Comments on: Deploying Adobe Reader 9 for Windows

By: Aaron Parker

Aaron Parker — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 22:17:09 +0000

Yes, the ListItems.js will give you the toolbar button names as well as the menu names.

By: digimon

digimon — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:14:35 +0000

Is it possible to show certain toolbar buttons using javascript? For instance, Save and Email buttons in File Toolbar?

By: Christian Ulbrich

Christian Ulbrich — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 13:33:57 +0000

Problem is the customization wizard: -> http://trevorsullivan.net/2009/05/26/adobe-reader…

By: Linda

Linda — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 01:55:38 +0000

How in the world canyou edit the PDF file after I installed 9 there is no area to let me edit

By: Filippo

Filippo — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:11:12 +0000

Here is an example for the right syntax.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREAdobeAcrobat Reader9.0InstallerMigrateAdBCustom1]
@="SoftwareAdobeAcrobat Reader9.0AVGeneralcToolbarscBasicToolscExternalButtons"
"name"="a0"
"type"=dword:00000001
"val"="Select"

When a user launches the reader for the first time these informations will be used to create teh related key in HKEY_CURRENT_USER.

I hope these notes will save you lots of time in customizing the Reader.

By: Filippo

Filippo — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:10:40 +0000

About setting enterprise toolbar preferences.
According to me using HKEY_CURRENT_USER to set consistent default reader preferences across an enterprise is not the right way of doing the job. In fact they will be applied only to the user who installs the software: besides they are completely useless if the software is deployed using GPO and it is assigned to computers.
After long researches in internet I have found a very poor documented way of setting the preferences using registry keys in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREAdobeAcrobat ReaderVersionNumberHereInstallerMigrate.

By: Donna

Donna — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:32:54 +0000

Hey Aaron,
What's the easiest way to updrade to 9.3?

Regards,
DJ

By: M Obrist

M Obrist — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:01:36 +0000

I will use this in my roll out next month. Thank you for sharing this,

By: Cindy

Cindy — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 01:07:55 +0000

After downloading Adobe Reader 9 (had been using I can no longer save data in a pdf file. I am told to fill out the form and print.
I get the message “This document enables Reader capabilities that are no longer enabled in this Reader version.” How do I enable in order to save?
I am not overly computer literate, so a simple explanation please. Thank you.

By: Simon

Simon — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:15:30 +0000

Hi Guys,

Everytime I deploy the AcrobatReader.mst (created using the Customization Tool 9) I have issues opening up a pdf link.

The error message says “The Adobe Acrobat/Reader that is running can not be used to view PDF Files in a web browser. Adobe Acrobat/Reader version 8 or 9 is required. Please exit and try again.

Does anyone know how I can fix this issue?

Thanks in Advance,

Simon.

By: Tony J

Tony J — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:13:30 +0000

Has any upgraded from reader 6 to 9. If so are there any known gotchas.

By: Mark J

Mark J — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:22:32 +0000

Hi there. I wonder if you could help me. I’m at work and want to open some pdf files. When I try to do this I am informed that some components (exactly which components i don’t know!) are missing and I can find them on the adobe webpage. I Installed adobe acrobat reader 9 and am still receiving the same message! Any words of avice? I’m using windows xp if that makes any difference.

Thanks in advance,

Mark.

By: Victor Shaines

Victor Shaines — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:51:16 +0000

Just installed Adobe Reader 9. We are a theater which uses a ticket sales system. This allows us to generate reports. The PDF reports open in a new window. After installing Version 9, the new window opens and there is a beep and then closes. I have disabled the pop-up blockers and it still does not work. Oh. This does not work on IE but does work on Mozilla.

I have Mozilla at home but we do not have it at work. Please help as this will cause a working problem if we cannot get there reports.

Thanks.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:03:48 +0000

Great Site !

I had the same problem with missing PDF Icons after I distributed the Adobe Reader 9 in an Active Directory via GPO.

Maybe I’ve found the Bug, or just a Workaround to solve it:
(First an Sorry to my quiet bad English *G*)

In my opinion the problem comes from the Registry Key:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document.7\DefaultIcon]
@=”C:\\WINDOWS\\Installer\\{AC76BA86-7AD7-1031-7B44-A90000000001}\\PDFFile_8.ico,0″

This Key is also used by newer Adobe Versions.

If I change this Key by hand to:
“C:\Programme\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\AcroRd32.dll,5″
the Icons where shown after a reboot.

But this is no solution for distributed Software.

So I used ORCA from Microsoft to change all PDFFile_8.ico,0 in the MSI-File to
[READER]AcroRd32.dll,5
and this seems to solve the Problem.

I hope its useful.

Patrick

By: Timothy

Timothy — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:46:06 +0000

I withdraw my post. I was not linking to the mst file in the GPO. My Bad!

By: Timothy

Timothy — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:03:59 +0000

I tried editing the MSI using the InstEd app and the Adobe Cutomization Wizard 9 and get icons installed and the EULA displaying for the initial run. I tried the ready made AdobeReader9.mst file and I still get no changes, even after having InstEd apply the transform. I am a noob so it must be something I am doing wrong. What is it?

By: Aaron Parker

Aaron Parker — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:04:59 +0000

@Chris, check the syntax in HideItems.js is correct – make sure there are not any extraneous characters around.

Ensure the file lives in:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\Javascripts; or
C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\Javascripts

Also check the permissions on the script file are inheriting from the folder.

The menu items and toolbars are only hidden about 2 seconds after Reader has finished launching – the script doesn’t kick in immediately.

By: Aaron Parker

Aaron Parker — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:01:59 +0000

@ben, I’m not sure about the bCommercialPDF entry in the ADM file, I hadn’t got that far yet. I think it disables one of the menu items.

To hide other menu items see the HideItems.js file listed in the post. It will hide those items you are wanting to hide.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:12:26 +0000

I cannot seem to get the HideItems.js to work. I copy the posted script into notepad, and save it as HideItems.js, then I copy that file in the specified location. It doesn’t seem to affect Reader 9 at all. All of the menu items are still there. Any clue what’s going on?

By: ben

ben — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:38:45 +0000

What does bCommercialPDF do in your .adm file.
Is there a way to get rid of the online support option in the help menu?

Thanks

By: Aaron Parker

Aaron Parker — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:58:41 +0000

@Mike, I’d have thought those changes would be carried through. They may not be created for new profiles perhaps.

Have you looked at using Group Policy Preferences instead?

By: mike

mike — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:47:59 +0000

(corrected email address)

Thanks for this great article – newbies have to start somewhere, and this helps a lot!

One question, if you happen to know the answer – the Customization Wizard for 9 has a Registry section which suggests you can a) make the changes to a local copy of Reader 9, then b) drag this changed registry data from the top section of the Wizard to the bottom area – and then c) this means that the MST file will simply change the install so that your local preferences (e.g. Spelling language) get rolled out when you use GPO install.
However, when I drag these various settings from the HKCU section above, to the HKCU section below – they don’t
appear on the destination machines.

Any idea? would be a great time saver if it worked!

By: mike

mike — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:47:26 +0000

Thanks for this great article – newbies have to start somewhere, and this helps a lot!

Any idea? would be a great time saver if it worked!

By: AA

AA — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:09:30 +0000

If set with transform file “Display PFDF in browser -> disable” and user change display in browser settings to enabled in Acrobat, we get error: “The Adobe Acrobat/Reader that is running can not be used to view PDF files in a Web Browser. Adobe Acrobat/Reader version 8 or 9 is required. Please exit and try again.” Setting Disable/Lock is OK, also all enabled cases.

By: Mike F

Mike F — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:23:33 +0000

Anyone run into any issues deploying AR9 on a workstation slower then the required 1.3Ghz? I have a dozen machines slower but would still like to deploy it. They have 256MB of RAM.

By: Michael Mössler

Michael Mössler — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:33:00 +0000

be careful with upgrading to Adobe Reader 8, check your
applications and printers we had big Problems with printing on Kyocera printers using KPDL-2 drivers, KX driver seem to work.
especially KYO-1010 KYO-1030.

Problem:
Some PDFs causing undefined Errors.
third or fourth site
ERROR: undefined
OFFENDING COMMAND: file

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:36:40 +0000

Found it – use /quiet instead of /qb that works.

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:10:02 +0000

We are trying to install Reader 9.0 silent without any user’s interaction – how can we do that?

By: Aaron Parker

Aaron Parker — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:21:17 +0000

@aweheckman, the code listing for HideItems.js should be under the text “JavaScript to Hide UI Elements” which you may have to clikc to show it.

If you still can’t see the listing I can e-mail it to you.

By: aweheckman

aweheckman — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:09:11 +0000

Hi Aaron,
When you wrote
“Under Files and Folders:
Add HideMenuItems.js, listed below, to ProgramFilesFolder / Adobe / Reader 9.0 / Reader / JavaScripts” is this the script HideItems.js? or where to I get the HideItems.js script from?