Do I need a full Adobe Creative Cloud License?
Digitally signing a PDF DOES NOT require a license. Learn how to sign a PDF here.
If you need to Create & Edit PDFs, create PDF's with forms & fillable fields, redact or password protect sensitive information, then a full Adobe Creative Cloud license is required.
Adobe Acrobat Feature Matrix
| Feature |
Adobe Acrobat Reader (Free) |
Adobe Acrobat Pro (License) |
| View and Print PDFs |
✅ |
✅ |
| Add Comments and Annotations |
✅ |
✅ |
| Fill and Sign Forms |
✅ |
✅ |
| Basic E-signature Requests |
✅ |
✅ |
| Convert PDFs to Word, Excel, PowerPoint |
❌ |
✅ |
| Create PDFs from Other Formats |
❌ |
✅ |
| Edit Text and Images in PDFs |
❌ |
✅ |
| Combine Multiple Files into One PDF |
❌ |
✅ |
| Organize PDF Pages (reorder, delete, etc.) |
❌ |
✅ |
| Scan to PDF with OCR (searchable text) |
❌ |
✅ |
| Password Protection and Permissions |
❌ |
✅ |
| Redact Sensitive Information |
❌ |
✅ |
| Compare Two PDF Files |
❌ |
✅ |
| Add Branding to E-signatures |
❌ |
✅ |
| Send Bulk E-signature Requests |
❌ |
✅ |
| Work Offline with Full Features |
Limited |
✅ |