Adobe releases Adobe Document Cloud, new versions of Acrobat

We recently commented about whether the new versions of Adobe Acrobat will change the outlook for Acrobat and the PDF file format. Here we look at the complete set of tools that Adobe has made available with the announcement of the Adobe Document Cloud and Adobe Acrobat DC:

Adobe Document Cloud:  Initially this looks like little more than Google Drive or One Drive, with some additional options for synchronization. Although this may not be much of an added value, it is worth noting that Adobe had great success with Creative Cloud, even though users don’t really work in the cloud, and all software needs to be downloaded before it is used.

Acrobat DC Pro and Acrobat DC Standard: These are the most recent versions of Adobe Acrobat. The capabilities are nearly identical to the current Acrobat Pro versions, but the look and feel of the interface has changed, as Adobe has optimized it for use on touch-screen devices. Adobe also indicated that converting paper documents to PDF will be improved, as they have included some technology from their Photoshop tools, which helps with automatically enhancing images. Adobe has also more tightly integrated digital-signatures from EchoSign, a company they recently acquired. Now known as eSign, Acrobat incorporates workflow and tracking. All the other capabilities are minor, incremental improvements rather than new features. These are the versions that AGI will soon be using in the Adobe Acrobat training classes offered, and incorporated into other Adobe training programs that integrate with Acrobat.

Acrobat Mobile: Acrobat mobile is an app for iOS, Android, with a Windows Phone version apparently under consideration or possibly even under development by Adobe. Acrobat Mobile replaces Adobe Reader, and provides more functionality on these devices if you subscribe to Adobe Acrobat DC. If you subscribe to Adobe’s services, you can use it to create PDFs on your mobile devices, perform some edits, apply comments, and sign PDF files. It includes OCR, meaning you could take a picture of a page, then use Acrobat mobile to edit some of the text, although the editing capabilities are somewhat limited. If you are not a subscriber, you can still use this tool to view PDF files.

Acrobat Fill and Sign: As the name suggests, this mobile app lets you fill and sign PDFs you receive. While filling and singing existing PDFs is free for all uses, you need to subscribe to the Pro version of Acrobat DC if you want to take a picture of a form on your mobile device, convert it to PDF, then fill and sign it.