What makes PDF (Portable Document Format) unique is that it can provide an exact electronic replica of any document from any application on all major platforms, including all text, graphics and fonts. It’s an amazingly flexible format with a myriad of uses ranging from electronic manuals and e-books, through secure document exchange and archiving, to multimedia presentation and high-end commercial print.

Our massive guide to Adobe's huge overhaul of the Creative Suite, including reviews of Photoshop CS4, Illustrator, InDesign and Dreamweaver.

FreeHand has had a long, distinguished career since its launch 15 years ago, but time has caught up with it. While Macromedia concentrated development on its Web-oriented MX applications, FreeHand was put on the back burner and fell seriously behind its main rivals CorelDRAW (see issue 60, p54) and Adobe Illustrator (see issue 51, p88). So, is this latest release evidence of further decline, or has FreeHand finally risen to the challenge?

Evidence suggests Adobe is assembling an online suite of productivity applications to assault Microsoft Office, in an acquisition Blitzkreig.

A new focus on animation, better video support and deeper integration, but not the core authoring package it once was.

With Flash media handling and integration with Acrobat.com the Acrobat platform embraces the Internet – at last

Another big improvement, but this time it’s enough to make PowerDirector a worthy alternative to its mainstream rivals

Fantastic looks and comprehensive features Lightroom is a winner for improving workflow efficiency.

Improvements all round keep PowerPoint well ahead of the competition.

Running costs are high, but with a high resolution and superb performance, it’s a groundbreaking product.

Home videos are great fun but we seldom manage to record each scene on our cameras in exactly the right order to create a flow of video and sound that is pleasing and easy to watch. In many cases it could bore the socks off most viewers.

The labs team this month tackled scanners, and they put 16 through their paces to bring you the good, and the not so good.

Yet another leap forward for After Effects, which cements its status as the leading PC video compositing tool.

Test-drive the latest image editor

Graphics giant commits to open source community.

Full commercial app, worth £28

Design & implement graphics for your website

Design & implement graphics for your website

Adobe builds on its print strengths to take its rich design mission online. And it has made a success of it, too.