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Jens1968
Jens1968
New Participant
April 14, 2020
Answered

Arcobat and multiple desktops in Windows 10

  • April 14, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 17055 views

Acrobat does not seem to accept the environment created when you work with several (virtual) desktops in Windows 10. If you open a pdf file in one of the virtual desktops, switch to another desktop and open a second pdf file, it will open in the first desktop. Is there any way to fix this?

 

If not, does anyone know of a competing product that does not have this problem? 

 

I use Acrobat DC. 

 

Jens Lundgren

    Correct answer ls_rbls

    ....and one more thing to add to this very irritating glitch -- After following @p3n's instructions (very helpful, thank you), it was still doing something strange where if I opened a PDF document in one desktop and then switched over to the other desktop and the opened the Reader application, it would swing back to the open document in the original desktop.  I found I can overcome this temporarily by opening two documents in one desktop (which worked after p3n's instructions), then clicking on the Task View button and dragging one of the open PDFs to the other desktop.  Then you can open separate instances of Reader on the different desktops.  But it seems that it reverts to the same problem after you close Acrobat Reader, then you have to do the dragging thing again.


    In my older post from April 2020 I mentioned this:

     

    "you will need to get in the habit of selecting "Close File" instead of "Exit Application"

     

    Manually detaching a PDF document from Acrobat's  main working space, and placing it on  a virtual desktop that is different from the virtual desktop where Adobe Acrobat Pro was opened in will work until Acrobat is exit.

     

    Closing a tab (not exiting the Acrobat software) that belongs to an actual PDF document tab that was detached from Acrobat and manually placed on a different Windows virtual desktop should not close all other opened tabs.

     

    The lack of the desired Adobe Acrobat virtualization on a desktop computer is not a glitch, it is more of a design behavior . It seems like it hasn't been supported at all even on recent years (or added as a feature). It is not supported (from what I can deduct).

     

    I've been struggling with this too.

     

     

    2 replies

    D
    Didrik291327441i6t
    New Participant
    April 7, 2024

    I found a feature suggestion for improving this behaviour. If more people are frustrated over this, please upvote this idea:
    https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/suggestions/47303456-bug-pdf-opens-in-the-desktop-where-an-instance-of

    ls_rbls
    ls_rbls
    Adobe Expert
    April 27, 2020

    Yes, you're correct that is not possible. 

     

    Adobe Acrobat (or Reader) are not assembled to accept virtual environments in the context of running multiple instances of the same software in the same computer. 

     

    You may set the Preferences, however,  to open your in separate tabs outside of the main Acrobat application window , and then manually dragg them to the virtual space of your choice. To work around this you need to keep that instance of Acrobat always opened for you to be able to move the opened PDFs to other virtual desktops.

     

    And also, you will need to  get in the habit of selecting "Close File" instead of "Exit Application" when you're done with a document or else it will terminate Acrobat and all the tabs that are opened will close. 

     

    Last, I am pretty sure that the last answer to your question could be answered by any community user, but it is kind of an oxymoron to consider, that even though there is third-party software that allows to do this,  to advertise in an Acrobat support forum software that would antagonize Adobe sanctions is kind of obtuse.

     

    From what I am reading this is also not possible with all other applications, such as Skype, for example. So you may need to do your own research.   

     

    But to answer your question with some hope,  you can create a another user accout (or more) in your Windows machine (assign username and password). Then, if you navigate to your Adobe Acrobat folder: 

     

    C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat

     

    press the SHIFT key in your keyboard and while you keep it pressed, right-click with your mouse on "Acrobat.exe"  file. Select from the context menu "Run as a different user".

     

    You will be prompted to enter that user account name and password in adialogue box that will pop up.

     

    Now you will be able to run separate instances of Acrobat in the same desktop and drag that instance to a virtual desktop.

     

    Moreover, if you're creative you can also use a batch script to run as another user the same application : https://www.windows-commandline.com/windows-runas-command-prompt/

     

    All you have to do save this batch script in the virtual desktops of your choice to have it open in the same virtual desktop each time.

     

    Hope this helps and give you additional insights on the possibilities at hand.

    Ž
    Željko5FBE
    New Participant
    August 25, 2020

    Turning off opening in tabs resolves the issue. 

      M
      Mick5D4B
      New Participant
      September 10, 2020

      No, it doesn't. I don't think you are getting the question being asked.

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