9.4.5 BUG. Can't Multi-select Pages anymore!!!!

[SysAdminRoll2]

Confirmed on all 4 Adobe Acrobat 9.4.5 users at my org since the update yesterday.

Before, if you held the CTRL Key, you could select multiple pages in the Pages Pane to Delete/Extract/Ect.

THIS NO LONGER WORKS! And we use that functionality A LOT.

What is the best way to get this info to the powers that be?

-Sam

[SrArmyTech]

Unfortunately my customers will not accept that either.  I just hope Adobe fixes this asap.

[Guest]

Received this message from another forum user, it may help until they do...

This reply from Adobe is not entirely accurate.

In the meantime if you are trying to manipulate contiguous pages you can  drag the blue box around the pages and perform any action on the pages  within the blue selection area. Of course this will not help to choose  pages that are not nearby to each other.  We apologize for the  inconvenience and hope to have this issue resolved in the future."

You CAN SELECT NON CONTIGUOUS pages simply by dragging a marquis  (the blue box) around the first page you wish to select then scroll down to the next page you wish to select and hold down the shift key while dragging a marquis around that page and continue with that action until you have selected as many pages as you like. Note the pages DO NOT have to be contiguous or near each other.

Sincerely,

K. Stephen Smith II

[sig deleted by host]

[newbieking]

Im so glad I found this thread before I updated my Acrobat update. And a big BOOOO! to the person who was suggestion Acrobat X. Cant just go out and purchase a new version when the update breaks a function.

[Guest]

Hey thanks Wizzzz.  I really appreciate that.  I just downloaded a trial version of BlueBeam PDF Revu.

Sincerely,

K. Stephen Smith II

[signature deleted by host]

[oylaurah]

Sanity restored - at least until I can get the upgrade.  Thanks much for the workaround!!

[Guest]

I updated 2 of the computers in our office the day the patch was released (good rule of thumb - instead of all) - and both users reported the problems the following day.

I tried to find other bugs, and this is what I found:

1.  Can't select multiple pages using CTRL or SHIFT. <- this is huge for our office as well

2.  Can't move & delete (holding shift then dragging page from one PDF to another - moves it & deletes original.

I quit looking after that.

I called customer support, who sent me to tech support.  The tech guy started to run me through all the usual hoops, and he seemed to have a hard time understanding the problem.  I explained - It's like trying to select multiple files on desktop using CTRL or SHIFT.  He then understood, and started troubleshooting any other possibility other than something being wrong with the patch.  I told him all I had done already to troubleshoot, and I felt a little disbelief on the other end of the phone.  I then asked "do you have adobe 9 installed on your machine?" - he did - I then asked "have you updated to 9.4.5?" - HE HAD NOT?!?! -- I was blown away.  I gave him my direct #, and told him to install the patch, try it for himself, and call me back.  You guessed it.  He called back & said he experienced the same problems, and advised he was shooting the problem to whereverland.

The fix:  System restore to the checkpoint PREVIOUS to the day the patch was installed.  (if you have adobe auto update, then start the computer back in safe mode w/out networking, open adobe, and turn off auto updates - then reboot as usual, and don't update until the next patch.)

It is very expensive for small businesses to buy 10+ licenses for Adobe X, (which was available 6 months after I put 9 on all machines), but I feel that if this problem was happening with Adobe X, that it would have been fixed by now.

[Dave Merchant]

As we've said elsewhere, it's a known issue and will be resolved in a future update - but it's not so disruptive as to warrant an out-of-cycle patch (which are only triggered by security-related bugs or major instabilities).

The solution for those who absolutely can't live without the feature today is to revert to 9.4.4, or upgrade to Acrobat X. I know you'll complain about that not being "acceptable", but that's all we have right now.

[Guest]

Now THAT is customer service...

There is no way to "revert to 9.4.4" as you say. It would require an uninstall & reinstall of Acrobat, and since there's no way to know which computers are using what licenses, as you cannot view them anymore - not to mention the "your system has changed since install...." verification junk you are prompted to go through (even when you properly deactivate the original install).

The only other way is a system restore, which caused the systems to lose 3+ days of data, not to mention jacking up Windows updates. So reverting is not a "solution" provided by Adobe, it is just a half you know what work around at the expense of the customer - Time is money  ~ as there is no way to roll-back or uninstall the patch, and since Adobe made the problem, Adobe needs to make a solution, within a reasonable amount of time. -- Since this update provides additional security, wouldn't "reverting" to 9.4.4 leave us vulnerable to known security issues?  In that case, would adobe not be responsible for exploits of said vulnerabilities?  So is the security portion not important enough for a re-deployment of patch, but necessary for a scheduled patch?

It may not be disruptive enough for you, but is disruptive enough to our business to warrant an out-of-cycle patch. If you want to motivate me to upgrade to Adobe X, then give me a reason to believe. There are other brands that have the same functionality as Adobe, and the bad patching makes me think of them. You telling me to revert or upgrade motivates me to use a different product when Acrobat 9 becomes obsolete.

I hope my response is "acceptable", as I believe it's definitely reasonable.

I've seen what was said elsewhere. What needs to be understood is that there is a problem when you charge hundreds of dollars for multiple licenses for a business, and release a patch that causes your program to lose the main functionality which that business uses your program for. A Very irresponsible release. -- Much less the fact your own tech department didn't have the patch installed when I called to report the problem, which was 2 days after the patch release.

[JM Austin]

Greetings fellow frustrated users,

The suggestion to hold the CTRL key and drag the mouse only created duplicate

pages on my system.

I run WinXP-SP3 & the only way I can select multiple CONSECUTIVE pages is

click on the first page in the range, press and hold the Shift key down and use

the keyboard up/down arrows.

[Bill12]

If you are referring to my suggestion, I did not drag the mouse but moved the cursor keys. There is a big difference.

[Guest]

Yes - there is a big difference - This forum is in regards to the functionality after applying the 9.4.5 patch, where the CTRL & SHIFT keys have lost all functionality, whether it's drag the mouse, move the curser keys, or any other way.

[Guest]

1. In 9.4.4 & previous versions, the CTRL key functionality can be used

to select random Pages (much like on your desktop) Hold CTRL & click the

individual pages you want to select. There are other functions for the

CTRL key, but I believe that was the one referenced.

2. In 9.4.4 & previous... The SHIFT key can be utilized by:

a- If you want to select an Array of pages (much like an array

of folders in a window)

b- You can Move & Delete using the SHIFT key - used to move

pages from one PDF to another, and deleting the pages from the original

PDF - do this by selecting the page(s) you want to move, hold down SHIFT

& drag pages to new PDF - original will confirm the deletion. This has

the same result as dragging pages to a new pdf, then manually going back

and deleting the pages you moved.

3. Please Note - This forum is in regards to the SHIFT & CTRL

functionalities not working at all after applying the 9.4.5 patch.

[Guest]

Well I was tearing my hair out w/ this multiple page problem, but this method is working.  In the thumbnails view - hold shift key down - left click-hold and drag inside the icon of the specific page you're trying to highlight.  When you release your left click the page will be blue-highlighted.  Then go to the next page and do the same thing - hold shift key down - left click-hold and drag the inside the specific page (or contiguous pages) you're trying to highlight.  When you let up the left click you will see those pages blue-highlighted.  You will be left with those pages you wanted lit up in blue and the pages you didn't want not blue-highlighted...  then you can use your document commands to delete, move, extract, etc...  This is working on all 3 of my Acrobat 9.4.5 seats.

But on an Adobe note... Adobe really does blow!  I've thought so ever since the IRS converted their online documents to Adobe PDF proprietary formats and posted "non-saveable" fill-in forms back in the 90's which forced millions to upgrade to a full-version Acrobat...  thus the IRS (our government) provided Adobe with government subsidies.  Plus Adobe's non-recognition of Photo/Premiere Elements as an upgradeable program... Adobe just simply blows!  I loved it when Google/Apple started moving to HTML5 video formats and the Ipod/Ipad's refusal to support Shockwave...  Unless Adobe reverses course and starts showing some love... well they'll just always blow!  I try to have as little as possible to do with them.  I can report, our graphics department's final CS is version 3 (we will not upgrade past that) and we canned Dreamweaver in early '10.  So I'm left with 3 Acrobat 9 seats and some old Photoshop10/CS3 seats that were bought and paid for back in 2007.  So Adobe, if you're listening, you can go blow on somebody else!  Ha!

[Guest]

One more alternate work around is to just left click on the page and use the up/down arrow key on the keyboard to shift highlight the pages.

Pretty bad QA on Adobe's part to break this kind of functionality.

[DaHartAttack]

Thanks David for offering an easy work around! Your solution has just made my day! Many thanks.

[Guest]

This is certainly not the first time that Adobe has jacked up Acrobat with an untested "update" and it looks like it won't be the last.  It is incredibly irresponsible for Adobe to just blow this off until the next regularly-scheduled update.  This multi-page select functionality is something I must use ALL THE TIME and it was a feature I relied upon when purchasing the program.  It is only a matter of time before the competition makes Acrobat a "has been" and I'm sure that these botched "updates" will long live on in everyone's memory. ADOBE - ignore or sit on this problem at your own peril. I agree with other posts that Adobe is by far the most unresponsive and arrogant software developer I have EVER encountered.  I can't wait to migrate to something else.

[JM Austin]

Adobe is worse than Microsoft. As for me, I've dumped Acrobat and gone to Corel's PDF Fusion.

You can download a fully functional 30 days trial. It's only ~$30-60 as an added bonus.

I'm no Acrobat whizz-kid, but for what I use it for, it's awesome.

[groston]

While I agree with most of the comments about Adobe (and my beef with them goes back to when the purchased FrameMaker, then let it wither and die), Corel Fusion is harly a substitute for Acrobat. It does not offer stamping, OCR, form creation, and other features I use regularly.

[beckmill]

Thank you so much. I'm an old WordPerfect guy, so I was hoping that Corel

had a really great product. I, too, use OCR and Forms, so Fusion is out

for me.

Different question: Can you tell me how to move "backwards" from v9.4.5 to

v9.4.4 of Acrobat Pro?? I have 9.4.4 on my laptop. There ought to be a way

to get it onto my workstation. Is it a simple matter of copying the .exe

file to the desktop?

Thanks again--

Warren

| Warren D. Miller, CFA, ASA | Beckmill Research, LLC | Drawer 1158 |

Lexington, VA 24450

| : 540.463.6200 | : 540.463.6208 | Skype: beckmill |

[email redacted by moderator]

| Value Maps: Valuation Tools That Unlock Business Wealth | (John Wiley &

Sons, 2010)

From:   groston <forums@adobe.com>

To:     Warren Miller [email redacted by moderator]

Date:   07/14/2011 06:01 PM

Subject:        Acrobat Windows 9.4.5 BUG.  Can't Multi-select

Pages anymore!!!!

While I agree with most of the comments about Adobe (and my beef with them

goes back to when the purchased FrameMaker, then let it wither and die),

Corel Fusion is harly a substitute for Acrobat. It does not offer

stamping, OCR, form creation, and other features I use regularly.

[Guest]

One month later, and still no solution?

I was glad to discover I wasn't the only one, but this glitch is a very poor show.

When merging two lots of documents into chronological order, being unable to multi-select makes the whole deal laborious and error-prone.

[Guest]

Plus this, which I'd noticed and wondered about:

"Adobe 9.4.5 update also messed up the highlight feature when using “find”. Now if I’m searching for a particular word in a document, it doesn’t highlight ever instance of it. It does it sporadically and this is completely unacceptable."

[url deleted by host]

[kbc]

I confirm Distendo1st 's note that the "find" feature no highlighting the found term.  I have same problem now in 9.4.5..

The workaround on selecting multiple pages needs a bit of clarification.  If you want to select non-contiguous pages in the page thumbnail viewer, then while holding down the shift key, left click the space outside of the page and drag into the page.  That highlights the page in blue.  You can then move to any non-contiguous page and repeat.  The key is not to click inside the page, but click outside then drag in.

[cohebo]

Hi all-

Long time reader of the forums, first time poster. It's so frustrating that Adobe can't get their stuff together! Every year they get buggier and buggier, it's quite pathetic! I also realize that I should be more active in these posts and give some of my solutions to these problems.

I had this problem today. Thankfully I found a solution loosely based on other thoughts here. This is Acrobat 9.4.5 on Win7 Pro.

This is for highlighting across multiple pages - which my company does on a DAILY basis! (Shame on Adobe for not saying it's important!! I digress...)

1) Make sure your page view is contiguous (I do 1-page contiguous)

2) Hit Ctrl + 0 (zero) to zoom to height. Sometimes this fixes the highlight issue immediately

3) Highlight the text on the first page (ctrl+a or highlight manually)

4) Scroll down with your mouse wheel til you can see both part of the next page, and some of the first page, and shift highlight the text in the second page ... it should highlight the first page + part of your secondpage

5) Jump to your last page and shift highlight. Your whole document should be highlighted now.

I also noticed that if you leave Acrobat open after doing this on one document, it will work without a hitch on all other documents you open until you close the application for good.

Conor.

[Dominik Hoffmann]

I have had the same issue with Acrobat Pro 9.4.5 on Mac OS X 10.6.8. Thanks to Time Machine, reverting to 9.4.4 is relatively easy.

I'm back to 9.4.4, and the ability to multi-select pages in the Pages Panel is restored.

Thanks to those who have gone through the rigmarole of contacting Adobe!

[Guest]

Hold Shift and drag a box over any page you want to highlight. This works for skipping pages as well, just drag - release - drag - release around the pages you want selected while holding shift. Hope this helps for now!