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People who work with or share PDF files could benefit from a new collaboration between Adobe and file-storage site Dropbox.
A partnership between the two companies announced early Tuesday is geared toward letting users of the Adobe Acrobat Reader app or the desktop version of Acrobat DC more seamlessly work with PDFs stored in their Dropbox accounts.
The Acrobat Reader app is available free for iOS and Android users and lets them view and mark up PDFs. An in-app purchase available in either version adds the ability to create and export PDFs. Acrobat DC (“Document Cloud”) is available by subscription or on the desktop and lets people work with the same PDFs across different devices by tapping into the cloud.
The goal of the new process is to simplify the way people store, synchronize and share their PDF files. By using Dropbox as a common storage area, Adobe users can edit a PDF file using one of Adobe’s apps, either on the desktop or via a mobile device. The need for such integration is important because it lets people use their phones and tablets to update, manage and share their files on the go.
Adobe has outlined how the new process works:
Through the Acrobat Reader mobile app or Acrobat DC on the desktop, people can open, view, annotate and work with the PDF files stored in their Dropbox account. Any changes they make to the file in the Adobe app are then automatically saved back to Dropbox. They can then share the updated file by creating a Dropbox link or a shared folder. Dropbox users can also open, edit, electronically sign and save changes to PDF documents in the Adobe apps by opening the files directly from the Dropbox website, the Dropbox iOS app or the Dropbox Android app.
Folks can currently add their Dropbox account to the latest desktop versions of the Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader desktop applications so they can open their PDFs from Dropbox within the Adobe product. The integration on iOS between Acrobat Reader and Dropbox will be available in the coming months, according to Adobe. The Android and Web integrations will follow in 2016.
“This means you can do more with your PDFs, wherever you are,” Dropbox said in a blog posted Monday. “You won’t lose time waiting to get back to your computer to redline or electronically sign a contract, or add feedback to a design mock. And no more printing out a PDF, writing comments on it, scanning it, and emailing it as an attachment. Instead you’ll be able to open a PDF from Dropbox and edit it using the Adobe apps, then save and share your work easily through Dropbox.”
