Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat is a family of computer programs developed by Adobe Systems, designed to view, create, manipulate and manage files in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF).^[1] Some software in the family, particularly the creating software, are commercial, while others, like Adobe Reader (formerly Acrobat Reader), is available as a no-charge download from Adobe's web site, and allows the viewing and printing of PDF files.^[2] Acrobat and Reader are widely used as a way to present information with a fixed layout similar to a paper publication.

History

Since the early 1990s, the Acrobat product has had several competitors, some of which used their own document formats, such as:

• AnyView from Binar Graphics
• Common Ground from No Hands Software
• Envoy from WordPerfect Corporation
• Folio from NextPage
• Microsoft Reader from Microsoft
• Mac OS X's Preview from Apple
• Replica from Farallon Computing
• WorldView from Interleaf
• DjVu from AT&T Laboratories/DjVu Project/LizardTech/Celartem/Caminova

By the late 1990s PDF had become the de facto standard, and the others had become largely historical footnotes. This in turn has led to many more competitors for Adobe Acrobat, providing both free and commercial programs that create or manipulate PDF, such as Ghostscript, Foxit, and Nitro PDF. Adobe also allows Acrobat plug-ins to be developed by third parties, which can add extra functions within the Acrobat program.

Product names

Adobe has changed the names of the products in the Acrobat family regularly, also splitting-up, joining, or discontinuing products. Between version 3 and 5, Standard and Professional versions were one product simply called Adobe Acrobat.

As of October 2009^[update], the current main members of the Adobe Acrobat family are:

• Adobe Reader 9 (Windows, Mac and Unix)
• Adobe Acrobat 9
  • Adobe Acrobat 9 Standard (Windows only)
  • Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro (Windows & Mac only)
  • Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Extended (Windows only; includes Adobe Presenter)
• A growing collection of free web services launched via the Acrobat.com service such as Adobe Buzzword, Connect Now, Create PDF, and Share.

None of the products in Acrobat family has adopted the two-letter CS3 icons, although rendered similarly.

Product history

Version 1.0

Acrobat 1.0 was originally released 15 June 1993 for Macintosh, later for DOS and Windows 3.1. This was not available in single copies and was not initially free, with Acrobat Reader originally priced at $50 per user.^[3] After a while the IRS purchased a right to distribute Reader 1.0, effectively making it seem free to those who obtained it that way:

• PDF version 1.0 supported.
• Acrobat Exchange 1.0 (included PDFWriter printer driver and Acrobat Exchange application).
• Acrobat Distiller 1.0. Created a PDF from PostScript (no printer driver at this stage).

Version 2.0

Acrobat 2.0 for Windows and Macintosh was first released September 1994:

• PDF version 1.1 (and prior) supported.
• Acrobat Exchange 2.0, package as 1.0.
• Acrobat Professional 2.0, which included the contents of Acrobat Exchange, plus Distiller.
• There were 2.1 updates.
• Acrobat Catalog was introduced, using Verity, Inc. technology to create searchable indexes to PDF files. Searching required a special version of Acrobat Reader or Acrobat Exchange.

Version 3.0

Acrobat 3.0 was released November 1996. The first to display PDF files in-browser, and the first to support form filling:

• PDF version 1.2 (and prior) supported.
• A free Reader to allow searching was made available, but was not part of the default download.
• Acrobat 3.0: replaced Acrobat Professional 2.1. Included Acrobat Catalog, and a Distiller printer driver.
• Updates to 3.01 and 3.02; 3.02 introduced extended forms capabilities and JavaScript.
• First release with support for Windows 95 and later. Last release with support for Windows 3.1.

Version 4.0

Acrobat 4.0 was released April 1999.

• PDF version 1.3 (and prior) supported. Added support for PKI and digital signatures via plug-ins.
• Acrobat 4.0.
• Updates to 4.05.
• Introduced Distiller Server 4.0, identical to the regular Distiller but with a multi-user license (Windows, Linux, Solaris).
• Acrobat Business Tools 4.0: a limited version of Acrobat.

Version 5.0

Acrobat 5.0 was released May 2001.

• PDF version 1.4 (and prior) supported.
• Acrobat 5.0. PDFWriter removed from Macintosh application^[4]
• Updates to 5.0.5. Acrobat 5.0.5 was the first to be able to run native in Mac OS X, but also ran in Mac OS 9.
• Distiller Server 5.0.
• Acrobat Approval 5.0: a limited version of Acrobat, mainly sold to people who wanted to digitally sign or save fill in forms.
• Acrobat Reader 5.1: supported the Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions (e.g. forms saving) (which was then under a different name).
• Last version to support Windows 95.

Version 6.0

Acrobat 6.0 was released July 2003. No Linux or Unix versions were released:

• PDF version 1.5 (and prior) supported. Added support for PKI via Microsoft Windows CryptoAPI without plug-in.

• Acrobat Professional 6.0: replacement for Acrobat 5.0, with new features. Distiller printer driver renamed Adobe PDF. PDFWriter now gone for good. New version of Catalog integrated and not compatible with earlier products for searching.
• Acrobat Standard 6.0: limited version of Acrobat Professional, including Distiller but lacking features including Catalog, form design, prepress support.
• Updates to 6.0.1, 6.0.2, 6.0.3, 6.0.4, 6.0.5 and 6.0.6
• Dropped support for Windows 95 and Windows 98 First Edition. Acrobat Standard was for Windows 98 Second Edition, Me, NT 4.0 SP6, 2000 SP2, and XP only. The professional version dropped support for Windows 98 SE and ME. Version 6.0 also dropped support for Mac OS 9 and earlier. It was the first release for Mac OS X.

• Adobe Reader 6.0: Renamed from Acrobat Reader.

• Distiller Server 6.0.
• Acrobat Elements 6.0: PDF creation only, aimed at the corporate market (minimum 1000 licenses, Windows only)
• Acrobat Elements Server 6.0: client/server version of Acrobat Elements
• Technology for "Reader enabling", allowing Reader to save, sign or annotate PDF files if the licensee had enabled the files.

Latest PDF File Icon

Version 7.0

Adobe Acrobat 7.0 was released January 2005: ^[5]

• PDF version 1.6 (and prior) supported. Added support for Adobe Policy Server rights management.
• Updates to 7.0.1, 7.0.2, 7.0.3, 7.0.5, 7.0.7, 7.0.8, 7.0.9, 7.1.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 7.1.3 and 7.1.4.
• Dropped support for Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows Me.
• Acrobat Professional 7.0: now included Adobe LiveCycle Designer 7.0 (Windows only) for XML form design (different and incompatible with previous form support)—ability to embed 3D object information from the .u3d Universal 3D format. First version to include controversial mandatory product activation.
• Acrobat Standard 7.0
• Acrobat Elements 7.0 (now minimum 100 licenses)
• Acrobat 3D (Windows only): included all of the functionality of Acrobat Professional 7.0 as well as updated support for embedded 3D, tools for capturing 3D content from OpenGL applications, and the Adobe Acrobat 3D Toolkit for converting CAD documents to PDF objects. Also included is a version of the capture tool for installation on Unix.
• Windows NT 4.0 SP6, 2000 SP2, XP, Mac OS X only for Acrobat. Although Linux, Solaris (SPARC only), HP-UX and AIX versions of Adobe Reader have been released.
• Other LiveCycle products include LiveCycle Barcoded Forms, LiveCycle Document Security, LiveCycle Reader Extensions (previously Document Server for Reader Extensions and other names), LiveCycle Forms (previously Form Server), LiveCycle Form Manager, LiveCycle Policy Server and LiveCycle Workflow. Some of these are server solutions intended for large businesses. Only LiveCycle Designer is bundled with Acrobat Professional.

Adobe Reader 8 running on Windows Vista

Version 8.0

Adobe Acrobat 8.0 was released November 2006: ^[6]

• PDF version 1.7 (and prior) supported.
• Acrobat 8 Elements (was withdrawn before its expected release in mid-2007) ^[7]
• Acrobat 8 Standard (Windows only; Macintosh version not produced)
• Acrobat 8 Professional
• Acrobat 3D Version 8 (released May 31). Ability to produce embedded PRC data: highly compressed format for geometry and graphics (requires Reader 8.1 to display). Capture 3D tools (Windows and Unix) for capturing 3D content from OpenGL applications. Product Manufacturing Information, with support for many different CAD formats.
• Acrobat Connect (new in Acrobat family, formerly Macromedia Breeze): online personal meeting rooms to collaborate in real time for up to 15 participants.
• Acrobat Connect Professional (new in Acrobat family, formerly Macromedia Breeze): Scalable, interactive web conferencing and multiple personal meeting rooms for everyone across an enterprise.
• Mac OS X versions are Universal binary and only run on Mac OS X 10.4 or greater.
• On June 2007, an update version 8.1 for Acrobat 8 Professional and Adobe Reader 8 was released in order to support Microsoft Office 2007, Windows Vista, and 64-bit Windows Operating Systems.^[8]
• September 2007, Reader 8.1.1 released for Linux and Solaris(SPARC) users.
• Version 8.2 was released on January 12, 2010.^[9]
• Version 8.2.1 was released on February 16, 2010.
• Version 8.2.2 was released on April 13, 2010.

Version 9.0

Adobe Acrobat 9.0 was released July 2008:^[10][11]

• PDF version 1.7 (and prior) supported. There are Adobe extensions to PDF 1.7 for Acrobat 9.
• Product Family includes: Acrobat Standard 9 (Windows only), Acrobat Pro 9, Acrobat Pro Extended 9 (Windows only).
• Pro Extended Version includes Adobe Presenter and the features of Acrobat 3D.
• The ability to create Acroforms was restored to Acrobat Standard in this release (in versions 6 through 8, Acrobat Professional was required).
• Enable real-time collaboration of PDFs with synchronized document views and chat.
• Improved Web Capture for capturing entire web pages or just some parts into PDF.
• Integration with acrobat.com to enable storage and sharing of PDF files.
• Personalize a PDF Portfolio with customizable templates for navigation and branding.
• Compare and highlight the differences between two versions of a PDF document.
• Insert FLV (Flash) or H.264 video for direct playback in Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader.
• Convert a variety of video formats to FLV for playback in PDF.
• Create PDF maps by importing geospatial files that retain metadata and coordinates.
• OCR PDFs (Paper Capture) using ClearScan. Adobe ClearScan technology creates custom Type1-CID fonts to match the visual appearance of a scanned document after optical character recognition (OCR). ClearScan does not replace the fonts with your system fonts or substitute them by Type1-MM (as in Acrobat 8 and earlier versions), but uses these newly created custom fonts. The custom fonts are embedded in the PDF file (this is obviously mandatory). If the OCR does not recognize a word with enough confidence, then the image (bitmap) of the word is shown in the PDF and the text is put above but hidden (same as what is made in "Searchable Image" mode).
• Adobe Reader 9 drops support for Adobe Reader Extensions 5 and 6 which permit Adobe Reader client software to save changes to filled-in forms in PDFs. Adobe Reader Extensions 6.1 and newer are still supported. Legacy PDFs will still be viewable, however they will open with the warning "This document enables Reader capabilities that are no longer enabled in this Reader version."^[12]
• Support for MDI mode was disabled; Acrobat 9 only supports SDI.^[13]
• On March 10, 2009, Adobe Reader 9.1 was released which addresses a number of customer workflow issues and a critical security vulnerability while providing more stability.^[14]
• On May 12, 2009, Adobe Reader 9.1.1 was released which addresses two critical security vulnerabilities.^[15]
• On June 9, 2009, update version 9.1.2 was released which addresses a number of critical security vulnerabilities.^[16]
• On July 31, 2009, update version 9.1.3 was released which addresses a number of critical security vulnerabilities.^[17]
• On October 14, 2009, Adobe Acrobat 9.2 was released (added support for Windows 7 x86/x64 and fixed many security issues).^[18]
• On January 12, 2010, Adobe Reader 9.3 was released which addresses a number of critical security vulnerabilities.^[19]
• On February 16, 2010, Adobe Acrobat 9.3.1 was released which addresses two critical security vulnerabilities.^[20]
• On April 13, 2010, Adobe Acrobat 9.3.2 was released which addresses several critical security vulnerabilities.^[21]
• On June 29, 2010, Adobe Acrobat 9.3.3 was released which addresses several critical security vulnerabilities.^[22]

Internationalization and localization

Language availability

Adobe Acrobat is available in the following languages: Arabic, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian. Arabic, Hebrew and Greek versions available from WinSoft International,^[23] Adobe Systems' internationalization and localization partner. Adobe Reader is also available in Catalan as of version 9.1.

Specific features for Arabic and Hebrew languages

The Arabic and Hebrew versions are specifically developed for these specific languages, which are normally written right-to-left. These versions come with special TouchUp properties to handle digits, ligatures option and paragraph direction in right-to-left Middle Eastern scripts such as Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian, as well as standard left-to-right Indian scripts such as Devanagari and Gujarati. The Web Capture feature can convert single web pages or entire web sites into PDF files, while preserving the content's original text encoding. Acrobat can also copy Hebrew and Arabic text to the system clipboard in its original encoding; if the target application also supports the text encoding, then the text will appear in the correct script.

Security

The latest security bulletins from Adobe can be found here.

From Version 3.02 onwards, Acrobat Reader (now Adobe Reader) has included support for JavaScript. This functionality allows the document creator to include code which executes when the document is read. While JavaScript is designed without direct access to the file system to make it "safe", vulnerabilities have been reported for abuses such as distributing malicious code through Acrobat.^[24] McAfee predicts that Adobe software, especially Reader and Flash, will be the primary target for attacks in 2010^[25]. Adobe applications had already become the most popular client-software targets for attackers during the last quarter of 2009^[26].

September 2006 warning

On September 13, 2006, David Kierznowski provided sample PDF files illustrating these vulnerabilities. Since at least version 6, JavaScript can be disabled using the preferences menu and embedded URLs that are launched are intercepted by a security warning dialog box to either allow or block the website from launching.^[27]

February 2009 warning

On February 19, 2009, Adobe released a Security Bulletin announcing Javascript vulnerabilities. US-CERT recommended users change two default preferences in the program:^[28]

• Disable JavaScript in Adobe Reader and Acrobat. Acrobat JavaScript can be disabled in the General preferences dialog (Edit, Preferences, JavaScript, and un-check "Enable Acrobat JavaScript").
• Disable the displaying of PDF documents in the web browser. This can be disabled in the General preferences dialog (Edit, Preferences, Internet, and un-check "Display PDF in browser").

For users of Internet Explorer, US-CERT recommended changing an additional default behavior:^[28]

• Prevent Internet Explorer from automatically opening PDF documents (by editing a registry key in Microsoft Windows).

January 2010 Google/China Incident

It was reported ^[29] on January 14, 2010 that an analyst identified a vulnerability in Internet Explorer as a tool used to spy on companies and individuals.

"...independent research conducted by security firm McAfee, which has found evidence that a vulnerability in Internet Explorer—but not Acrobat Reader—was exploited in the attack. iDefense later retracted its claim about PDFs, but stands behind the rest of its report."

Performance

The application has been criticized for being slow to load and use.^[30] Workaround solutions have been developed to speed up the software.^[31] The application has been improved by Adobe, as version 7 of the software is indeed quicker to load; Adobe claims that Adobe Reader 7 users can "Open and save PDF files faster than ever" as version 7.0 launches "up to 50% faster than version 6.0".^[32] This works by installing a QuickStart program which runs every time the computer is turned on (and then quits). While it is often stated that this preloads the program into memory, using up memory resources, all it actually does is open and close each individual program file, allowing virus checking to take place in advance of the program actually loading.^[33] Note that this QuickStart program is for Adobe Reader/Acrobat 7.0 and above on Windows only.

Many have also noted poor behavior in the Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox Acrobat plug-ins. The plug-ins do not support full asynchronous loading, thus causing browsers to appear to "lock up" until the document has been fully downloaded.

Operating systems

• Symbian: Adobe Reader LE v2.5 developed by QuickOffice lets the user view PDF (Adobe Portable Document Format) files on S60 3rd Edition mobile devices.^[34]
• The name "Adobe Reader LE" is also used for officially-supported versions of the reader on other mobile platforms ^[35]

See also

• List of PDF software
• DjVu
• Crocodoc

References

External links

• Adobe Acrobat
• Security Bulletins and Advisories for Adobe Products