Adobe Software Types

Adobe Software Types & Their Purposes

  1. Adobe Acrobat Standard / Pro (Paid subscription higher cost)
    • Purpose: Create, edit, and manage PDF documents.
    • Key Features:
      • Combine multiple files into one PDF.
      • Add comments and annotations.
      • Convert documents to/from PDF.
      • E-signing: Includes Adobe Sign integration for sending and tracking electronic signatures.
  2. Adobe Creative Cloud Apps (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.)(Paid subscription higher cost) 
    • Purpose: Design and creative work (graphics, layouts, photo editing).
    • Key Features:
      • Not primarily for PDFs or e-signing.
      • Use if you need advanced design tools rather than document workflows.
  3. Adobe Reader (Free)
    • Purpose: View and print PDFs.
    • Key Features:
      • Basic commenting.
      • E-signing: Limited—can sign documents but cannot send for signature or track.

Helping Users with E-signing

  • If the user only needs to sign documents, Adobe Reader or Acrobat Standard is enough.
  • If the user needs to send documents for signature and track progress, they need Adobe Acrobat Pro
Print Article