# Adobe Acrobat 20 Hacker News commenters recommended Adobe Acrobat and 41 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. **Verdict:** People recommend it for reliable PDF handling: strong OCR, permanent redaction, and easy sharing across platforms. Common caveat: a bloated, slow interface that pushes subscriptions and AI features. ## Why people recommend it - Permanent redaction removes content and metadata (3 comments): "the redaction tool completely removes the content and any associated metadata from the document" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46379121)) "both adobe acrobat and the built-in preview app on mac can both competently redact documents" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46372361)) "Adobe Pro, when used properly, will redact anything in a PDF permanently." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46370330)) - Reliable OCR for scanned pages (3 comments): "Adobe Acrobat Pro can convert 800MB of scanned pages into a 70MB PDF with searchable and copy-able text." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47826427)) "I used this in college to scan textbooks and it worked really well." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47818677)) "Heck Adobe Acrobat Pro OCR was essentially perfect 20 years ago." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47820115)) - Standard tool in legal workflows (3 comments): "Acrobat has workflows for all of them, and Adobe sells into a bunch of verticals" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46131906)) "It's literally be done by thousands of lawyers/paralegals for decades." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46370451)) "If my law firm can't afford the $20/month for a copy of Acrobat Pro" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46379846)) - Pastes cleanly into Word and Excel (2 comments): "Had to do it manually, but it pasted nicely into Excel." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48667058)) "Adobe Acrobat[3], Word, Excel, Office[4]" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47718238)) ## What people warn about - Slow, bloated, resource-heavy app (7 comments): "Adobe Acrobat in particular takes multiple seconds to drag a window from the laptop screen to one of the attached displays when a PDF is open." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45795649)) "puts 3-6 background processes on startup that are constantly doing something with my CPU and internet connection" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46523021)) "Subscriptions, slow load times, and cluttered interfaces filled with AI features I never asked for." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46262944)) - Pushes subscriptions and AI features (4 comments): "Subscriptions, slow load times, and cluttered interfaces filled with AI features I never asked for." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46262944)) "a total of 8 distracting UI elements to promote AI summaries the instant you open a document" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50189761)) "Acrobat is bloated and filled with dark patterns that trick you into buying a subscription" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47202429)) - Fails to save files (3 comments): "eventually Acrobat would reach a state where it would close a file and despite the name having been typed, not save it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46025719)) "the bug in it where it stops saving files after a couple of hundred have been so opened and re-saved" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47375844)) "there is a (reported) bug where after doing this several times, it stops saving" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45914005)) - Dated, cluttered user interface (2 comments): "with a UI that looks as though it hasn't been updated since the Clinton administration" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47872291)) "the UI in acrobat is so incredibly poor that I completely understand when reaction gers screwed up" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46379465)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [PDFCraft](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pdfcraft.md): 11 recommend - [Nano PDF](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nano-pdf.md): 9 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.adobe.com/acrobat.html) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Adobe Acrobat", https://hackerapproved.com/p/adobe-acrobat/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).