The earlier editions of Real World FreeHand won international acclaim and awards for their friendly, approachable style and clear descriptions of the workings of FreeHand, covering topics from the most basic (how to draw a line) to the most advanced (how to add new tools and options to the program itself).

Real World FreeHand 7 has the same goals: to provide clear, solid explanations of the basics; to make the most advanced techniques accessible to even the least experienced Macromedia FreeHand users; and to explain every tool and procedure from the point of view of the graphic arts professional. This new cross-platform edition also covers FreeHand's new web-friendly features, such as the ability to create Shockwave illustrations and to read and write Acrobat PDF documents.