Known issues | Acrobat XI, Reader XI

This document contains known issues and troubleshooting tips not covered in the Acrobat and Reader documentation. Adobe identified the following issues at the time Acrobat XI and Reader XI were released. Separate TechNotes or release notes cover issues that arose since release. If an update fixes an issue, the version number is noted. Bugs associated with an issue in this document appear in brackets [ ].

See Reader Support or Acrobat Support for other late-breaking information and known issues.

The Acrobat XI Pro application includes the “AdobeID” concept. A serialized installation shows that the Adobe ID is optional. Otherwise, Acrobat requires an AdobeID. It's possible that Adobe IDs previously created on adobe.com don't work with a prerelease, but do work with the GM.

Acrobat XI provides a 30 day grace period until activation is required. It might happen that the user couldn't activate in these 30 days (if the user is not connected to the internet). From the 16th day onward the user will be reminded on each launch that the machine needs to be connected to the internet for the product to be activated. After 30 days, the user will get a hard-prompt saying that the user should activate now (the machine must be connected to the internet to do this). After 30 days, the machine must be successfully activated before the user can continue to use the product.

Acrobat and Reader no longer include Flash Player. Flash Player is necessary for Acrobat and Reader to display SWF files and Portfolio content in PDFs. If your system doesn't have Flash Player, and you want to display SWF files and Portfolio content contained in PDFs, download and install Flash Player. If you open a PDF that requires Flash, a dialog prompts you to download and install the latest Flash player. To preinstall Flash, go here:

Windows: http://www.adobe.com/go/acrobat_flashdownload_info_win

Mac OS: http://www.adobe.com/go/acrobat_flashdownload_info_mac

Please note the most recently installed application version will “own” the Acrobat or Reader registry entries and the .PDF file extension.

Before installing Acrobat or Reader please see the known issues sections below titled Deployment/Installation and Deployment Customization to see if any of those situations apply.

Before installing you may need to delete the following folders:
Windows: \AppData\Roaming\com.adobe.formscentral.FormsCentralForAcrobatPreRelease
Mac: ~/Library/Preferences/com.adobe.formscentral.FormsCentralForAcrobatPreRelease

• Close all other applications.
• Important: You must uninstall any previous prerelease build of Acrobat XI before installing the GM build.
• For users installing Acrobat on a 64 bit machine via MSI on command line, they should specify public property “IGNOREVC10RT=1” in order to continue installation if VC10 Runtime is not found on the machine, else installation will abort. In UI mode, a message box will be shown asking user to continue or abort the installation in case VCRT is not found. If installation is done via setup.exe, installation will never abort as it passes this property always while spawning Acrobat MSI.
• If you are not installing via MSI, then follow the instructions below for a UI-based install.
  
• Double click on setup.exe to begin the installation.
• Select the language in the Language Selection dialogue and click “OK”.
• Click “Next” on the Adobe Acrobat XI Pro Setup screen.
• The installer computes disc space requirements and checks for previous versions. If a previous version of Acrobat Pro is found, such as Acrobat X Pro, press Continue to uninstall it.
• The License Screen will display – input your serial number or install in Trial Mode.  NOTE: If you purchased a subscription option, you will be directed to the Trial Mode installation workflow.
• Choose your installation level (default is Typical) and click “Next”.
• Change the Installation Directory (if desired), else the default directory is visible; click “Next”.
• Click “Install”; installation now proceeds.
• If there are processes running that conflict with the installation, the installer will prompt you to stop these processes before you can continue the installation. Close the processes and then click in the installer to continue the installation.
• The last dialogue is “Setup Completed”; click “Finish”. Acrobat can now be launched.
  

• On application launch, accept the EULA. If a blank EULA screen appears (Mac only), see the section Blank EULA Screen above.
• If you did not enter a serial number during installation, the Sign In Required screen appears. On the Sign In Required screen select “Sign in now”. On the Sign In screen, enter the Adobe ID credentials. Please create your Adobe ID if you don’t have one. Click “Sign In”. Acrobat should now be usable.
• If you did enter a serial number during installation, the Register screen appears. On the Register screen enter the Adobe ID credentials. Please create your new Adobe ID if you don’t have one. Click “Sign In”. Acrobat should now be usable.
  

During installation you select the language you want installed. Please be sure to select the language that you purchased. If you encounter a language mis-match, uninstall Acrobat and reinstall for the language that you purchased.  The English user interface is included and you can switch to English if desired by using Edit > Preferences > Language. Once you change the language you must exit and re-launch Acrobat for the preference to take effect. If your licensing allows all languages you can add or remove languages by following these steps:

• Use “Add or Remove Programs” Control Panel (XP) or the “Programs and Features” Control Panel (Windows 7).
• Select Acrobat XI Pro and select “Change”.
• Select “Modify” and add or remove languages.
  

NEW in 11.0.1 - The problem occurs after update to 11.0.1 if all of the below mentioned conditions are true:
1. Acrobat serial number language is English only and the operating system language is non-English, for example, French operating system and English serial number.
2. Acrobat was never launched for the current user.
3. The installation of Acrobat was done via Command line and not via a UI install.
4. The user prints any file to the Adobe PDF printer or right-clicks on any document and selects “Convert to PDF”.
Result: Serial number dialog is thrown and PDF fails to get created.
Workaround 1: Launch Acrobat for the user at least once before printing to PDF. This resolves the issue for this user on this machine.
Workaround 2: For resolving issues for any/all users on the machine, create the registry key "HKLM\Software\[wow6432node]\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\11.0\Language\current\" with default value "acrobat.dll'[3488414] See kbdoc: http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/11001-update-printing-issue.html

• Before uninstalling the build, please deactivate. To do this choose Help > Deactivate.
• Then, uninstall the application through the “Add or Remove Programs” Control Panel (XP) or the Programs and Features Control Panel (Windows 7).
• After uninstallation completes, please reboot your machine.
  

Use the following instructions to install software or to upgrade from a previous version. If you purchased Acrobat as a download, Adobe recommends that you back up your download package, preferably to a DVD.

1. Connect the machine to the Internet.
2. Start the installation:

• If you purchased Acrobat on a DVD, insert the DVD in the DVD drive to view the application files.
• If you purchased Acrobat as a download, double-click the DMG file to mount the image file as a volume.
  

3. Double-click the Adobe Acrobat XI Pro installer package (.pkg) to begin installation. Click “Continue”.
4. The next screen shows this Read Me file. Click “Continue”.
5. The License Screen displays and requests you to enter your serial number. If you are using the product in Trial mode or have purchased a subscription you do not need to enter a serial number. If you will be entering a serial number, be sure the machine is connected to the internet since on-line serial number validation will be done. Note: Installing in Trial mode allows you to use the software for the Trial period of 30 days from first launch.
6. Enter the serial number for your copy of the program. The serial number of individually licensed purchases is located on the outside of the DVD case, or on the receipt page for ESD (electronic software delivery) purchases made through the Adobe Store. You can also locate the serial number for individually licensed ESD purchases in your online order history at http://www.adobe.com. The serial number for purchases made through the Adobe Licensing Website is available in your record at http://licensing.adobe.com.
7. The next screen is the “Installation Type” screen. You can select or deselect the product components you wish to install and you can also change the installation path. Click “Install” when ready.
8. When prompted, enter your administrative credentials for the installation to proceed.
9. Once installation is finished, click “Finish”.
10. By default Acrobat is installed in “/Applications/Adobe Acrobat XI Pro” directory. Go to this directory and launch Acrobat. After Acrobat launches accept the end user license agreement.
11. If you entered a serial number during installation, please see step 12 below. If you are using Acrobat in Trial mode or for a subscription (Pro only), the Sign In Required screen appears. On the Sign In Required screen select “Sign in now”. On the Sign In screen, enter your Adobe ID credentials. If you don’t have an Adobe ID click on “Create an Adobe ID”, provide the details as asked. Then, click on Create. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the creation process. Click “Sign In”. Acrobat should now be usable.
12. If you entered a serial number during installation, the Register screen appears. On the Register screen enter your Adobe ID credentials. If you don’t have an Adobe ID click on “Create an Adobe ID”, provide the details as asked. Then, click on Create. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the Adobe ID creation and registration process. You can optionally press “Skip”. IMPORTANT: You must be connected to the internet to activate your copy of the software. Activating your copy is required within 30 days. After 30 days the software will stop working.

FIXED in 11.0.01 - Problem: Mac only. On launch, a blank EULA screen appears, which cannot be accepted, and Acrobat does not run.This problem may appear if you have any/all product(s) installed from CCM or from Creative Suite and you tried installing Acrobat XI from a different source. Workaround:The workaround is to launch any other product which is part of the CCM or Creative suite and deactivate it via Help > Deactivate menu. Quit the application. Then, launch Acrobat and accept the EULA. Then, for the CCM subscription product, launch it and select “License this software” to enable the CCM product again. If a CS application, launch it and reactivate it. [3338419] See also: http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/blank-eula-screen-appears-acrobat.html

1. In Application > Adobe Acrobat XI Pro, double-click the Acrobat XI Uninstaller.
2. Follow the on-screen instructions to uninstall Acrobat.
3. When prompted, enter your administrative credentials for the un-installation to proceed.
Note: The uninstaller removes only Adobe Acrobat XI files from the system.  It does not remove Adobe Reader files, Acrobat user data, or files that are shared with other Adobe applications.
4. (Optional) Move any Adobe PDF Settings files that you created from the Library/Application Support/Adobe PDF folder and drag the folder to the Trash.

• Problem: When you start Acrobat XI for the first time with screen readers running, focus
  does not land in the EULA immediately. Workaround: Press Tab a couple of times and you do eventually get to the EULA buttons.[2704224]
  
• Problem: Buttons in the EULA, Deactivation and Registration dialogues do not respond to pressing the Return Key. Workaround: Press the Space bar or use the mouse. [3144180, 3327992]
• Problem: JAWS unable to read PDF in Reader and Acrobat Protected mode in Firefox 4.
  [2866957] Workaround: Turn off Protected Mode.
• Problem: Internet Explorer: JAWS unable to read PDF in Protected Mode unless the
  document is re-loaded in the browser window. Another workaround would be to turn off Protected Mode. [2747010]

• FIXED in 11.0.01 - Problem: A gray/blank screen displays after choosing "Trust this host one time only" or "Trust this host always" in the browser. This happens with IE, Firefox, and Chrome. Workaround: Turn off Protected View (Preferences > Security (Enhanced) > All files). [3329058]
• Problem: When the user upgrades to Firefox 19 or later, the PDFs in Firefox default to open with the native PDF Viewer instead of using the Adobe PDF Viewer plugin. This also happens with previous releases of Acrobat and Reader.
  

Workaround: You can manually change the Firefox preferences in order to view PDFs using the Acrobat/Reader Adobe PDF Viewer plugin in Firefox. To do this for Windows select Firefox and from the Firefox menu select Tools > Options > Applications > Content type " Portable Document Format(PDF)" and associate  it to open with " Use Adobe Acrobat(in Firefox)". To do this for Macintosh select Firefox and from the Firefox menu select Preferences > Applications > Content type " Portable Document Format(PDF)" and associate it to open with "Use Adobe Acrobat NPAPI Plug-in,…. " [3504563]

For further information, see the kbdocument "Configuring a browser to use Adobe’s PDF plugin".

• Problem: CITRIX: Acrobat and Reader 11 do not support Application streaming mode on Citrix. [2810983]

• Problem: The Acrobat.com sign-in window does not work properly with Internet Explorer 7. The solution is to upgrade to Internet Explorer 8.
• Problem: On Windows XP, you cannot log in to Office 365 from Acrobat if you are also not logged in from Internet Explorer. [3293185]
• Problem: Macintosh only.When using acrobat.com on the Mac the minimum Safari browser used must be Safari 5.1.
• Problem: Macintosh only. If third party plug-ins are installed, such as PitStop 11, Acrobat may crash when saving files to Acrobat.com. [3332839]

• Problem: When you install or launch Acrobat the dialog No Internet Connection may appear. Select Offline Activation and follow the steps to generate a request code to complete offline activation.
  
• Problem: If you purchased an Acrobat XI Pro Upgrade and you want to upgrade to Acrobat XI Pro from Creative Suite 6 and Creative Suite 6 is already present on the system, Acrobat XI Pro fails to detect it. Upon launch Acrobat XI Pro asks for the qualifying product and the product’s serial number. You need to select Acrobat X Pro as the qualifying product and then enter the Creative Suite 6 serial number. [3324657]
• Problem: Mac Installer will fail to install if the boot volume is case sensitive.
  Workaround: install on a non-case sensitive volume [2594334]
• Problem: This is a Windows only problem. "Unable to find PDFMaker resource files" error shows up for Microsoft Word when Acrobat XI is installed with Acrobat X Standard already on the same machine. If the user repairs or even uninstalls Acrobat XI, then the same error shows up for Acrobat X Standard also. The user must repair Acrobat X Standard in order for PDFMaker to work with it again. [3327895]
• Problem: Windows only. When Acrobat XI Pro is installed, LiveCycle Designer provided by some earlier Acrobat XI Pro release will be removed. [3298879]

A resource for learning about Acrobat’s enterprise deployment capabilities is the Enterprise Admin Guide located at: http://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/AdminGuide/index.html

• Problem: An enterprise may not want users to have to activate their copy of Acrobat or to enter the Adobe ID. A related situation is where the machine is not connected to the internet. To turn off Activation and the Adobe ID before installing Acrobat use the customization wizard.

• FIXED in 11.0.01 - Problem: If a PDF contains two signatures and signature two contains three links in the chain (signature #1 is from a self-signed cert), then, on the Mac, Acrobat and Reader report that the end-entity (signer’s) certificate has an invalid signature, but on the Windows platform, the invalid signature error is not reported. [3328208]
  

• Problem: Unable to Add/Remove websites in Trusted Sites, Restricted Sites category in Internet Options dialog from Acrobat's preferences. You cannot remove existing trusted sites or add a website to the existing list. Workaround: Change the Internet Options from the Settings dialog box in Internet Explorer 9. (Tools > Internet Options) [3171074]

• FIXED in 11.0.01 - Problem: Reader XI does not open offline Help content when Adobe Help is installed

1. Install Reader XI.
2. Install Adobe Community Help (CHC) from http://www.adobe.com/support/chc/. (Make sure to install Adobe AIR and Flash Player first.)
3. Launch Adobe Help from the Start > Programs menu.
4. Open the Preferences dialog box in CHC.
5. In the Download Preferences pane, enable the Adobe Reader X checkbox.
6. Go to the Local Contents pane (in the CHC Preferences dialog box) and Download/Update Using Adobe Reader X.
7. Close CHC.
8. Disconnect from the Internet.
9. Launch Reader XI and choose Help > Adobe Reader XI Help.

Reader now opens the offline Help content in the default browser if you choose Help > Adobe Reader XI Help when the system has no network connectivity. [3300851]

• FIXED in 11.0.01 -  Problem: The browser hangs (arh.exe is blocked when Protected Mode in Internet Explorer is ON) when you open Acrobat or Reader Help from Acrobat’s Document Message Bar. Workaround: Instead of selecting Allow, select Don’t Allow. Another workaround is to turn off Internet Explorer Protected Mode. [3317076]
  

• Problem: Acrobat and Reader look pixelated when viewed on Apple Retina displays on Macintosh computers as well as when viewed on Hi DPI displays on Windows computers. Adobe plans that Acrobat and Reader will become Retina and Hi DPI aware for both Macintosh and Windows in a future release. [3511828]

• LiveCycle Designer is no longer included in Acrobat XI Pro for Windows.

• Problem: XFA Forms and LC workspace are not supported in Protected View ON mode of Acrobat / Reader 11.0.

Description: On Opening an XFA Form with Protected View on for Acrobat / Reader 11.0, a yellow bar is thrown and a blank PDF appears instead of the actual form.

Solution Options:

a) If the server is in the intranet, consider using the option to enable Protected View only for unsafe locations.

b) Switch out of Protected View by trusting the form once or permanently.

c) Turn off Protected View.

Also note that in LiveCycle Workspace, on opening any workflow, first a blank page appears with a Protected View Yellow bar. Also, LiveCycle pushes a Complete button at the same time. This button is not disabled and the user could not see the actual form but can still submit the workflow. [3316200]

• NEW in 11.0.01 – This is a Mac only problem. Problem: Some PDF files may no longer open successfully after 11.0.01 update (the issue also occurs with Acrobat 10 after the 10.1.5 update). This error message is seen: "Acrobat could not open because it is either not a supported file type or because the file has been damaged (for example, it was sent as an email attachment and wasn't correctly decoded). To create an Adobe PDF document, go to the source application. Then print the document to Adobe PDF."
  Workaround: Revert to 11.0.0 (or 10.1.5) [3475864] See also kbdoc: http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/pdf-error-1015-11001-update.html
  

• Problem: When you try to convert ACAD 2013 files to PDF, Acrobat returns the error, "An unexpected error occurred. PDFMaker was unable to produce Adobe PDF." Workaround: Open the DWG file in AutoCAD 2013 and change its file format to an older version (AutoCAD 2010/2011/2012). [3163139]

• FIXED in 11.0.01 - Problem: Reader Only: "Select Default PDF Handler" should be disabled when Reader Protected Mode is OFF on Windows 8 64-bit. Steps:

1. Install Reader on Win8 64-bit

2. Launch Reader and turn off PM (Preferences > Security (Enhanced)

3. Exit Reader

4. Launch IE10 and open any PDF

5. Ctrl + K > General

Result: "Select Default PDF Handler" is not disabled as it is in Acrobat. [3313895]

• Problem: Ownership isn't restored when transferred to Reader XI, and Reader XI is uninstalled. Workaround: Repair Acrobat. [3325450]

• Problem: Printing a PDF using Booklet Printing may produce inconsistent and incorrect results depending on the printer used. Some printers where the problem may be seen are the HP 4700 and HP 2840 All-In-One. [2782167, 2390174]
  
• Problem: Windows 7 only. For redirected PS printers, Acrobat always displays "Working RGB" color profile. For color PostScript printers it should display the working CMYK profile. For monochrome PostScript printers it should display the working Grayscale profile. Steps:
  1. Install a PostScript color and a monochrome printer on Windows XP.
  2. Now from this machine, use Mstsc.exe to remote desktop to a Windows 7 machine
  3. Open any PDF file on the Windows 7 machine.
  4. Ctrl-P--> Choose any "redirected printer"-->Advanced
  5. See what is displayed in "Color Space". It displays “Working RGB”. [2683045]

• Problem: The Adobe PDF printer’s custom page size limit is about 600 dpi. At higher resolutions, such as 1200 dpi, printing can result in an error and no document prints. [2684339]
• Problem: PDF Printer(Distiller) may not appear to work with PPT files on Win XP 64 bit. For Windows XP Service Pack 2 for 64 bit and Windows Server 2003 R2 (64 bit) Microsoft Hot Fix KB-930627 is required. [3329063] See:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930627

• Problem: Acrobat and Reader display garbage characters (source codes) when you preview web content with a URL that redirects to a PDF on the web server. [2711118]

• FIXED in 11.0.01 - Problem: The generated system report shows Sandboxing as "OFF" when Protected Mode is actually ON and "ON" when Protected Mode is actually OFF. To generate the system report from the main menu select Help -> Online Support -> Generate System Report. [3324650]
  
• FIXED in 11.0.01 - Problem: The browser hangs when open Acrobat / Reader help from Document Message Bar,
  because arh.exe is blocked when Protected Mode in Internet Explorer is on. Workaround:
  Disable Protected Mode in browser or use Don't Allow option at prompt [3317076]

• FIXED in 11.0.1 - Problem: A dialog saying "This operation is not permitted as this document is not trusted. Do you want to trust this document?" is thrown while saving a PDF form Forms Central. Nothing happens even if the user chooses 'Yes' to trust the document. This happens only with Protected View settings ON (All files or Files from potentially unsafe locations). Workaround: On the Security (Enhanced) Preferences panel turn off Protected View. [3318631]
  

• Problem: The Safari PDF Browser Plug-in makes Safari File > Save As feature fail with "The document "[filename]" could not be exported as "[filename]"."
  Steps:
  1. Make sure Safari 5.1.5 or later is installed
  2.Make sure Adobe Acrobat Pro 10.1.3 or later (happens with Acrobat XI Pro as well) is installed.
  2. Load a PDF file in the Safari Web Browser
  3. Go to File>Save As
  4. In the Export As dialog box, click OK.
  5. Safari shows Error: "The document "[filename]" could not be exported as "[filename]""
  Workaround: Use the supported Acrobat Save buttons in the Heads Up Display (HUD) or legacy Toolbar works. The HUD is the floating toolbar which fades in and out when you hover the mouse at the bottom of the PDF. [3203840]

• Problem: Cannot Print using Safari File> Print. Preview is blank and the printouts are printed blank.
  Workaround: Use the supported Acrobat Save buttons in the Heads Up Display (HUD) or legacy Toolbar works. The HUD is the floating toolbar which fades in and out when you hover the mouse at the bottom of the PDF. [3216193]
  

• Problem: Save as Word Document does not properly generate word output from Hebrew text in PDF files. [2838335]

• Problem: When using an Automatic Document Feeder with an ICA compact window, scanning fails. The ICA dialog quits and all the opened documents also close. The issue was seen with scanners such as HP Officejet 8500 and Canon MX 868. Occurs on Mac OS X 10.7.4. Workaround: When the ICA loads this window for the first scan initiated using the scanner, the user should switch to the detailed ICA window which avoids the problem. Another workaround to overcome the issue is: click on “Show Details” button in the ICA dialog to launch the detailed window and scan specifying the desired settings. [3169060]  

• FIXED in 11.0.01 - Problem: This is a Reader problem only. When Protected Mode is on, Outlook 2003 does not launch the draft email window.  Workaround: Turn off Protected Mode. [3323494]
  

• Problem: The spelling suggestions shown are different from previous releases. While Acrobat XI provides a new spelling plug-in, the spelling suggestions provided are fewer or include suggestions that don’t fit. [3195192]

• Problem: If you have Microsoft Word running and you try to uninstall Acrobat, a Files in Use error message is shown. If you click, Retry, the Files in Use error message is shown again. Workaround: Either close Microsoft Word first before uninstalling Acrobat or apply this hotfix: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2649868/en-US [2721515]