College students know all too well what time of year is fast approaching – Finals Week! Since we can’t buy each and every one of you a mega-sized cup of your caffeinated-beverage-of-choice for those imminent all-night study sessions, we thought, why not try to help you avoid all-nighters all together?  Or at least unnecessary stress.  Here’s a list of Adobe Reader tips and tricks we compiled to help you sort through those lengthy PDFs your professors assigned to read over the course of the semester. Adobe Reader is a free service, so be sure to take advantage.

1. The Read Aloud Function- Are your eyes zapped or are you too tired to actually read what you were assigned? Let Reader
   read your PDFs for you. Or even better, if you turn any of your final papers into a PDF, have Reader proofread it using the read aloud function to pick up on any grammatical errors.
2. The Highlighter Tool- Just like you would in any text book, highlight important phrases, sentences or definitions to easily refer back to so you’re not wasting time searching through text for the important stuff.
3. The Typewriter Tool- Quickly add comments to your PDF for note taking with Reader’s Typewriter tool. Just select the Add Text Comment tool from the Comments panel, click the Add Text Comment tool, click the page where you want to add your text, and type away.
4. The Comments Tool- If you’re working on a group project, the comment tool might be the better way to go. It makes collaboration much easier because there is no need to print and mark up.
5. Reader for Mobile- Don’t be confined to the library, take your files with you wherever you go to maximize your study hours.

With these tools, there’s no need to hit the panic button when you see a 150 page PDF file.  Even better, these are only just a few of the tools Reader offers for its users. Check them all out here.  Most importantly—good luck with finals! We know you’ll ace them all with Adobe Reader in your back pocket.

Adobe has released updates for Adobe Reader and Acrobat XI (11.0.06) and Adobe Reader and Acrobat X (10.1.9). You will be able to update your system to the latest versions from the built-in updater or by downloading the patch from the Adobe website. You can find out what is in these updates from these release notes for each version. IT professionals can get more details on the update and deploying it across their organization from the Enterprise Toolkit for Acrobat products.

Adobe has released updates for Adobe Reader and Acrobat XI (11.0.04) and Adobe Reader and Acrobat X (10.1.8). You will be able to update your system to the latest versions from the built-in updater or by downloading the patch from the Adobe website. You can find out what is in these updates from these release notes for each version. IT professionals can get more details on the update and deploying it across their organization from the Enterprise Toolkit for Acrobat products.

Adobe plans to make available updates for Adobe Reader and Acrobat XI (11.0.03 and earlier) for Windows and Macintosh, X (10.1.7 and earlier) on Tuesday, September 10, 2013. Adobe will continue to provide updates on these issues via the Security Advisory section of the Adobe website as well as the Adobe PSIRT blog. Please refer to these resources for any details.

One of the most frequent conversations we see online about Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader are about updates. With the program running smoothly, many users wonder why there are updates at all.  To help keep everyone in the loop on why we update when we do, check out our guide on what makes these updates crucial to the health of your software.

Why should you update?  

The most important reason for updating your Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader software is security. These updates safeguard your system against malicious attacks that may be executed through universally-used PDF files. The updates often fix bugs within the system that develop between the updates. Updates also improve basic functionality and features associated within Acrobat and Reader, including addressing bugs.

Why are there so many updates?

Actually, since Acrobat and Adobe Reader version 10.1 we have only released updates on a quarterly basis, following Microsoft’s model of a “Patch Tuesday” (see http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/release-note/release-notes-acrobat-reader.html) Only once have we had to release an “out-of-cycle” patch that fell between these quarterly releases (in February of 2013). Also, these quarterly updates are cumulative so you don’t have to install multiple updates to get to the current version and keep your system and files safe. If you do receive multiple update messages, just make sure the last update did fully install.

Taking control of updates

Although we don’t recommend it, unless you are managing controlled desktops within an organization, we know that some of you would prefer to update your Acrobat or Reader software at your convenience and not have Adobe run the updates for you. In that case, you would need to disable the automatic updates. If you do so, though, remember that it’s important to update the programs when you have a little downtime or you are going out to lunch, take a few minutes to run the updates. When you get back, Acrobat and Reader will be ready to go with the most up-to-date version.

Now that you get the logic of updating your Acrobat and Reader software, we hope you’ll install the updates as we publish them. Unfortunately, we do occasionally hear from people who want to update but run into some trouble when they try to install it. If you find yourself scratching your head over an Acrobat or Reader update, below are some troubleshooting steps and remedies for you to try:

For Mac users:

• Reinstall Reader or Acrobat.
• See this link for instructions on how to do this.
• Follow these steps if installation “hangs” (stalls).

For Windows users:

• Reinstall Reader or Acrobat.
• Select from this list of possible errors along with solutions to those specific errors.

If reinstalling Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader is the route you have to go to make sure you have the latest version, the Adobe Cleaner tool is a great thing to know about. The Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool is designed to fix corrupt installations, files, and changing permission registry entries – scary-sounding stuff, we know; the Cleaner Tool can take care of the messy behind-the-scenes to make sure that your reinstallation goes smoothly.

Whether you’re using iOS, Android, or Windows 8 for touch devices, Adobe Reader Mobile gives you many great capabilities, including commenting on PDF files. However, once you get into the nitty gritty, these different mobile operating systems will of course have slightly different behaviors when you start reading and using PDF files with Adobe Reader Mobile. To help answer your device-specific questions, we’ve established separate Adobe Reader community forums for each OS. Here are the links to the forums for the most popular mobile operating systems, as well as a little pro tip for using Adobe Reader Mobile on each one.

iOS

• Pro tip: If you receive a PDF file as an email attachment, save yourself a few clicks: tap and hold the attachment until you get the “Open In” menu; click the Adobe Reader app icon to open the attachment in Adobe Reader.
• Forum: http://forums.adobe.com/community/adobe_reader_forums/ios

Android

• Pro tip: Your Acrobat.com cloud cache is kept private by default; this way, other apps can’t get that information without your explicit permission (although if you prefer to keep your data on your SD card, you can elect to do so).
• Forum: http://forums.adobe.com/community/adobe_reader_forums/android

Windows 8

• Pro tip: One great way to use a PDF file while writing an email, taking notes or watching a video online is to use the Windows 8 native ability to view multiple windows or apps at once aka Windows snap; Adobe Reader Touch for Windows behaves beautifully under these circumstances, and lets you use your PDF content even more efficiently. This way, you can use the PDF file as a reference while doing your work in all your other apps.
• Forum: http://forums.adobe.com/community/adobe_reader_forums/metro

Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where we could open any email or attachment without worry? Unfortunately, hackers attack in a variety of ways, and one of their favorite tactics is putting malicious code in files that people open and work with regularly. Their goal is to gain entry to systems – and to your valuable data. PDF has become a universally adopted file type for documents, data and intellectual property, thanks to its status as a freely available published standard that developers have used to create their own PDF viewing and creation software. This means, in worst-case scenarios, that viruses or Malware (short for malicious software) can be inserted into a PDF to allow an attacker to gather your sensitive information, gain access to your networks, or completely disrupt your computer operation. Yes, it sounds dismal, but don’t worry: you’re not defenseless! When you’re reading or working with PDF files, you should consider a Reader that protects your documents and systems, as noted in this White Paper on minimizing your risk.

Application Security is comprised of many features, one of which is called “sandboxing”.  In technical terms, a Sandbox is a controlled set of resources that separates running programs on your computer. If you run a program within a sandbox, the chances of compromising your data or systems are greatly reduced. Given that we don’t live in a hacker-free world (see above), and that we know a thing or two about reading PDF files, we’ve made extensive investments in Adobe Reader XI to protect you from attacks within a PDF file; one investment is to include industry-leading sandboxing technology that is built in to the software, and protects you from attacks that try to read or write to your systems. Adobe Reader XI also has to ability to designate appropriate Javascript that can run within the PDF files you open, called whitelisting and blacklisting. Additionally, predictable and streamlined patching features are available in Adobe Reader XI, along with improved deployment tool support and documentation. For those of you who are more technically minded, take a look at this White Paper on how Adobe Reader XI has taken security to new levels.

While we may not yet live in a world where we can whole-heartedly trust every email attachment we receive, you can still read easy knowing that you can securely open any PDF file with Adobe Reader XI. All that and it’s FREE too!

We think that by now everyone who reads this blog probably knows about the Adobe Reader Mobile app for iPhone and Android (and now Windows Phone 8, too). We’ve obviously been big fans since day one. If you’ve got an Acrobat.com account, you’ve almost certainly noticed how easy it is to access your documents from the Adobe Reader app on your iPhone or iPad. In case you haven’t tried this yet, let us summarize for you: it’s very easy.

However! We’ve been so happy using the Reader app that we are only JUST NOW learning about a really cool thing you can do with Acrobat.com in your mobile browser on iOS: you can add it to your home screen! What?! Look at this:

And we thought we’d already figured out all the tricks. Not only can you add the shortcut to your homescreen, but when you use Acrobat.com in the browser, you’ve still got your familiar menus for sorting, creating a new folder, and uploading new files from your device, just like you’re used to on your computer. That means that even without the Adobe Reader mobile app, you can still access your files the way you always do. It just goes to show that the Acrobat.com team never stops working to make life easier for all of us. Thanks, Acrobat.com team. You guys rock.

Within Europe and indeed elsewhere, digital signature technology is a valuable tool for conducting secure transactions via electronic documents. For years now, Adobe has invested in making such technology readily available to all citizens through the free Adobe Reader and Acrobat. This includes working with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to develop the technical specification for PDF Advanced Electronic Signature (PAdES) – that was incorporated into Adobe Reader and Acrobat in 2009 – and developing the Adobe-Approved Trust List (AATL). The AATL that is also part of the hundreds of millions of instances of Adobe Reader and Acrobat out there today helps ensure qualified certificates issued by Certification Service Providers can validate digital signatures without having to always manually import and manage certificates (although that option is still possible).

The Standards team at Adobe see the next logical step of this technology to be the integration of the EU Trust List into Adobe Acrobat and Reader software. To help explain this to our customers and followers, and what ETSI’s June 19 announcement of Trusted Lists means, check out this article written by Adobe’s Steve Gottwals, Group Product Manager and John Jolliffe, Senior Manager for European Government Affairs.

As always, if you have any comments or questions, please let us know.

Most desktop software applications rely upon a number of components within and beyond the operating system. For this reason installing, updating, and uninstalling these applications should go smoothly, and most do. On rare occasions a user may not be able to complete these tasks due to some registry or file conflict or permissions issue on the machine.

The Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool for Windows is designed to help IT and support professionals fix such issues and enable the successful installation of subsequent new installs or updates. It does so by removing standalone installations of these products (for version 9 and higher), including removing corrupted files, and removing or changing permissions on registry entries, even after a standard uninstall. The tool also provides options for removing problematic Acrobat items only while leaving Adobe Reader untouched, and vice versa, so that workflows are not broken. Additionally, it has both a user interface and command-line mode, both of which are documented.

You can download this tool for free from the Enterprise IT Tools for Adobe Acrobat and Reader page
on Adobe Labs. Please note that although we are releasing these tools free of charge, like other technologies on Adobe Labs, they do not come with an official support program.