Hey,I am looking to deploy updates for both Adobe Acrobat DC Continuous (Unified) and Adobe Reader DC Continuous (Unified) in my environment.However, both installers contain identical metadata in their PLIST files, making it difficult to distinguish between the two. Since each product requires a different update installer, deploying the incorrect updater will cause the installation to fail.I checked the AcroSCa key, but it is set to true for both products. I also reviewed the preinstall scripts, but they appear to be identical as well.Below are the details returned for both products:Metadata Acrobat DC Continuous (Unified) Reader DC Continuous (Unified) Installation Path /Applications/Adobe Acrobat DC/Adobe Acrobat.app /Applications/Adobe Acrobat DC/Adobe Acrobat.app Version 26.002.22031 26.002.22031 Bundle Version 26.002.22031 26.002.22031 Bundle Identifier com.adobe.Acrobat.Pro com.adobe.Acrobat.Pro Could you please suggest a reliable way to distinguish between Acrobat Unified and Reader Unified installations so that we can identify and deploy the correct update installer for each product?https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/ReleaseNotesDC/index.html

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Both Acrobat Unified and Reader Unified have identical PLIST metadata and preinstall scripts. How can we reliably differentiate them to deploy the correct update installer for each?

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Hey,

I am looking to deploy updates for both Adobe Acrobat DC Continuous (Unified) and Adobe Reader DC Continuous (Unified) in my environment.

However, both installers contain identical metadata in their PLIST files, making it difficult to distinguish between the two. Since each product requires a different update installer, deploying the incorrect updater will cause the installation to fail.

I checked the AcroSCa key, but it is set to true for both products. I also reviewed the preinstall scripts, but they appear to be identical as well.

Below are the details returned for both products:

Metadata	Acrobat DC Continuous (Unified)	Reader DC Continuous (Unified)
Installation Path	`/Applications/Adobe Acrobat DC/Adobe Acrobat.app`	`/Applications/Adobe Acrobat DC/Adobe Acrobat.app`
Version	26.002.22031	26.002.22031
Bundle Version	26.002.22031	26.002.22031
Bundle Identifier	`com.adobe.Acrobat.Pro`	`com.adobe.Acrobat.Pro`

Could you please suggest a reliable way to distinguish between Acrobat Unified and Reader Unified installations so that we can identify and deploy the correct update installer for each product?

https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/ReleaseNotesDC/index.html

G

good_mischief3190Author

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Please check this, Macintosh installers (Unified) (26.002.22031)

they have two updater for it, I have checked the binary level, acrobat one has distiller app installed, while reader one has no presence of it.

“The main difference is that if you install Reader and sign in without a subscription, it functions solely as Reader. However, if you have a subscription and sign in to the application, it upgrades to Acrobat.”

This line is correct, but app binaries are completely different if we have reader unified or acrobat unified installed.

Can you please check with your engineering and let me know is there any plist info I can use to differentiate it, as detection is surely tough without that

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BaniVerma

Community Manager

Hi @good_mischief3190,

Thank you for clarifying and sharing the additional findings from your installer comparison. We appreciate the time you've taken to investigate this.

You're right that we provide separate update packages for Acrobat Unified and Reader Unified on macOS, as listed in our release notes.

We understand your concern is about identifying which package is installed so you can deploy the appropriate updater, rather than how licensing determines the available features.

Our Unified Installer documentation describes the shared application structure, but we don't have a confirmed PLIST property to recommend for distinguishing the two installations in this scenario.

As Meenakshi mentioned earlier, we'll check with the relevant team for guidance on a supported way to identify the installed package.

In the meantime, could you please let us know which deployment or device management tool you're using? This would help us better understand your update deployment workflow.

For reference, you can review our Unified Installer for macOS documentation.

Thank you again for sharing these details with us. We appreciate your patience and are happy to assist further.

Regards,
^BS

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good_mischief3190Author

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Hi @Meenakshi Negi @Karl Heinz Kremer both are not same, if they are same why adobe is giving two different updater for it.

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Karl Heinz Kremer

Community Expert

If you license the installation, it will be full Acrobat, if you don’t, it will run as Reader. It’s a “unified” installer, meaning it can do both with just one download.

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Meenakshi Negi

Community Manager

Hi good_mischief3190,

Thank you for reaching out, and sorry about this confusion

Acrobat and Reader use a single installer, which is likely why they have identical metadata. The main difference is that if you install Reader and sign in without a subscription, it functions solely as Reader. However, if you have a subscription and sign in to the application, it upgrades to Acrobat.

We will check with the team on this and share the information with you.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

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