing features and making them more accessible. [Editor's Note: For more on the Ribbon, see, "Converting to Office 2007 and Struggling with Word? You Are Not Alone" in the January 2011 issue of LJN's Legal Tech Newsletter; www.ljnonline.com/issues/ljn_legaltech/28_11/news/154734-1.html.]

Adobe decided it was time for Acrobat to get a similar makeover. Acrobat was first introduced in 1993, and the application had accumulated quite a number of menu items over the years. Acrobat 9 boasted 10 menu items, with lists that sometimes stretched halfway down the screen. Acrobat X cuts that menu list in half and rips out many menu items to populate a new “Tools” pane on the right side of the application. The icons in the top toolbars were also condensed and redesigned, which provides a sort of digital feng shui to the application.

The new “Tools” pane on the right uncovers a simple dropdown list of features when it is opened. The pane holds the most commonly used functions for Pages (Rotate, Delete, Extract, etc.), Content (Add Bookmark, Add Text, etc.), Forms, Recognize Text, etc. Adobe has done an excellent job of placing the features in the pane so that the most frequently used functions are at the top of the list.

The Tools pane stays hidden until you choose to have it show (click the word “Tools” in the toolbar on the right). You still have the left pane that has always shown Page Thumbnails and Bookmarks, so now with both panes open, you'll be well served to have a widescreen monitor for viewing your PDF files. Overall, the new design makes a lot of sense, and if you ever have to go back to using an older version of Acrobat, you'll get a little disgusted with the messy menu system you were forced to use for so long.

If you prefer a little more clutter to your Acrobat experience, you are welcome to add icons to the top toolbars. A new “Quick Tools” toolbar lets you pin icons there by right-clicking features in the Tools pane (such as the former “Typewriter Tool” which has now been re-branded as the “Add or Edit Text Box” tool). Right-clicking anywhere on the toolbars brings up a menu that allows you to add items from any menu, as well as bring up the helpful “Properties Bar” necessary to tweak certain functions (e.g., choosing fonts for text).

While the redesign of Acrobat's interface is helpful and necessary, not everyone embraces change kindly so there is sure to be some belly-achin' from the user community.

One change that hit me wrong is that there is no longer a separate “Export” feature under the File menu, since all of those functions have been collected under the “Save As” menu. It's been a struggle to get my mind and fingers retrained after years of clicking the same menu item.

The other change that rubbed me the wrong way is the elimination of the permanent “Find (Search)” box in the toolbar. In previous versions of Acrobat, the Find box was always a small white box in the toolbar where you clicked and typed your search term. In Acrobat X, this box got axed in the name of minimalism. You can still access the Find box by clicking the Edit menu and selecting “Find,” or hitting the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F, which brings up a temporary, hovering search box, but I like the old version better. Ironically, the old version required less clicks.

Tantalizing Tweaks

The revamped interface is by far the biggest change in Acrobat X ' most everything else is more of a tweak and improvement on existing features.

For example, Acrobat has always been able to “recognize” the text of a scanned document through its built-in OCR feature. In Acrobat X, the OCR engine has been significantly upgraded in accuracy, speed and resulting file size.

Another improvement is in Acrobat's ability to save a PDF as a Microsoft Word document. Adobe knows that legal professionals use this feature quite a bit, where they need to “reuse” the content from an existing PDF in another document. Adobe significantly improved this feature to make the resulting Microsoft Word document a much closer facsimile to the original PDF, except that it's now editable in Word. Adobe also added the ability to save a PDF out as an Excel spreadsheet that can be useful for tables of information.

Yet another improvement is in the Redaction tool. Adobe introduced its own redaction tool in Acrobat 8 and has improved the function in versions 9 and X. In Acrobat X, you can now apply redactions that will repeat across pages, which is helpful if you need to redact the same line in the header or footer of a multi-page document.

Finally, the PDF Portfolio feature received some enhancements, with different layout options and the ability to import custom themes. It's obvious that Adobe spent time to improve PDF Portfolios since their introduction in version 9, but I haven't seen the legal industry embrace them. I find that most lawyers are still learning how to combine PDFs together and create Bookmarks, much less create an interactive PDF presentation. The PDF Portfolio, however, is an impressive feature for those that dare to explore the capability.

Learning to Share

Adobe has also been generous on the Acrobat Reader front with the new release. Acrobat Reader is the free PDF viewer that is stripped of the features you find in Acrobat Standard and Pro.

That statement changes slightly with Acrobat Reader X. If you have Acrobat Pro X, you now have the ability to enable commenting tools in Reader. This can be a powerful way to collaborate on a document with a colleague who may only be using the free Reader.

The sharing mentality was obviously a top priority for the folks at Adobe. Acrobat Pro X now also integrates with Microsoft SharePoint environments. This may not mean much unless you work at a firm or company that has SharePoint deployed, but it is significant for those who do that Acrobat can now access and edit PDF files directly from SharePoint.

Sharing also shines in a new service from Adobe called “SendNow.” Lawyers treat e-mail as their de facto document delivery service, but attachments clog up e-mail servers on both sides. Adobe SendNow is an online service where you upload a document that your recipient can download when they choose. You can get a delivery confirmation and set an “expiration” date for when the document is no longer available. Adobe SendNow is very similar to services like www.yousendit.com, but I like that SendNow is incorporated directly into Acrobat X (under the “Share” pane on the right).

Saved Searches Are Super

Searching has always been a vital component of working with PDF files (which is why I'm still baffled as to why the Find box is gone from the toolbar). The “Advanced Search” pane now has the ability to save searches as either a PDF file or a CSV report.

Once you run your search on a single PDF or multiple files, you can click the Save button to generate a nicely formatted PDF report that lists all of the “hits,” along with their page location. I can see this feature being extremely helpful in generating a search report for discovery purposes, since you can run the search on a whole folder of PDF files.

Wizardly Actions

For serious PDF-heads, previous versions of Acrobat offered a mysterious function called “Batch Processing.” A Batch Sequence was a programmable interface that allowed users to execute multiple tasks on a set of PDF files. This has always been a very powerful feature of Acrobat, but it was out of the league of folks who held a day job that didn't involve programming in JavaScript.

Adobe responded to the cry of the PDF layman and completely simplified the former concept of “Batch Processing” into the friendlier “Action Wizard.”

The Action Wizard is a simple, guided dialog where users can automate routine tasks such as OCRing or Bates stamping a folder of PDFs. It is fairly easy to create your own customized Action that can be shared with colleagues who can import the Action into their own Acrobat environment. I see this being very advantageous for larger firms that have IT support folks who can create these “one-button” Actions and send them out to users at the firm.

Conclusion

The reworked interface of Acrobat X is a work of art. Gone are the muddied menus; replaced with a minimalist design focusing on accessibility and efficiency. The new interface alone may not be enough for many users to upgrade, but Acrobat X offers plenty of tweaks and improvements to make the purchase worthwhile.

I recommend that legal professionals purchase the Pro version of Acrobat X, which retails for $449 or upgrades for $199. The Standard version is less expensive, but does not offer some of the more advanced features that are important to a law practice, such as document comparison, redaction tools, the ability to share Actions, etc.