Adobe Acrobat 6

Here you can filter and sort all comments and set their status to accepted or rejected. If the original document was a Word XP file, it's possible to export all comments back into it as text mark-ups and comment bubbles to eliminate retyping, although, in this case, it might well be simpler to use Word's own review capabilities.

Going Professional

With Acrobat Standard, the PDF file acts as a useful business tool, a means to an end; with Acrobat Professional it takes centre-stage as the end product itself. As such, the emphasis is on PDF authoring. Acrobat Professional offers a number of features to add value to PDF documents, such as the ability to set up advanced forms (these can be filled in with the free Adobe Reader) and to manage XML-based tagging (this can improve the accessibility of PDFs through screen reflow on handheld devices, and through text synthesis for screen reading).

Another seriously under-appreciated way of adding value to PDFs is through the Movie and Sound tools. In the past, these were limited to adding linked video (AVI or MOV) and audio (AIFF or WAV) files. Now - thanks to its support for QuickTime, RealOne, Windows Media Player and Shockwave Flash - you can also link or embed MPEG-2, MP3, SWF, animated GIF and more. Just in case the end user doesn't have the necessary player installed, you can even set up alternatives.

A new area that Acrobat Professional targets is technical design. The one-click PDFMaker macro is automatically added to Windows versions of AutoCAD, Visio and Microsoft Project, and large ARCH, ISO, JIS and ANSI page formats are supported. The new drawing tools for annotating files will also help technical designers, as will the rulers, guides and grids. Also note the new Distance, Perimeter and Area tools for taking scaled measurements directly from the PDF. Most important of all, Acrobat 6's new PDF 1.5 format now supports layers, which are essential for CAD-based technical drawings and will no doubt also come in handy for the next versions of InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop.

Those involved in print-oriented graphical design benefit even more. PDF has long been promoted as the natural single-file, PostScript-based format for producing colour-separated commercial print. In practice, it has left a lot to be desired, forcing professionals to turn to third-party plug-ins or Adobe's own Mac-only InProduction tools to ensure their press work goes smoothly. Now the most important pre-press tools are built-in.

The new Preflight command lets you check your document against a range of profiles to help you spot potential problems such as mixed colour spaces or low-resolution images. You can also create files that are compliant with the PDF/X standards for pre-press document exchange. Acrobat's colour-management system now follows the same ICC profile-based model pioneered by Photoshop, allowing soft-proofing on-screen. You can finally output colour separations directly from Acrobat and, even better, it's possible to preview your individual CMYK plates on-screen as well as preview transparency flattening and overprinting.

Overall, there's a lot to take in and different users will benefit to different extents. Initially, there's comparatively little to persuade current users of Acrobat Reader to upgrade to Adobe Reader, but that should change when authors begin producing work that takes advantage of the new layer and multimedia capabilities. And of course it's free, so why not?

For potential Acrobat Elements and Acrobat Standard users, the easy creation and integration of PDF into their everyday workflows could prove compelling. What's more, for those who currently collaborate via PDF, Acrobat Standard's new review capabilities should boost productivity. For designers and high-end users, there's no question: Acrobat Professional is a must-have.