Adobe announced today that it will soon be releasing Adobe Acrobat XI, which like previous versions of Acrobat will come in two flavors: Standard and Professional. Adobe is also going to be releasing version XI of its Adobe Reader program. The main focus of the new Acrobat program is on mobile devices, and cloud services such as Adobe’s EchoSign and FormsCentral services.z
- Better editing of PDF files, including the ability to modify entire paragraphs and replace images. Also, greater ability to change fonts and alter type styles.
- The ability to save PDF documents as PowerPoint files (prior versions of Acrobat allowed PDF files to be saved as Word or Excel files).
- Better handling of electronic signatures, especially the integration with Adobe’s EchoSign service. Mobile devices such as iPads will be able to be used to sign documents in a way that integrates with EchoSign.
- The ability to merge and arrange different file types into one organized PDF file, and then manipulate content within each file.
- More robust form transmission and collection (and analysis) using Adobe FormsCentral service.
- The ability to work with PDF files using touch gestures on tablets and mobile devices such as Apple’s iPad and iPhone devices.
- Better integration with Microsoft Office and Microsoft SharePoint.
- The ability to host Acrobat XI and Reader XI as virtual applications with “touch mode interface” in a Citrix environment.
The new products are expected to ship within 30 days, and be available through Adobe authorized resellers. The list price for Acrobat XI Standard will be $299 ($139 for an upgrade), and Acrobat XI Professional will be $449 ($199 for an upgrade).
Adobe’s EchoSign and FormsCentral services each costs $14.95 per month.