Adobe Acrobat facts for kids
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Adobe Acrobat Pro running on Windows 11. Other editions of Acrobat (Standard and Reader) feature a similar interface.
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| Developer(s) | Adobe | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Initial release | 1987 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Type | Desktop publishing | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| License | Proprietary (freeware or trialware) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Adobe Acrobat is a family of computer programs and online services. They are made by Adobe Inc. These tools help you view, create, change, print, and manage Portable Document Format (PDF) files.
The Acrobat family includes Acrobat Reader, Acrobat, and Acrobat.com. Acrobat Reader is free and lets you view, print, and add notes to PDF files. You can use it on many computers and mobile devices. Acrobat (the paid version) is for Windows and macOS. It lets you create, edit, and share PDF files. Acrobat.com offers online services for managing files.
Contents
What Adobe Acrobat Does
The main job of Adobe Acrobat is to help you work with PDF documents. You can use it to create, view, and edit these files. It can turn many common document and image types into PDFs. You can also scan documents or grab content from a website to make a PDF.
Once a PDF is made, it's like a fixed picture of a document. You can change words or pictures inside it. But you can't easily change how the whole document looks or its page layout. Acrobat lets you crop pages, change their order, and add links. You can also sign PDF files digitally, add comments, or hide certain parts.
History of Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat first came out in 1993. It had to compete with other programs that also wanted to create digital documents.
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Adobe has changed the names of its Acrobat products many times. They have also combined or stopped offering some of them. At first, the main products were Acrobat Reader, Acrobat Exchange, and Acrobat Distiller. Acrobat Exchange soon became just "Acrobat." Over time, "Acrobat Reader" became "Reader."
In 1999, the Acrobat.com service started. It offered many online tools. Later, "Acrobat.com" became the name of just one of those services.
Document Cloud
In April 2015, Adobe launched "Document Cloud." This showed that their programs were now using cloud storage and online services. Programs under this new brand got a "DC" added to their names. Also, "Reader" was renamed back to "Acrobat Reader." After Document Cloud started, Acrobat.com stopped as a separate service. Its features were moved into the desktop and mobile apps.
The look of Acrobat changed a lot with Acrobat DC in 2015. It works on Windows 7 and newer, and macOS 10.9 and newer. The version numbers now use the year of release. For example, "DC June 2016" was version 15.016.20045.
Since DC 2015, Acrobat has two update types: Classic and Continuous. Classic updates happen every three months and don't add new features. Continuous updates happen more often and install automatically.
The last version before DC was Acrobat XI. It received its final update in November 2017. In September 2020, Adobe added a "Liquid Mode" feature. It uses AI to make documents easier to read on phones.
Adobe Acrobat Products
Current Services
- Acrobat.com is the online version of Acrobat. You can use it in a web browser to edit, create, and manage PDF files. You need an Adobe ID to use it.
- Acrobat Distiller is a program that turns documents from PostScript format into PDF files. PDF is the main format for Adobe Acrobat products.
- Acrobat Pro is the full, professional version of Acrobat. It lets you edit, create, and manage PDF files. It is available for Windows and macOS users.
- Acrobat Reader is the free version of Acrobat. It lets you view, fill out, print, and format PDF files. It works on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android devices.
- Acrobat Standard is a full version of Acrobat. It lets you edit, create, and manage PDF files. It is currently available for Windows users only.
- Document Cloud is part of the Acrobat family. It helps you edit, create, save online, print, and format PDF files. You can use it with a web browser and an Adobe ID.
- Fill & Sign is an Acrobat tool for filling out and signing PDF files. It works on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
- Scan is an Acrobat tool for scanning documents and turning them into PDF files. It is available for iOS and Android devices.
- Sign (formerly EchoSign) is an Acrobat tool for signing and managing PDF files. It is available for iOS and Android devices.
Discontinued Services
Adobe has stopped offering some Acrobat services over time. These include tools like Acrobat Approval, Acrobat Business Tools, and FormsCentral.
Languages and Localization
Adobe Acrobat is available in many languages. These include Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and more. For languages like Arabic and Hebrew, which are written right-to-left, special versions were made. These versions help manage text direction and other features for these languages. Acrobat can also copy text in its original language encoding.
Security
Adobe regularly shares information about security updates for its products. This includes detailed updates for all versions of Adobe Acrobat.
Since version 3.02, Acrobat Reader has supported JavaScript. This means a PDF document can include code that runs when you open it. Sometimes, harmful PDF files can use this to try and attack your computer. These files might come from links on websites or as email attachments. While JavaScript is designed to be safe, problems have been found that allow bad code to run. It's important to keep your Adobe software updated.
Adobe has issued warnings over the years about security issues. For example, in February 2009, they warned about JavaScript problems in older versions of Reader and Acrobat. They suggested turning off JavaScript in the programs and being careful with PDF files from unknown sources. In February 2013 and January 2016, more warnings were issued about critical problems that could let attackers take control of a system. Adobe always recommends updating your software to the latest version to stay safe.
See Also
In Spanish: Adobe Acrobat para niños
- List of PDF software
- Adobe Acrobat version history
