Adobe unveils CreatePDF app for iPad, iPhone
updated 11:30 am EDT, Mon August 29, 2011
App dependent on cloud for conversion
Adobe has launched CreatePDF, a new app for iOS. As its name suggests, the app is used to produce PDF documents, though rather than create original documents the app converts material from other files. The conversion process in fact happens on Adobe's servers, and as such as the app requires an Internet connection.
Supported formats include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OpenOffice and StarOffice documents, as well as Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign projects, and RTF, WordPerfect and regular text files. Compatible image types include JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF and TIFF. Completed PDFs should meet accessibility standards and preserve elements such as links, endnotes and footnotes. When converting Microsoft Office material, the app should generate bookmarks automatically and retain any transitions or multimedia in PowerPoint projects.
Files can be brought into CreatePDF via email attachments, local storage or a cloud network. Export involves email sharing or opening PDFs in a third-party app. CreatePDF is a $10 download, and includes a native interface for any device running iOS 4.3 or later.
Junior Member
Joined: Jul 2006
Odd move
This seems an odd move to make this an iOS product. It'd make more sense to have a Windows/Mac-based app that'd upload the files and download the resulting PDF anywhere you'd like, including mobile devices. After all, how many people are going to be carrying around Illustrator files on their iPhones and how many want to look at a large PDF on its tiny screen?
I'd be more interested to hear that Adobe will be supporting Amazon's new "Print Replica" format with InDesign. It currently just for Kindle apps for computers, but when it comes to Kindles themselves, it'll offer a way to publish digital books with formatting as complex as PDF handles. In fact, according to someone commenting on TeleRead, Amazon's format is simply PDF wrapped in a Palm database format that allows Kindle readers to to take notes and track the last page read.