Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of Thomas Anthony
Thomas AnthonyFlag for United States of America

asked on

Are Acrobat features the same between Mac and Windows versions?

I have recently switched from Windows to Mac. One of the features I used weekly was Adobe Acrobat's ability to create pdf's out of mail folders in Outlook. Since I have to purchase the full version, I would like to know if that same feature is available in the Mac version before I spend the $400.
Does anyone use Acrobat Standard or Pro with Outlook 2011?
Avatar of Eoin OSullivan
Eoin OSullivan
Flag of Ireland image

OSX includes a built in PDF Printer function so you can convert ANY document that you print straight to PDF including emails in Outlook so you don't really need the feature in Acrobat Pro unless there are other features in Acrobat Pro you need.

Simply print any email or emails in Outlook on OSX and in the print dialog .. select the PDF button to save it as a PDF instead of actually printing.
eoinosullivan describes the feature I love the most about the Mac.
The mac has also a pdf reader called Preview. It's set as the default pdf reader. It is fast with powerful features if you dive into it.  But it is great to have Adobe Reader also on board.
Avatar of Thomas Anthony

ASKER

Thanks. But the specific feature I use is being able to take an Outlook mail folder and turn the complete folder into a PDF for archiving purposes. It encapsulates the emails, attachments etc all in one PDF. It is really a very powerful feature.
I am aware of the preview feature but it will only do individual email.
When Acrobat is installed (I guess this only applies to the Pro version) there is installed so called PDF service which appears in the list below Save as PDF eoinosullivan mentioned. Not quite sure if this is still installed though, it could be on my mac from older installation.

Anyway, this Save as Adobe PDF comes from Adobe. This is only a workflow script made in an application that is already in your Application folder called Automator.

I don't know how you would feel about it, but you could pretty easily make your own tailored automation workflow and place it into a folder called HD/Library/PDF Services.

What's more to this is when you open up Automator and put Outlook in the search field you will see that Microsoft has installed several basic items to build such workflows.


Further info:
http://mac.appstorm.net/how-to/applescript/10-awesome-uses-for-automator-explained/
http://www.5min.com/Video/Creating-an-Automator-PDF-Workflow-58038791
http://www.agentjim.com/MVP/Automator/SaveOutlookMessage.html
This still doesn't do what I need. In windows, I could take a FOLDER od Outlook mail and just click a button "convert folder to PDF" and it would convert the whole folder to a single PDF file. This file contains and keeps the heiarchy of the folder and also contains the attachments. It is a very powerful feature for archiving or transferring mail for legal discovery.

My main question remains. Does the Mac version of Acrobat pro have the same features as the Windows version?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of Sigurdur Armannsson
Sigurdur Armannsson
Flag of Iceland image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Thanks! We are almost there. Yes, it does save it as one PDF but it does not save the attachments within the PDF as Adobe Acrobat does. I appreciate your efforts to solve my problem without having to purchase the program but I have to again ask:

Does the Mac version of Acrobat pro have the same features as the Windows version?
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
The original feature I am looking for is not available at all in the Mac version. This was the original question I had asked.