Adobe Solidifies Commitment to Professional Publishing

San Jose, Calif., (March 13, 2000) (Nasdaq:ADBE)--Adobe Systems Incorporated today introduced a new version of its Adobe® InDesign® page layout and design application for publishing professionals. Expected to ship next month, Adobe InDesign 1.5 software includes 70 new features that further extend its capabilities for professional page layout. These include further integration with Adobe’s other award-winning design products, new design tools, and productivity enhancements that make it easier to meet demanding deadlines. With the addition of Adobe PressReady™, InProduction® and InCopy™ software to the professional publishing platform, Adobe solidifies its commitment to the professional publishing market.

"At Adobe, we constantly listen to our customers and we updated InDesign to include many of the features they want most," said Bruce Chizen, executive vice president of worldwide products and marketing, Adobe Systems Incorporated. "With the flexible architecture at the core of InDesign we were able to develop and deliver these features within a span of only six months."

"Adobe InDesign streamlines our workflow and lets us work smarter,” said Warren Vegas, vice president/production studio manager, McCann-Erickson. "It’s the missing link in a complete publishing solution." According to Vegas, the new features of InDesign 1.5 amount to "less hassle for the artists. Now they don’t have to do 10 steps, they just have to do two. InDesign saves time but more importantly, it saves our sanity. When people have to juggle six or seven jobs a day, InDesign makes life easier."

Key InDesign 1.5 Benefits
Due to the increased integration with other Adobe products, workflows are improved and transitioning to InDesign is easy. InDesign, working in conjunction with PressReady and InProduction, dramatically improves PDF workflows, further extending a user’s productivity. Also, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop® and Adobe Illustrator® software are a familiar, integrated set of design tools that share interface elements and core technologies. This familiarity and common toolset make it easy to add InDesign to any publishing workflow. InDesign 1.5 now offers tools standard in Adobe products, such as the eyedropper (for both text and graphics), free transform, pencil and smooth tools, as well as docking palettes and other interface elements.

Created for high-end graphic designers, production artists and prepress professionals, Adobe InDesign removes the creative barriers often found in other publishing software products by use of a unique, fully extensible, state-of-the-art software architecture. InDesign 1.5 offers four significant benefits—further integration with Adobe applications, new tools for creativity and productivity, and enhanced precision and control.

Key new features found in InDesign 1.5 include:

• Text on a path
• Built-in trapping
• Eyedropper tool
• Printer and PDF export styles
• PDF scripting
• Vertical justification
• Enhanced color controls
• Pencil tool
• Plug-in manager
• Free transform tool

For information on all of InDesign 1.5 new features, please visit: http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/.

Third Party Partners Add Value
Several third party vendors and service providers have announced key plug-ins and solutions designed to immediately extend the functionality of version 1.5. Many of these solutions are shipping now, including Sonar Bookends® InDex™ from Virginia Systems, Mpower and Persona from Pageflex, andPowrTable from PowrTools. Because of the modular nature of the InDesign architecture, the developers could rapidly enable their applications and solutions to support version 1.5.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe InDesign 1.5 for Mac OS 8.5, 8.6 or 9.x, Windows® 98, Windows 2000 and Windows NT® 4.0 is expected to be shipping in April in the United States and Canada. InDesign is expected to sell at an estimated street price of US $699 for both platforms with volume pricing available. Registered users of the U.S. /Canadian English version of InDesign 1.0 can upgrade to InDesign 1.5 for US $99. International English, French and German versions of InDesign 1.5 are expected to be available shortly after the U.S./Canadian version. Information about other language versions, as well as pricing, upgrade, and support policies for other countries, is available on adobe.com. For more information visit http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Founded in 1982, Adobe Systems Incorporated (www.adobe.com) builds award-winning software solutions for Web and print publishing. Its graphic design, imaging, dynamic media, and authoring tools enable customers to create, publish and deliver visually rich content for various types of media. Headquartered in San Jose, California, Adobe is the fourth largest U.S.-based personal software company, with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion.