Adobe Acrobat 8 Pro has rich portfolios and more secure forms.

I'll state this upfront: I find many of the changes in Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional inexplicable. Although the entire package is fairly pricey ($499; upgrade $159) and was traditionally aimed at high-level users and print production folks, this version's "improvements' are aimed at, um, well, I couldn't really identify a target audience. Some of the changes may confuse and frustrate long-time print-production professionals while adding features that most businesses may not need.

Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional software empowers educators and students to reliably create, combine, share, and control media-rich Adobe PDF documents for easy, more secure communication, collaboration, and timesaving electronic workflows.

Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional software enables business professionals to reliably create, combine, and control Adobe PDF documents for easy, more secures distribution, collaboration, and data collection. Protect sensitive information with passwords, permissions, and digital signatures. Enable users of Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional (version 7.0 or 8) to participate in document reviews, fill and save forms, and digitally sign documents. Create new PDFs rapidly with Adobe LifeCycle Designer, and start working more easily with AutoCAD documents, even without owning a CAD tool. Convert e-mail in Lotus Notes to Adobe PDF to facilitate searching, archiving, and retrieval Inspect PDF documents for hidden information, including metadata, annotations, attachments, form fields, layers, and bookmarks -- selectively delete as needed Enhanced OCR capabilities - Scan paper more accurately to generate searchable PDF documents Take advantage of improved functionality for saving Adobe PDF files as Microsoft Word documents, retaining the layout, fonts, formatting, and tables Enhanced review and markup tools for easier, more accurate placement and resizing of markup items Create documents in PDF/A, the new ISO standard for long-term archiving of electronic documents Enable anyone using free Adobe Reader software to participate in document reviews, fill and save electronic forms offline, and digitally sign documents Create Adobe PDF documents from Outlook, Internet Explorer, Project, Visio, Access, Publisher, AutoCAD, and Lotus Notes Quickly create high-quality, compact PDF files from AutoCAD.

Top reasons to buy Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional

Enable advanced features in Adobe Reader - Enable anyone using free Adobe Reader software (version 7.0 or 8) to participate in document reviews, fill and save electronic forms offline, and digitally sign documents.

Combine and optimize documents - Combine documents, drawings, and rich media content into a single, polished Adobe PDF document. Optimize file size and arrange files in any order regardless of file type, dimensions, or orientation.

Accelerate document reviews - Send documents for review and track which reviewers have contributed feedback. Compile comments into a single PDF document with one-button ease and sort them by author, date, or page.

Save in Microsoft Word - Save Adobe PDF files as Microsoft Word documents, retaining the layout, fonts, formatting, and tables, to facilitate reuse of content.

Create advanced forms - Design dynamic, interactive forms to collect and aggregate data through email or on the web with included Adobe LiveCycle Designer software.

Easily create Adobe PDF documents - Create Adobe PDF documents with one-button ease from Microsoft Office applications. Windows users can also create Adobe PDF documents from Outlook, Internet Explorer, Project, Visio, Access, Publisher, AutoCAD, and Lotus Notes.

Apply passwords and assign permissions - Restrict access to Adobe PDF documents using 128-bit encryption. Set document permissions to help restrict who can print, save, copy, or modify a document.

Permanently remove sensitive information - Permanently remove metadata, hidden layers, and other concealed information, and use redaction tools to permanently delete sensitive text, illustrations, or other content.

Archive papers and e-mails for easy search and retrieval - Scan paper documents with OCR technology to create compact, searchable Adobe PDF documents. Convert Microsoft Outlook e-mail archives to Adobe PDF to facilitate search and retrieval.

Generate professional, print-ready files - Automate the preflight process and correct issues that might compromise print quality without creating a new Adobe PDF document.