Adobe Acrobat DC now available

The new version of Adobe Acrobat is known as DC for Document Cloud, and it is now available. As with Adobe’s Creative Cloud, this Adobe app still requires you to download the Acrobat software to your computer - it is not a cloud-based application. Rather, it is a desktop application that offers some cloud storage. The new version gives you the ability to store files in the cloud, and use cloud-based tools to help manage the digital PDF files you store in Adobe’s cloud. The Adobe Document Cloud isn’t for all documents, it is primarily for PDF files. Acrobat DC is not Box, Drop Box, or Google Drive. Although you can use Adobe Acrobat DC to access files in these locations, you only gain additional capabilities to manage PDF files when these files are stored in the Adobe Document Cloud. Adobe Acrobat DC provides and online location where you can store PDF files.

Adobe Digital Signatures

The real improvement and reason to consider Acrobat DC is the enhanced digital signatures, and not the cloud-based storage. The new digital signatures capabilities that have been baked into Adobe Acrobat make it easier to route documents for signatures and get them signed digitally, provided that you have an Acrobat subscription. This means that if you buy the full version of Acrobat, instead of subscribing to the Adobe cloud services, you won’t have access to the new enhanced signature options. This means that to send a document out for digital approval or signature, you must be subscribing to the Adobe Document Cloud or Adobe Creative Cloud; you can’t simply buy the most current version of Acrobat.

If you need a document signed and have a copy of Acrobat DC as well as a Document Cloud subscription, you can route it for signatures. When the recipient gets the document, they can apply a signature using Adobe’s new Acrobat mobile tools, or even using a browser window if they don’t have a copy of Acrobat. Adobe has made applying signatures to documents stored in the document cloud quite easy, and AGI's future Adobe training and Acrobat courses will incorporate these latest tools. 

With the launch of Document Cloud, Adobe has discontinued EchoSign for routing and providing digital signatures. Adobe has built these capabilities into its new document cloud as well, forcing users to migrate if they want to use the capabilities previously offered through EchoSign. Users that don’t want to upgrade their version of Acrobat can look at the competing DocuSign service for routing documents for digital signatures.

Adobe Forms Central Replacement

If you had previously used Adobe Forms Central to collect forms submissions, this has also been discontinued. An Adobe Forms Central replacement, or at least alternative is available from the company FormRouter. If you don’t want to upgrade to Adobe’s Document Cloud, FormRouter allows you to capture form data submitted electronically from PDF and also web forms.

Adobe Acrobat DC Bottom-Line

Overall, Acrobat DC offers added productivity if you route many documents for signature or approval. If you use Acrobat primarily to view, secure, and annotate PDFs with mark-up, you won’t find much benefit in this new version.