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Participant
August 10, 2024
Question

Access reader on one user and Pro on a different user on same Mac.

  • August 10, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 423 views

Hi all. I ahve a question which I'm having trouble finding the answer to. 

I have a new mac mini which I use to work from home if I need to or to use with the rest of my household for personal stuff. So three users. 

I run my CC account from work (1 seat), and from home (2nd seat). The rest of the household would like to open acrobat reader to view PDFs however it keeps opening full acrobat  and requiring a sign in and a subscription. Signing in is fine, I have aseperate adobe acount for personal stuff, however it is demanding me chose a subscription. I don't need one, I just need to view a PDF using the reader. 

Can't install Reader as it wants to install computer-wide and then refuses to do so as I have Pro installed on my work user login.

In short is there a way to be able to open PDFs in reader mode on the non work related users on my mac and to have my work CC login run ok with acrobat on my work user login on the same machine? I find it daft that Adobe insists on installing acrobat for the entire machine and then limits it to either subscription or to reader versions across the entire install machine-wide. All other apps (like InDesign) have been installed locally for the work user exclusively. 

1 reply

S_S
Community Manager
Community Manager
January 14, 2025

Hi @artistic_scientist0D4C,

 

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for writing in!

 

If you are still looking for a solution, I would suggest using two user accounts on your home Mac.

 

Since Acrobat and Reader use a single unified installer, it would be difficult to downgrade from the Pro to Reader once the application upgrades itself to Pro.

 

The best method here, would be to use two different user profiles, use Pro on one profile and Reader on the other, for a seamless and hassle free experience.


-Souvik

Participant
January 21, 2025

Hello @S. S,

 

I have a similar situation and already have two user accounts on my Mac. I am User 1 (admin) with Creative Cloud subscription. User 2 is standard and needs only Acrobat Reader. I am getting this error when trying to install Acrobat Reader:

 

Adobe Acrobat found a more functional Adobe Acrobat already installed. Installer will terminate.

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.