Adobe Reader: Difference between revisions

From MozillaZine Knowledge Base
Jump to navigationJump to search
m (add to Category:Plugins)
Line 28: Line 28:
* [http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html Archive of Adobe Reader versions]
* [http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html Archive of Adobe Reader versions]
* [http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html Adobe Reader 7.0 (full and basic)]
* [http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html Adobe Reader 7.0 (full and basic)]
[[Category:Plugins]]

Revision as of 11:46, 31 March 2005

Adobe Reader is the official software that allows you to view and print PDF files. It includes a browser plugin that allows you to view PDF files directly in Firefox or Mozilla Suite.

Adobe Reader plugin

Speeding up PDF display

Adobe Reader 6.x and the browser plugin automatically load a large number of components when they are opened. These are memory hogs which can make the plugin run very slowly or even crash when it is opened/closed and has caused issues with many users. If Firefox hangs when closing after viewing a PDF file, make sure you are using the newest version of the plugin (at the moment 7.0). If this does not solve the problem, try using the Adobe Reader Speedup program, which disables many of the unnecessary components. (Note: This solution does not work for all users; in some cases Firefox itself crashes, rather than Reader. See discussion.) The Adobe Reader Speedup doesn't work when Reader is not installed to the default location. You can use this instead:

  • Install Adobe Reader 6
  • Navigate to the folder where you installed Acrobat 6. It will look something like: "x:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader" folder, where x is the right drive letter.
  • Find the plug_ins folder and rename it plug_ins_disabled then create a new folder named plug_ins.
  • Copy the following files from "plug_ins_disabled" to "plug_ins": EWH32.api, printme.api, and search.api
  • Note that this can prevent searching PDFs in your browser

Saving PDF files to disk

You can save PDF files to disk and then open them without using the Adobe Reader plugin by right-clicking links to PDF files and choosing "Save Link As".

To make your browser automatically save all PDF files on which you left-click, go to "Tools -> Options -> Downloads -> File Types". Scroll to PDF, press "Change Action" and then select "Save to disk". PDFs will now be downloaded to a folder for opening in Reader separately. Note that this procedure will not work if PDF is not currently listed as a recognized file type. Instead, you should disable the plugin as described below.

Disabling the plugin

You can prevent Adobe Reader from forcing the plugin into your browsers by starting Adobe Reader and navigating to "Edit -> Preferences -> Internet". However, this may not prevent Mozilla applications from finding and using the plugin, since they may use plugin scanning to locate it themselves. To prevent this, you should open the relevant configuration file for your application and disable the scan by changing the line

pref("plugin.scan.Acrobat", "5.0");

to

// pref("plugin.scan.Acrobat", "5.0");

External resources