Requirements: Pentium CPU, Windows 9x, NTx, 32M RAM, 75M hard disk space.Price: $249. Upgrade $99.

I first received the Adobe Acrobat CD 4.0, and Adobe later sent me the upgrade to 4.06. It installed easily and quickly, using 46M of disk space.

It would take too much space here to mention all of the capabilities of this program, most of which I have no need for, since I am not a print publisher, nor do I collaborate on documents. My interest in this review is mainly to explore those features that apply to web publishing.

New in this version is Web Capture. Just Choose File/Open Web Page from the menu, and type in the address, local or global - it works the same way. One of the settings allows choosing the depth level, as some sites are very large. BPCA.com has 150 documents, and I captured the complete structure and links, in only 5 minutes (with ADSL) to put the entire site in one file. Web Capture immediately reports any errors, such as broken (local) links. Style Sheets and Frames are not yet supported, so what you see may not be what you get if your web site makes use of these two standards.

Files can be optimized for the Web, which did not change the file size, but will allow PDF files to be read faster when used through a web browser. If the browser plug-in is installed, only one page needs to be sent from the server before the user can start viewing it. This is my least favorite way to view PDF files, since many of the keyboard shortcuts are not available when viewed in the browser window. For the same reason, I chose not to test the forms capabilities, although they look extensive. Forms can be created to run within a web browser, and the data sent to a server and processed.

The Optical Character Recognition works well. From the File/Import/Scan menu, it will scan directly from a scanner, and automatically create an editable document inside of Acrobat. I tried this feature, but the application would hang. Instead I used the software for my scanner, and then imported the file into Acrobat using the File/Import/Image menu.

Acrobat uses MAPI to communicate with your default e-mail program. Documents can be sent by mail by choosing File/Send Mail. When I tried this, Acrobat stopped responding and had to be shut down. This is because I don't have an e-mail program installed on the hard disk used for this review.

Adobe Catalog allowed me to make indexes of all the PDF files in the same directory, which could then be searched by Acrobat Reader with Search capabilities. I did not test this - the version that was installed from the Acrobat CD was not search-enabled. It is a free download from the Adobe web site, however.

Adobe.com also has tutorials, and hundreds of messages in the User Forums, and many tips available. This was a relief since the software came without a printed manual - just a 16-page Getting Started Guide. There is an Guide on the CD that's optimized for printing on paper. And of course there is Acrohelp.pdf, available from the Help/Acrobat Guide menu.

Multimedia can be inserted or linked to a PDF file. I was able to link a video file which played in a window inside the document. This is configurable - clips can be set to play in a separate window, also. Sound files become part of the document itself.

Different actions can be triggered from any of the bookmarks, or from within a page. Navigation buttons, special effects with Javascript, executing menu items, and more.

When trying to view the files with Reader, I had to close Acrobat in order to open PDF files with Reader - If Acrobat was in memory, the files would open with Acrobat instead. And the same was true when I wanted to open Acrobat, if Reader was in memory.

Bookmarks seem to be a part of every document, and make it very easy to navigate using just a keyboard - always a relief for anyone with Repetitive Stress Injuries. On my 20-inch monitor, using Acrobat (or Reader) is better than having an over-size book - quicker to navigate, editable, even interactive!