An open community 
of Macintosh users,
for Macintosh users.

FineTunedMac Dashboard widget now available! Download Here

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Adobe Acrobat and Reader Update Problem
#20282 01/25/12 03:39 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 16
Moderator
OP Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 16
Since I have found a solution to my immediate problem this is technically not a request for technical help so I am lodging it here rather than in the Mac OS X Applications forum.

There is a thread in the Applications forum reporting problems with Adobe CS5 and files erroneously reporting The disk copy was changed since you last opened it. I have been encountering what may be a related problem attempting to update both Adobe Acrobat X and Adobe Reader from version 10.1.1 to 10.1.2. The updaters continually report they were unable to complete the update because the files had been modified and suggesting they be reinstalled from the original disc. Checking Adobe's web site simply repeated the advice of reinstalling the product and I was reluctant to pay for technical support.

I was eventually able to update Adobe Reader by downloading the full Reader 10.1.2 and installing it rather than the updater, but since I could not download a full version of Acrobat 10.1.2 I was stymied. I reinstalled Acrobat X from the original copy, ran the updater and it reported it was unable to complete the update because the files had been modified. Finally I ran the Acrobat Uninstaller and totally removed all traces of Acrobat from the system, reinstalled from the original disc, and only then would the updater run.

I have no idea what was causing the 10.1.2 updater to fail, but the fact it happened on both Acrobat and Reader seems suspicious to me. I will be looking long and hard at alternative solutions the next time Acrobat comes up for an upgrade.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Adobe Acrobat and Reader Update Problem
joemikeb #20283 01/25/12 04:14 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 7
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 7
I had the same problem updating Adobe Reader awhile back (I don't remember the version number) and solved it by trashing ~/Library/Preferences/AdobeUM. UM stands for Update Manager. I don't have Acrobat so I can't speak about it.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Adobe Acrobat and Reader Update Problem
joemikeb #20284 01/25/12 04:24 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 14
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 14
I'm not sure if this helps, as it's not an update situation. I haven't had Reader for quite a while as I find that Preview does pretty much everything I need, however I ran across an anomaly yesterday and installed Reader 10.1.2.

The installation went without incident.

Last edited by ryck; 01/25/12 04:25 PM.

ryck

"What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" The Doobie Brothers

iMac (Retina 5K, 27", 2020), 3.8 GHz 8 Core Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 2667 MHz DDR4
OS Ventura 13.6.3
Canon Pixma TR 8520 Printer
Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner c/w VueScan software
TM on 1TB LaCie USB-C
Re: Adobe Acrobat and Reader Update Problem
joemikeb #20286 01/25/12 04:38 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
Offline

Joined: Sep 2009
Originally Posted By: joemikeb
I have been encountering what may be a related problem attempting to update both Adobe Acrobat X and Adobe Reader from version 10.1.1 to 10.1.2. The updaters continually report they were unable to complete the update because the files had been modified and suggesting they be reinstalled from the original disc.

<snip>

I have no idea what was causing the 10.1.2 updater to fail, but the fact it happened on both Acrobat and Reader seems suspicious to me. I will be looking long and hard at alternative solutions the next time Acrobat comes up for an upgrade.

Only peripherally related, but as an owner of Photoshop Elements (original version plus 2.x and then 6.x), i can speak to the consistent FAIL of Adobe's download/update management. E.g., in the case of v.6, i kept getting failed auto-updates, seeing some 30+ lines such as this in the aum log:

2/17/09 8:11 AM: Could not find AMT folder at: = /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Color/Contents/Resources

a basic search proved that that particular AMT folder was actually located at this path: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Color/AMT

IOW, the "Contents/Resources" portion of the path was bogus... and a rather silly error on their part. [again, that was just one of many AMT folders which the updater was unable to locate.]

Eventually i resigned, following their advice to 'Turn off automatic updates on Mac OS'.

The engineers there who design Photoshop's filters, data manipulation and such are undoubtedly software geniuses. But the grunts who work on basic filesystem stuff (installers, updaters, etc.)... not so much.

Last edited by Hal Itosis; 01/25/12 04:54 PM.
Re: Adobe Acrobat and Reader Update Problem
joemikeb #20443 01/31/12 08:44 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
I just downloaded the 10.1.2 update for Acrobat X Pro, and it installed without incident.
The described problem must reside in the straight Acrobat X and Acrobat Reader 10.1.2 update.

Re: Adobe Acrobat and Reader Update Problem
grelber #20444 01/31/12 09:05 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 1
Moderator
Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 1
Originally Posted By: grelber
The described problem must reside in the straight Acrobat X and Acrobat Reader 10.1.2 update.

Possibly, but I'd rather say 'may' than 'must', at least for now. These Adobe Updater problems have been too widespread to warrant anything else.


alternaut moderator
Re: Adobe Acrobat and Reader Update Problem
Hal Itosis #20446 02/01/12 01:37 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 16
Moderator
OP Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 16
Originally Posted By: Hal Itosis
The engineers there who design Photoshop's filters, data manipulation and such are undoubtedly software geniuses. But the grunts who work on basic filesystem stuff (installers, updaters, etc.)... not so much.

Maybe, but I have to wonder if some of Adobe's problems on the Apple platform and their continued insistence that, "it is Apple's fault" isn't more likely...
  1. Apple's very public rejection of Flash for their iDevices which certainly contributed to Adobe's decision to stop development of Flash for all mobile devices, not just Apple's.
  2. Complaisance brought about by Adobe's almost total market domination of high end graphics oriented software
  3. A lack of committment to support of OS X products
  4. A software development process that..
    1. Is lacking in the requisite software quality control
    2. Is unable to contend with Apple's rapid development schedule and product evolution
  5. All of the above
  6. Some of the above

Whatever, for the first time in many years I find myself looking for credible alternatives to Dreamweaver, Photoshop, InDesign, and Acrobat Pro. Although I have not found any products that are a 100% match for the features and functionalities of these Adobe products, I am finding replacements that for me do fulfill the essential functionalities and are far more cost effective than their Adobe competition. Adobe may find itself keeping Microsoft products company in my collection of software I no longer have a need for or use.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Adobe Acrobat and Reader Update Problem
joemikeb #20450 02/01/12 06:03 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
Offline

Joined: Sep 2009
Just the amount of cruft Adobe sees fit to install for Acrobat Reader (a reader!!!) is mind-blowing. There's no effort on their part to KISS.

Re: Adobe Acrobat and Reader Update Problem
Hal Itosis #20474 02/02/12 11:16 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 1
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 1
Acrobat started out with some very ambitious ideas, which is part of the reason Adobe's reader is crufty and bloated.

Originally, the PDF specification called for a lot more than just a file format for reading documents. PDF files can contain all sorts of things--annotations, sound, multimedia, executable programs and applets(!), JavaScript, event triggers, all sorts of stuff.

Now, almost nobody every uses those capabilities--but they're still present in Reader nonetheless. (One of the reasons that third-party apps like Foxit PDF reader are so much smaller and tighter than Adobe Reader is that a lot of this functionality isn't supported; these third-party readers don't implement a lot of the more exotic and seldom-used parts of the PDF spec.)


Photo gallery, all about me, and more: www.xeromag.com/franklin.html
Re: Adobe Acrobat and Reader Update Problem
tacit #20492 02/03/12 10:54 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 16
Moderator
OP Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 16
Many of those notation features, etc are used extensively in large corporate environments. Certainly they were where I worked.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Adobe Acrobat and Reader Update Problem
joemikeb #20501 02/04/12 12:46 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 1
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 1
Yep. That puts Adobe in a bit of a bind; if they try to trim those features out of Adobe Reader, the few clients (relatively speaking) who rely on them would have a big problem. But by including them in Adobe Reader, they make a bloated mess that's hard to keep secure.

I wonder if it would be worthwhile to make Reader more modular, and allow people to download a "light" or "full" version, though I suspect Adobe sees third party programs like Preview and Foxit as filling the "light" niche. Since they give Reader away for free, I can understand not wanting to devote a lot of engineering resources to maintaining multiple different versions with different feature sets.


Photo gallery, all about me, and more: www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

Moderated by  alternaut, cyn 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.4
(Release build 20200307)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.4.33 Page Time: 0.025s Queries: 36 (0.018s) Memory: 0.6271 MB (Peak: 0.7261 MB) Data Comp: Zlib Server Time: 2024-03-29 07:26:35 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS