Adobe Announces Acrobat Pro 9, Creative Suite 3.3

by , 12:05 AM EDT, June 2nd, 2008

Adobe announced Acrobat Pro 9, the next version of its PDF viewing and editing application, along with Creative Suite 3.3 on Monday. Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 will include native Flash support, enhanced collaboration tools like PDF Portfolios, improved print production tools, and support for Adobe PDF Print Engine 2.

PDF Portfolios lets Acrobat users bundle documents, images and videos together as packages with summaries, create PDF forms and collect and analyze form data without requiring IT department involvement. Portfolios are compatible with the new (in beta) Acrobat.com hosted services that support document collaboration.

Adobe Acrobat Portfolios

Acrobat Pro 9 will include new preflighting and auto correction features for print production environments. It supports RGB and CMYK conversions, spot color remapping, and overprint preview. Acrobat Pro 9 also includes an Object Inspector for reviewing the metadata associated with any selected object, can identify a wide range of differences in document versions, and offers full support for PDF/A, PDF/X, PDF/X-4p, PDF/X-5 and PDF/E.

Acrobat Pro 9 includes new preflight tools

The new version of Acrobat will also include Adobe PDF Print Engine 2 compatibility, which is Adobe's new PDF-native renderer. The new print engine offers full end-to-end PDF workflow support, enhanced variable data printing support, efficient rendering for graphically-rich documents, and more.

Acrobat Pro 9 supports video in PDF

Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 will replace Acrobat Pro 8 in the Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium and Master Collection versions of Creative Suite 3.3.

The new version of Adobe Acrobat 9 and Creative Suite 3.3 should ship in July.

Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 will be priced at US$449, or $159 as an upgrade from Acrobat Pro 8. Upgrades from Creative Suite 3 to Creative Suite 3.3 will cost $159 and will include Acrobat Pro 9 along with Adobe Fireworks CS3.