Adobe Acrobat lets you easily create electronic publications that preserve the original documents look and feel, Acrobat turns documents into Portable Document Format (PDF) files that can be distributed and read by anyone that has a copy of Adobe Free Acrobat reader software.

With its new features, Acrobat further enhances the use of Microsoft Office, Lotus Notes, and other office/workgroup applications, delivering important document collaboration tools without adding compatibility concerns. Only with Acrobat 4 can users quickly create one file combining multiple elements from a variety of applications, then easily and securely distribute the file via e-mail, Intranet or Internet without worrying about the operating system, applications or fonts the intended recipients have.

Acrobat users can now work together easily and securely, whether they are a few feet or several thousand miles apart. For instance, before distributing a document the author could use Acrobat's new self-sign digital signature feature to add his/her signature to the document. Once the authors' signature has been added, the recipients of the document can easily verify that the document wasn't altered by anyone after the signature was added.

Recipients of the document can use Acrobats' new annotation tools to strike through text, highlight words or paragraphs, add a "Confidential" or other stamp, even draw a circle around an object with a pencil tool and embed a note within the circle. They can then add their digital signature and instantly e-mail the document to the next person in the chain. And with Acrobat you can then easily compare two or more versions of the same document to see the changes made between each digital signature.

I bet many of you thought Acrobat was nothing more than a reader of PDF documents, that's true of the Freely distributed reader, but the full version is a tremendous tool for anyone in business, I've already mentioned some of the standard features, now lets have a look at some of the really cool things you can do.

The feature that I found to be the most useful was the capabilities presented by being able to design forms, imagine creating a fill in form that anyone with Acrobat reader can fill in and email back to you instantly. Well thanks to being able to add JavaScript to forms this is now possible and as everyone will be utilizing Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the forms, you will not have any compatibility problems. It's quick; it's simple and extremely useful.

Another really great feature was the Web capture capabilities; with Acrobat you can download Web pages or entire Web sites directly into compact PDF files, with all graphics, fonts, colours, and active hyperlinks intact. If we now mention the annotation features again, this means that you can send an entire Web site to others for review and comment, just imagine the possibilities this opens up to you.

Acrobat is without doubt one of the most useful business tools around, and while most people will have heard or even tried the Acrobat Reader, not many people will realise the potential offered by the Acrobat 4. I would urge anyone that seeks to exchange documents or prepare them for the Web to seriously look at Adobe Acrobat 4.