What’s new

    What’s new (Acrobat X)

      Streamlined user interface

      A streamlined, simplified user interface displays the most commonly used tools, depending on the task at hand. Use the chart below to help you find your favorite options from Acrobat 9.

      Where’s my Acrobat 9 tool?

      Most Acrobat 9 menus have moved to a corresponding panel in the Tools, Comment, or Share pane. You can customize the panes. If your Tools pane is missing an option shown in the chart, you can add it. See Add Tools to Tools Pane below.

      Acrobat 9 menu commands and tools map to panels in the Acrobat X task panes. To add all the panels to the Tools pane, click the options menu  under the Share pane and choose a deselected panel from the list. Excerpted from “Adobe Acrobat X Classroom in a Book,” published by Adobe Press. Copyright 2011.

      Here are a few additional command locations.

      Acrobat 9

      Acrobat X

      Document > Optimize Scanned PDF

      Tools > Document Processing > Optimize Scanned PDF

      Document > OCR Text Recognition

      Tools > Recognize Text

      Document > Examine Document

      Tools > Protection > Remove Hidden Information

      Document > Attach a File

      Tools > Content > Attach a File

      Tools > Select & Zoom > Snapshot Tool

      Edit > Take A Snapshot

      Tools > Typewriter

      Tools > Content > Add or Edit Text Box

      Tools > Analysis

      Tools > Analyze

      Tools > Advanced Editing

      Tools > Content

      Tools > Advanced Editing > Article Tool

      Tools > Document Processing > Add Article Box

      Advanced > Web Capture

      Tools > Document Processing > Web Capture

      Advanced > Extend Features in Adobe Reader

      File > Save As > Reader Extended PDF

      Add tools to Tools pane

      The Tools pane on the right side of the window organizes the tools into task-related groups. By default, only the most commonly used tools appear. To add other groups of tools (called panels) to the Tools pane, open the pane and click the options menu  in the upper-right corner. Choose a deselected panel from the list. (The Tools pane replaces the Tasks toolbar in Acrobat 9.)

      Adding tools to the Tools pane

      You can also access the desktop tools you use most by adding individual items to the customizable Quick Tools toolbar. (The Quick Tools toolbar replaces the floating toolbars in Acrobat 9.) See Workspace basics.

      Usability and productivity

      Streamlined commenting process
      Access mark-up tools and view comments from a single, unified Annotations panel. A read or unread indicator shows which comments you have read and which you have not. Find comments quickly using the new Filter Comments feature. See Managing comments.

      Read mode
      Optimize your screen for reading and presentation of PDFs. Menus and panels disappear and a semi-transparent floating toolbar appears for navigation as needed. See View PDFs in Read mode.

      Scanning enhancements
      Scan paper documents into PDF and automatically recognize text with improved optical character recognition (OCR). Text can be copied for reuse in authoring applications or exported into Word and Excel formats. Reduce file sizes by up to 50%, improve image fidelity, and scan a combination of color and monochrome documents together with automatic color detection. See Scan a paper document to PDF.

      Search enhancements
      Find and save a search, then export the search results to a PDF file or to a spreadsheet. See Searching PDFs.

      PDF creation and sharing

      PDF Portfolios
      View PDF Portfolios in newly designed layouts, visual themes, and color palettes. Digitally sign child documents within a PDF Portfolio. Accessibility support in File mode. See PDF Portfolios.

      Microsoft Windows 7 and Office 2010
      Create PDF files from within the most popular Office 2010 applications, as well as specialized applications such as Microsoft Project and Visio. See Convert Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files to PDF.

      Mozilla Firefox support
      Convert web pages to PDF, keeping all links intact. See Convert web pages to PDF in Internet Explorer and Firefox (Windows).

      PDF conversion to Excel and Word
      Save PDF files as Microsoft Word documents and Excel spreadsheets, retaining the layout, fonts, formatting, and tables. See Convert PDFs to Word, RTF, spreadsheets or other formats.

      Password strength meter
      Create better passwords with the password strength meter. See Add password security

      Online forms creation and distribution
      Create and distribute online forms using your web browser and the Adobe FormsCentral service. Recipients fill out these forms using any Internet-connected device. See Create online forms using FormsCentral.

      Document sharing and storing
      Send and store large documents using services at Acrobat.com. Use online Workspaces at Acrobat.com to store and share a set of documents with individuals or teams outside your organization. See File sharing and real-time collaboration.

      What’s new (Acrobat 10.1)

        New browser, platform, and PDFMaker support (Windows)

        Browser support
        View PDFs in Microsoft Internet Explorer 9, Mozilla Firefox 4, and Google Chrome.

        Web page conversion
        Convert web pages to Adobe PDF from Firefox 4.

        64-bit Office support
        Convert Microsoft Office 64-bit documents to Adobe PDF using the Acrobat PDFMaker feature.

        Protected View (Windows)

        View PDFs originating from potentially unsafe locations in a restricted environment, called a sandbox. In Protected View, PDF functionality is limited to basic navigation. See Protected View (Windows only).

        Create online forms

        Use FormsCentral to create, test, and distribute forms, and then collect data from them. See Create online forms using FormsCentral.

        Print dialog box improved (Acrobat 10.1.2)

        The Print dialog box introduced in Acrobat 10.1.2 is easier to use. New buttons provide quick access to options for printing special documents, such as posters, banners, and booklets. If your printer supports printing double-sided, you can choose to print on both sides of the paper without first opening the Properties dialog box.

        Streamlined Print dialog box with easy to find options for posters (including banners), multiple pages per sheet, booklets, and printing back to back.