Adobe Reader for Mac 11.0.00

Adobe Reader for Mac Editor's Review

Adobe Reader is the official application that can display and print the PDF documents.

Adobe Systems Inc. is the creator of the Portable Document Format (PDF). This application gets the most from your documents, since the reader comes from the PDF developers. I say this because I worked with PDF readers that displayed errors for some elements in these type of documents. These kinds of errors never appeared on this application.

I am quite happy with this new version, because Adobe finally solved the startup speed issue. The previous version, the Adobe Reader 7, was annoyingly slow. This version has a much better startup speed, and a lower use of resources. In fact, I opened the same PDF document, a 5.8 MB file, with both applications and the conclusion is simple: this new version used less CPU time, less RAM, and less Virtual Memory. You can check the results in my screenshots.

Then I have compared it with an alternative reader, PDF View. Adobe Reader uses more resources than PDF View, but it displays a better document and it has more features. Adobe Reader can also display the automatic zooming of the document more fluently than the previous versions, almost as fast as PDF View.

The Hand tool has been replaced by the Selection tool as default. If you want to use the Hand, its location is now in the 'Tools' menu. The Selection tool has been redesigned. The previous version had a couple of different tools: one for text selection and another for image selection. This new Selection tool is a combination of those. It automatically detects which type (text/image) you are hovering over in the document, and it switches accordingly.

Another thing that I liked about this program is the support for registering itself as default application which handles the PDF files. You don't have to right-click every file and pick from the contextual menu the "Open With ..." option anymore, because the application registers every file.

For the most part, the interface has been redesigned. On the left side you can find a thin bar where you can quickly access functions, like pages, help, attachments, and comments. You can find something similar in the previous versions, because this is more like an interface redesign, not a functionality one.

The top bar has been changed too. It was integrated into the reader's window and it has less items. The annoying publicity banner has been removed. The bottom bar has been removed and its functionality has been integrated into the top bar. Now, the top bar also has an edit box where you can input a search query. The 'Preferences' panel has been also redesigned, but it has so many changes that it's a waste of time to enumerate all of them here.

Pluses: it has a better behavior than the previous versions, it uses less resources and at the same time it has a faster startup speed and operating mode. The selection tools have been merged for an easier handling, the application can automatically register at the setup all the accessible PDF documents.

Drawbacks / flaws:

In conclusion: I was looking at Adobe with a lot of interest since the 5th version of the reader was out, and all I can say is the fact that this version is the best by far. This software is a real update from the previous ones. In the download section, you can find all the previous versions from the 5th to the 8th. The OS support is specified for each version.

version reviewed: 8.0.0