What is Adobe Acrobat 4?

Adobe has heralded Acrobat and PDF as the wave of the future ever since their original release, but a major revision has been slow coming. To date, PDFs have been used mainly for passing documents on the Web and presenting user manuals in software packages in lieu of printed copies. But PDF has also gained ground in the digital prepress environment. With the advent of Adobe Acrobat 4.0 and its increased development and capacity in prepress handling functions, PDF has become a workhorse in the digital print production flow.

Version 4.0 comes packed with improvements and enhanced capabilities, as Adobe is determined to solidify PDF as the solution in prepress environments. Acrobat 4.0 simplifies PDF creation, expands annotation tools, and adds color management and new font-handling capabilities. Also, you now have the ability to make changes directly to both images and text in your PDF documents.

To simplify PDF creation, Adobe Acrobat 4.0 allows drag-and-drop or print-from-file functions and comes with three levels of optimization. Screen Optimization is for any document intended for onscreen viewing, especially on the Web. It down-samples all of your images to 72 dpi and converts them to RGB, resulting in more-compact and faster-loading flies. The Print Optimized choice is for producing PDF files to output to laser or inkjet printers and digital copiers. The Press Optimization feature creates files for your service bureau or prepress facility — files that end up as professionally printed documents.

Increased print production capacity is the one major feature that promises to establish Acrobat 4.0 and PDF as one of the best prepress workflow solutions. Acrobat 4.0 allows you to use color management systems and embed color profiles in your PDF document. Font management features are also improved: The capacity to embed complete fonts or to make subsets and embed only the characters in the file eliminates the headache of sending fonts to your service bureau, as well as some of the problems associated with font substitution and text reflow. And finally, Acrobat 4.0 allows for those last-minute changes to text and images in the PDF files themselves. Clicking an image in your PDF document launches Photoshop or Illustrator; you can capture changes from these apps and set them in your PDF document. The TouchUp Text tool allows minor text changes and lets you fix annoying typos that everyone missed. Third-party plug-ins provide a greater capacity for substantial text editing.

Using PDF as both a proofing tool and a vehicle for customer and co-worker communication has gotten much easier with Acrobat 4.0. Adobe has added annotation tools that stay on their own layer, giving you and your clients the ability to make notes and comments without changing the content of the PDF document. You can place sticky notes of any length anywhere in your PDF document. In addition, you can move, sort, import, export, and identify sticky notes. A Highlighter tool enables underlining and strike-through text. The Pencil lets you mark up text or circle errors, and the Rubber Stamp lets you place your seal of approval. With all these fun tools, everyone — you, your clients, and your coworkers — can review a PDF proof and have a go at adding comments to the work.

The new and improved features, and Adobe’s impressive concentration on the creation of PDF files that work efficiently in commercial printing and prepress environments make Acrobat 4.0 live up to its original promise; PDF certainly seems to be the wave of the future.

Meredith, Susan. (September 1999). Adobe Acrobat 4.0. MacAddict. (pg. 58).

Download Adobe Acrobat 4 for Mac

Architecture

IBM PowerPC

System Requirements

From Mac OS 7.5 up to Mac OS 9.2

Compatibility notes

Emulating this? It could probably run under: SheepShaver