Adobe Reader XI Released

[Arthur]

With XI, you can now touch your PDFs in Windows 8.

 

Homepage / Download (Windows: EXE, MSI, ADMX Templates, Customization Wizard / Mac: DMG, Customization Wizard) / Release Notes

 

Today, Adobe is announcing our next generation Acrobat XI software with new cloud services. Products included in this release are: Acrobat XI Pro, Acrobat XI Standard, Adobe Reader XI and newly integrated documents services, Adobe FormsCentral and Adobe EchoSign.

 

Adobe Reader XI, our most powerful Reader yet, includes many new and enhanced capabilities:

 

Productivity

• Full commenting features, including text, stamps, file attachments and audio recordings, as well as drawing markups, like lines, arrows, shapes and free-form annotations
  
• Fill, sign, save and send your forms – and save the planet while you’re at it!
  
• Store files on Acrobat.com for access from multiple devices
  
• Support for OS X Mountain Lion and Windows 8 with new "touch-mode" for optimal tablet interaction
  
• Create PDF or Export PDF files to Word and Excel online
  

Security

• Enhanced Protected Mode now includes data theft prevention capabilities
  
• New Protected View implements a separate desktop and winstation for the UI, which provides an additional layer of defense
  
• PDF Whitelisting Framework allows selective enablement of JavaScript for both Windows and Mac OS
  
• Elliptic Curve Cryptography support for digital signatures
  

Enterprise Deployment

• Citrix XenApp enhancements for better performance
  
• New App-V support, including a Package Accelerator
  
• GPO Template for the most common enterprise settings
  
• Enhanced support for Microsoft SCCM/SCUP and Apple Remote Desktop
  
• Configuration Wizard for the Mac
  

 

http://i.imgur.com/qFK2R.png

 

 

Edited October 15, 2012 by Arthur

[sonofsanta]

Anybody else want to test this for me then and let me know if they've released a product capable of handling PDF files over a network this time, then?

 

/shudders at memories of Reader X

[pete]

I'm morbidly intrigued to see what they've broken, but not that intrigued.

[FN-GM]

Anybody else want to test this for me then and let me know if they've released a product capable of handling PDF files over a network this time, then?

 

/shudders at memories of Reader X

 

Never had a problem with it TBH

[Frut02]

No issues so far,

[sonofsanta]

Never had a problem with it TBH

 

Reader X, on release, couldn't open files over a UNC path in sandbox mode. The only way to fix it was to disable the sandbox, which then defeated the point of upgrading to v10.

 

(It also had problems with Securus but that was more to do with Securus than Adobe, I think)

[localzuk]

Reader X, on release, couldn't open files over a UNC path in sandbox mode. The only way to fix it was to disable the sandbox, which then defeated the point of upgrading to v10.

 

(It also had problems with Securus but that was more to do with Securus than Adobe, I think)

 

By sandbox, are you referring to 'Protected mode'?

[SYNACK]

What new hell is this?? How many GB does it take, how many minutes does it take to boot. Will it work on a machine that has even heard of a network. How many UPM (updates per minute) can I expect.

[sonofsanta]

By sandbox, are you referring to 'Protected mode'?

 

Yup. Didn't get sorted until a point release.

[FN-GM]

Has anyone had any issues with 11?

[newpersn]

Im not rolling it out yet. Untill V10 starts asking to update.

[Geoff]

I gave up inflicting Adobe Reader on 99% of my users long ago. There's plenty of other PDF readers that do a good enough job without the bloat and constant patches.

[sted]

I gave up inflicting Adobe Reader on 99% of my users long ago. There's plenty of other PDF readers that do a good enough job without the bloat and constant patches.

 

i just keep it for sims prefer foxit 3 (granted old but quick and works)

[Geoff]

Currently using Sumatra PDF

[Arthur]

There's plenty of other PDF readers that do a good enough job without the bloat and constant patches.

The best thing about Adobe Reader XI is the speed. It is now just as fast as SumatraPDF (and much faster than Nitro Reader), so I think I may switch back.

[Michael]

v11 looks and feels very similar to v10. There have certainly been fewer updates with v10 than previous versions. Hopefully v11 will build on that.

 

Overall a good product and I'll probably be deploying it soon. Automatic updates is also switched on too. Will be interesting to see whether these updates will be silent like Adobe Flash, which works very well.

[FN-GM]

v11 looks and feels very similar to v10. There have certainly been fewer updates with v10 than previous versions. Hopefully v11 will build on that.

 

Overall a good product and I'll probably be deploying it soon. Automatic updates is also switched on too. Will be interesting to see whether these updates will be silent like Adobe Flash, which works very well.

 

You can turn them off in the ADM template if you like.

[sonofsanta]

Customization Wizard XI has just been released, if you like doing things through an .MST transform (as I do)

 

ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/acrobat/win/11.x/11.0.00/misc/

[Arthur]

Perhaps Adobe can fix the other issue now...

 

Zero-day attack reportedly pierces key Adobe Reader defense « Ars Technica

 

[flyinghaggis]

It'll be interesting to see how Adobe fair now Microsoft have a built-in PDF reader in Windows 8. They're going to have to up their game (or start bribing OEM's to bundle it on new computers) if they want people to carry on using Acrobat viewer!

[SYNACK]

Right now, Adobe, Apple and Oracle Java are the worst offenders for application vulnerabilities, they really need to look at basic security as the next big feature they tackle.

[sonofsanta]

Right now, Adobe, Apple and Oracle Java are the worst offenders for application vulnerabilities, they really need to look at basic security as the next big feature they tackle.

 

I updated Java to 7u7 before half term. I just checked now as the install is borked on my machine and it's gone to 7u9.

 

How do you fit two updates into a fortnight? Do you not test these things before you push them out?

[lewisburgess]

I've just rolled out Adobe Reader 11 on my CC4 network. Very easy now, no need for RM Blueprints etc. Can keep the package up to date easily enough by patching the acroread.msi file. No need for transform files or repackaging.

 

Those of you who are not on CC4 will still be able to use these instructions, as I'm sure you're savvy enough to work out which bits you can change!

 

 

 

Adobe have released some official ADM templates for Adobe Reader v11 (don't know if they'll work with v10). Combined with the instructions below, you can create your own Adobe package just by using the downloadable redistributable package - no need for App Wiz or Blueprints!

 

 

 

Step1: Get the MSI

1. Sign up for and downloaded the Adobe Reader redistributable package, in EXE format

 

2. Copy to C:\Temp

 

3. Create new folder in C:\Temp\AdobeReader

 

3. On a command line, run: C:\Temp\AdbeRdr11000_en_US.exe -nos_0 "Reader11" -nos_ne

 

4. Prompt will ask for destination, specify C:\Temp\AdobeReader (note if you just specify C:\Temp it'll purge it)

 

5. Once finished extracting, on the command line enter: msiexec.exe /a c:\Temp\AdobeReader\AcroRead.msi /p c:\Temp\AdobeReader\AdbeRdrUpd1014.msp

This will patch the AcroRead.msi file with the changes from the update msp file (these instructions included v10 example)

 

Note, you can skip step 5 if you've just downloaded the first major release, e.g. 11.0.0.0

 

6. Copy the AcroRead.msi out of c:\Temp\AdobeReader to a new clean location.

 

 

 

Step 2a: New RM CC4 Package:

For a new package:

 

1. In the RMMC, import a CC3 package, specifying the AcroRead.msi file (make sure it's the only thing in a directory or the RMMC will pick everything else in the folder up too).

 

2. Edit the package immediately, rename it and specify the correct OS Constraints (e.g. to include Windows 7)

 

Don't deploy it yet!

 

 

 

Step 2b: EXISTING RM CC4 Package

For an updated package, update the File Set of the package with the new AcroRead.msi

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3: Policy Settings - new!

You only need to do this once per major version

 

Adobe have now released an official ADM template for Version 11 of Reader, which can be imported in to GPOs to control various usual features. There is a 3rd party unofficial version which also includes settings for Air, Updater and Java Runtime. Here: CustomADMX | Free System Administration software downloads at SourceForge.net

 

Adobe version, here: ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/11.x/11.0.00/misc/ReaderADMTemplate.zip

 

These ADM files are fine for a vanilla environment, but RM like to keep machine and user settings separate. It's possible to make this ADM visible and friendly with the CC4 RMMC. Download them from here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/30vefz2vv1dmi3n/AdobeReader11ADM.zip

 

 

 

Instructions:

 

1. Extract the 2 files to \\sch-srv-001\d$\RMNetwork\RMManage\Type Manager\ADM

 

2. Open the RMMC and navigate to: Registry Policies -> Computer Policies -> Global -> All Computers

 

3. Click Tools -> Options -> Registry Policies. In User Policies, select AdobeReader11-User and in Computer Policies, select AdobeReader11-Computer.

Note that these policies have nothing set by default, so although they'll appear in each of your Computer and User Policies, we're only setting them up in the Global policies, so it applies to everyone.

 

4. In the Global -> All Computers policy, select the new Adobe Reader Computer category.

 

5. Set as follows:

a. Disable PDF handler Switching: Not Set

b. Disable automatic updates: Ticked

c. Turn off user participation in the feedback program: Ticked

d. Don't show messages while viewing a document: Not Set

e. Show messages when I launch Reader: Disabled

f. Display PDFs in browser: Ticked

g. Auto Complete: Not Set

h. Enable Protected Mode at startup: Disabled

 

The last one is important otherwise PDFs won't load in IE.

 

6. Click Save. Then move on to User Policies -> Global -> All Users and select the new Adobe Reader User category.

 

7. Set as follows:

a. Accept EULA: Ticked

b. Display splash screen at launch: Ticked (your choice!)

c. Enable Acrobat JavaScript: Ticked

d. Ask before installing checkbox: Disabled

e. Load security settings from a server: Not Set

f. Automatically trust sites for Win OS security zones: Ticked

 

8. Click Save. Close the RMMC.

 

 

 

Step 4: Test Deploy and get the shortcut

 

Next, test deploy your new package to a machine, reboot it so it picks up the new Computer Policy settings then log in.

All should be good :-)

CheckPDFs load in IE (if they don't then the policy isn't right).

 

 

 

Finally, we need to import a shortcut in to the package, if it's a new one, rather than an update.

 

1. From the machine where you test deployed to, navigate to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 11.0\Reader

 

2. Create a new shortcut to AcroRd32.exe

 

3. Copy this shortcut to a 32 bit computer has access to the RMMC and import it in to the package. (Irritatingly, you'll have to update the package version).

 

 

 

Step 5: Deploy!

Now you can deploy the package to your site and put the shortcut, if you want users to have access to the App, within Software-> Program Sets.

[FN-GM]

Has anyone found the group policy to disable auto update doesn't work?

[Michael]

Has anyone found the group policy to disable auto update doesn't work?

 

You could disable the Adobe Acrobat Update Service using RSAT.