Adobe Acrobat Pro DC: Where to Start

Processing a document in Adobe Acrobat means that you will need to complete the following four steps:

• Acquire an image of the document
• Recognize the document (let Adobe Acrobat read through each page)
• Verify the results (make edits as necessary to ensure 100% accuracy)
• Save the results in a format of your choice

If you are starting with a document, go to Tools -> Create PDF -> Scanner, and pick a scan option.

If you are starting with a digital file go to Tools -> Create PDF, then choose whichever option best suits your digital file.

One useful aspect of Adobe Acrobat is the ability to customize the tools that you want on your sidebar panel. This allows you to have exactly what you need at your fingertips, rather than going back and forth between the Tools and Document panels in order to do what you need to get done. You can also open/close other panels on your documents page, including the Navigation pane, the Page Controls, the Menu Bar, Button Labels, various Rulers & Grids, and Cursor Coordinates.

You can find all of these customization options under View -> Show/Hide.

Play around and see what set-up works best for your project!

The Tools panel will be your main destination when it comes to choosing options in Adobe Acrobat Pro. We'll only be going over the Create PDF and Edit PDF options in this LibGuide, but the power of Adobe Acrobat Pro comes from all of these various, useful tools. Play around with them and get used to them -- you'll never know what will be necessary to a future project.

Your Tools appear even when you are not on the Tools panel. When you are on the Document panel, your Tools will be in a new, smaller panel -- with fewer overall options -- to the right of your document. You can click the particular Tool you would like to use from this side panel, or go back to the Tools panel on the top bar when you want to use a particular tool.

You have two basic options for importing documents into Adobe Acrobat Pro: importing a digital file or scanning a document into the software. There are specific options to consider for either method, but before you begin, you need to know what kind of document you will be working with.

Importing a Digital File

1. Go to the Tools panel
2. Click 'Create PDF'
3. Choose whichever option works best for you...
   • Single File - For when you have only one document to import
   • Multiple Files - For when you have a series of documents to import
   • Web Page - When you have the URL for a web page you would like to create a PDF from
   • Clipboard - When you have text/images copied that you would like to create a PDF from
4. Press 'Create'
   • Once you press create, you will be sent to the 'Document' tab on the top of the screen -- your next steps will be from this page

Scanning a File

1. Go to the Tools panel
2. Click 'Create PDF'
3. Choose the Scanner option, select your document mode, then click 'Next'
4. Follow the instructions for your specific scanner hardware

One of the best things about Adobe Acrobat -- as well as the majority of the other programs in the Adobe Creative Suite -- is the amount of options you have when it comes to performing specific tasks. There are several different ways of importing documents into this software, all of them equally useful and valid. While we are only outlining a few options for import and scanning, you can always reassess what fits best with your workflow, or contact Alli about alternative ways of importing documents!