Adobe Acrobat 8 Standard vs Professional

You may be wondering about the difference between Acrobat Standard and Professional. Here's an overview of each and a list of the features only included in Acrobat 8 Pro.

Adobe Acrobat 8 Standard lets you create, combine, and control Adobe PDF documents. Basically, if all you need to do is create PDF, Acrobat Standard will do the job.

Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional includes all the features in Standard plus data collection features and enables Adobe Reader users (this is a free software) to fully participate and collaborate on PDF files. This means you'll be able to share and collaborate with co-workers, suppliers, partners, and customers easily, even if they don't have Acrobat Pro. Acrobat Professional is aimed at creative professionals, engineers, finance professionals, marketing professionals, and those wanting powerful functionality.

Features in Acrobat 8 Professional (that are not in Acrobat 8 Standard)

  • Permanently delete sensitive information, including specific text or illustrations, with redaction tools
  • Create PDF documents with one-button ease from AutoCAD, Microsoft Visio, and Microsoft Project*
  • Preserve document layers in technical drawings in Visio and AutoCAD, and object data in Visio*
  • Convert DWG files to Adobe PDF files without using AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT
  • Easily create PDF files that are larger than 200 inches
  • Export comments into AutoCAD files
  • Compare two Adobe PDF files side by side to see differences
  • Get started quickly with easy-to-use wizards that guide you through forms creation, distribution, and data aggregation
  • Create forms using more than 20 different XML-based templates*
  • Compile returned forms into a single PDF package
  • Create fillable PDF forms from scanned paper, existing PDF documents, Microsoft Word documents, or Excel spreadsheets
  • Automatically recognize form fields on static PDF documents and convert them to interactive fields that can be filled electronically by anyone using free Adobe Reader software**
  • Enable Adobe Reader ** users to participate in reviews with complete commenting and markup tools, including sticky notes, highlighter, lines, shapes, and stamps
  • Enable Adobe Reader ** users to fill and save PDF forms locally for offline use
  • Enable Adobe Reader** users to digitally sign PDF documents
  • Export form data to a spreadsheet for further analysis, without the need to rekey
  • Allows users to embed video and audio files

*Windows Only **requires Adobe Reader 7.0 or 8

For more information see Acrobat 8 Professional or Acrobat 8 Standard.