Adobe Acrobat Pro XI review

It’s possible to extract this content for re-use, too, with Acrobat XI Pro extending output options from Word and Excel to PowerPoint as well. Again, the process is simple and surprisingly effective, with elements common to all pages assigned to a master slide. Don’t expect miracles, though: if you really want to encourage re-use, you’re better off simply including the original file in the PDF to begin with.

With PDFs involved in so many different tasks, from standard document exchange through workgroup collaboration to advanced form handling, signing, archiving and commercial print production, the danger is that workflows can become over-complicated. Here, the new ability for IT departments to customise what capabilities are made available to end users should prove handy.

Acrobat Pro XI’s series of newly revamped Action wizards, which walk users through important workflows, should help here too. Perhaps the most significant of these is Optimize for Web and Mobile, which automatically converts colours to sRGB and embeds fonts to ensure consistent display across all devices, before compressing files to keep them lightweight.

It’s worth noting that Adobe has also been hard at work improving its touch-optimised readers for iOS, Android and Windows 8, ensuring all the new features are supported – including FormsCentral and EchoSign. That’s important, as ultimately, it’s these free reader apps – and the new free cloud services that link into them – that provide Acrobat with its cross-platform and cross-device universality, and so justify the hefty price tag.

Acrobat XI Pro isn’t just the most capable application for producing and consuming PDFs, then, it’s the key to unlocking the full potential of Adobe’s all-encompassing, Acrobat-based PDF ecosystem. Its high price mean it won’t be for everyone, but for large organisations, the efficiency and productivity gains Acrobat Pro XI and its cloud-based support services bring will quickly cover the cost.