Getting Started with Acrobat Professional 8 (Overview)

Getting Started Dialog Box

The Getting Started dialog box in Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional provides central access to almost all of Acrobat's major features.

The dialog box is neatly arranged into 8 sections with each section bearing a brief description of the functionality accessed by clicking the comfortably large box.

Consistency is maintained within the application, when the Getting Started dialog box is closed, with each section available from the main toolbar.

Create PDF

Aimed squarely at the PDF beginner the first option details the available alternatives for creating a PDF file.

In addition to providing clickable links to guide a beginner through the options available from within Acrobat for PDF creation the Create PDF dialog also provides copious links to the help system for learning more about each option.

Combine Files

The ability to a create a single file from disparate sources is often the Holy Grail of the end user and the Combine Files dialog provides a direct link to the Combine File function with Acrobat.

Again there is extensive assistance available extending to explanations of when it may be appropriate to use the feature.

Export

Another frequent end user request is the ability to reverse engineer a PDF or part of it back to an editable file format.

Various options are avilable which cover the ability to extract a block of text, extract certain pages and create a new PDF file from them, take a snapshot of part of the PDF file and convert a PDF file to an editable Word, HTML/XML or image format.

Start Meeting

A completely new addition to the Acrobat product family is Acrobat Connect, an online conferencing facility.

The Start Meeting options include the ability to start a meeting from within Acrobat, view a demo of Acrobat Connect or visit the Acrobat Connect web site.

Secure

The security options available fall into 3 distinct categories:

1) Create a Security Envelope
To distribute documents in a secure fashion.

2) Restrict Access and Permissions
Extensive encryption options are available.

3) Examine the Documents for Metadata
Metadata is an often overlooked source of potential security risk in any document and Acrobat now has the ability to examine and remove this information.

Sign

PDF files are increasingly being used in situations where it is essential to be able to guarantee their veracity.

The Sign options enable a user to verify that a document has not been changed in any way and that it originated from the proported sender.

Forms

Acrobat includes the ability to not only create forms but also to distribute the created forms and collect and collate the completed forms.

The Windows version ships with Adobe Lifecycle Designer which facilitates the creation of advanced forms and provides a myriad of templates to use as a starting point for designing your own forms.