EXP Systems Forum: New Adobe PDF Reader v7.0 Review

Message

   Adobe has released v7.0 of their Reader. We will be testing it, and will report on it here. In the mean time, here is some information about it: 

1. Adobe Reader 7.0 requires up to 90MB of hard-disk space and is compatible with: 
- Windows 2000 SP2, and 
- Windows XP 

2. Warning: it is NOT compatible with Windows 95, 98, ME or NT. 

3. Download Size: 
- Basic Version: 13 MB (if you select "dialup" version) 
- Full Version: 20 MB (if you select "broadband" version) 

4. New features (of the Full Version): 
- Markup, search, and save Adobe PDF files (if allowed by the author) 
- Play back embedded movies, animation and sound 
- Activate accessibility features built into PDF files 
- View Adobe Photoshop® Album slide shows and electronic cards 
- Read and organize digital editions (formerly eBooks) 

5. If you want to get a copy: 
- Go to the Adobe web site: www.adobe.com 

6. If you want to read the opinion of people that have already downloaded and tried it: 
- Go to:www.download.com 
- Rated 5 out of 5 by the editors. 
- 46 User Opinions was 57% Thumbs Up and 43% Thumbs Down as of 10 January 05 

Here is the software description from Adobe: 
This software lets you view and print Adobe PDF files on a variety of hardware and operating system platforms. Acrobat Reader provides a host of features that enable you to submit PDF forms created with fillable form fields to such applications as Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional and Adobe Form Designer. Play back a variety of embedded multimedia content, such as QuickTime and MP3 files. Read and organize high-fidelity e-books. 

Activate search and accessibility capabilities built into your PDF files, and display Adobe Photoshop Album slide shows and electronic cards." 

Edited by Michel_K17

Author	Message
Michel_K17 Moderator Group Forum Administrator Joined: 25 Jan 03 Posts: 1673	Topic: New Adobe PDF Reader v7.0 Review Posted: 23 Dec 04 at 8:24PM
	Adobe has released v7.0 of their Reader. We will be testing it, and will report on it here. In the mean time, here is some information about it: 1. Adobe Reader 7.0 requires up to 90MB of hard-disk space and is compatible with: - Windows 2000 SP2, and - Windows XP 2. Warning: it is NOT compatible with Windows 95, 98, ME or NT. 3. Download Size: - Basic Version: 13 MB (if you select "dialup" version) - Full Version: 20 MB (if you select "broadband" version) 4. New features (of the Full Version): - Markup, search, and save Adobe PDF files (if allowed by the author) - Play back embedded movies, animation and sound - Activate accessibility features built into PDF files - View Adobe Photoshop® Album slide shows and electronic cards - Read and organize digital editions (formerly eBooks) 5. If you want to get a copy: - Go to the Adobe web site: www.adobe.com 6. If you want to read the opinion of people that have already downloaded and tried it: - Go to:www.download.com - Rated 5 out of 5 by the editors. - 46 User Opinions was 57% Thumbs Up and 43% Thumbs Down as of 10 January 05 Here is the software description from Adobe: This software lets you view and print Adobe PDF files on a variety of hardware and operating system platforms. Acrobat Reader provides a host of features that enable you to submit PDF forms created with fillable form fields to such applications as Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional and Adobe Form Designer. Play back a variety of embedded multimedia content, such as QuickTime and MP3 files. Read and organize high-fidelity e-books. Activate search and accessibility capabilities built into your PDF files, and display Adobe Photoshop Album slide shows and electronic cards." Edited by Michel_K17
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Michel_K17 Moderator Group Forum Administrator Joined: 25 Jan 03 Posts: 1673	Posted: 08 Jan 05 at 10:16AM
	Ok, here is a quick update after one month of usage. First off, make sure you do NOT select the optional download software (the Yahoo toolbar and the Photoshop tool) unless you really want them. The download is large to begin and I am not sure of the value provided by these additional tools. Do NOT download the software via the web site "download.com" as they will only offer you the "full" version. Go isntead to Adobe's site, and download the "dialup" version which is a faster, smaller download without the Yahoo and Photoshop stuff. One of the complaints with Acrobat 6.x was the loading time is so slow. The reason for this is that so many of the "plugins" are turned on by default in v6. As reported elsewhere on this forum by S Dubois, you can speedup the load time by turning off these plugins (as well as the splash screen) which really helps too. The startup with Reader v7.0 is faster indeed. It also seems to render faster too which is a nice bonus. I don't have any data (yet) to give, so stay tuned. However, it seems like part of this speed is that Acrobat also installs a resident software everytime you startup your computer. I tend to keep the number of startup junk to the absolute bare minimum, so I am disapointed that is the way that Adobe has decided to adress the speed issue. So, if speed is critical to you, then stick with Adobe Reader v4.0.5 which answers all my needs for quick, easy, compatible PDF viewing. There are two features which I find useful with v6 and v7 of the reader and that get me to use those versions instead of v4.0.5. These are: 1. 128 bit encryption (v405 only offers 40 bit) 2. File Attachments (not supported in v405 or v5) 128 bit does provide an improved protection level and I like the ability to attach external files to a PDF much the same way I can with e-mails. I have found this to be a convenient way to transfer "sensitive" Word and Excel files. I create a new PDF, attach the files, and then encrypt the final PDF output. I also tried the new PDF reader from Foxit. It is a very small download (<1MB) and is available from download.com (Click HERE). It is indeed fast, and does a fair job of rendering PDF files. It does NOT support file attachments though, but apart from that, I was rather impressed by it's speed. Edited by Michel_K17
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Michel_K17 Moderator Group Forum Administrator Joined: 25 Jan 03 Posts: 1673	Posted: 10 Jan 05 at 11:52PM
	Here is the last installment of my review of Adobe Reader v7. First off, Reader v7 does indeed startup very fast thanks to that resident software - which uses 2.5MB of RAM. It goes away after Reader v7 is opened for the first time. Note that it will slow down the bootup of the computer though. Installing Reader v7 will automatically remove Reader v6 (but it left Reader v4 and v5 installed). Obviously, I like to have all versions available for testing, so this is a problem for me. Reader v7 is slower at rendering complex imbedded fonts, when compared with Reader v4. Everything else, including complex pictures, were rendered quickly. You can no longer drag a PDF onto the Reader icon on the Desktop. It refuses to run/load in that scenario. Probably for security reasons. Reader v7 had no issues opening all of the PDF files created with PDF reDirect, even if the files have "Secure Text" enabled. If the files are encrypted/locked, it will ask you for your password, and then open normally (if the correct password is given). Reader v7 recognizes links in the PDF text, and will activate them automatically! (ie you don't have to use the "Add Web Links" of PDF reDirect Pro v2). The links must be on one line though. Reader v7 will automatically open the correct web browser (Explorer or Firefox) depending on what you have set as the default (Reader v4 only works with IE) Reader v7 will open Outlook Express directly for e-mail links rather than opening the browser first. Web Links added manually using Acrobat v5 or PDF reDirect Pro v2 do not work in Reader v7 (even though they work in v4, v5 and v6). However, links setup via the Stamp tool work fine. This needs further investigation. The PDF search tool is apparently provided by Yahoo and can search the opened PDF file, but also files on your computer, or those on the web. It will not search encrypted files. Overall, I would give it 4 stars out of 5. I got used to the user interface quite quickly. You might want to wait until v7.0.1 comes out though to make sure that all the bugs have been ironed out. Edited by Michel_K17
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