When we read something on the computer that is not a webpage, chances are that it is a PDF file. After all, Adobe® Acrobat® and the PDF have been the industry standard for years. People have used PDFs for just about everything from product catalogs and ebooks to legal forms. If you haven’t taken a look at the new Acrobat 9, you are about to enter a whole new world. Today’s PDF can do a lot more than just sit there on your computer screen. Now, just about anything can be either made or embedded into a PDF. Also, these new PDFs look and behave more like desktop applications because they can include audio, video, interactive multimedia, animated navigation and other Flash based features.

The best new feature in Acrobat 9 Pro is the PDF Portfolio. With this new feature, you can combine several different types of documents into a streamlined PDF. The PDF Portfolio has the potential to revolutionize how businesses and individuals present themselves and their products on and off the web. Being a technical writer and digital artist, I am always looking for a better way to submit my writing and artwork to potential publishers. When I started to explore this new version of Acrobat, the first thing that popped into my head was how both digital and traditional artists can now create stunning portfolios and design comps. On the other hand, businesses can now create anything from press kits to interactive presentations with the click of their mouse.

But I mentioned that you can combine several different types of documents into your PDF Portfolio. For example, you could include a text document, email message, form, audio, spreadsheet, CAD file, video and PowerPoint® files. Once all of these files are combined into the PDF Portfolio, they can still be viewed in their original formats. You might be thinking that this must be a complicated process. But, that is not the case.

Once you choose Combine – Assemble PDF Portfolio from the Toolbar, Acrobat changes to the Edit PDF Portfolio workspace into which you can simply drag and drop the files you wish to include in the portfolio. On the right of the workspace are the buttons for building your portfolio. First, you will choose from several professionally designed layouts which include your choice of several popular Flash animated navigation menus.

Basic Grid Layout - All thumbnails displayed in a table grid
On An Image Layout - Button links to files arranged on a background image
Revolve Layout - One thumbnail in focus at a time, files revolve in a circle
Sliding Row Layout - Displays thumbnails in a sliding row

Next, you will build the Welcome Page. You have several options including text only, image only, text and image or a Flash movie. You can customize the portfolio further by adding text and images to the Welcome Page. As you would expect from Adobe, there are WYSIWYG controls for formatting both the text and images. You can also resize and reposition each object on the Welcome Page.

Next, you will choose from several built-in color schemes or you can use the color picker to build your own color scheme to match your product branding. Once the PDF Portfolio is complete, you have several publishing options. You can save the file to your computer as a PDF, email the file as a PDF or upload it to Acrobat.com and share it with the rest of your design team.

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