Why does the DC installer remove Acrobat Pro XI, and all of its plugins, without warning?

[Teilo]

When you run the "Update" to Acrobat DC, Acrobat XI, and any plugins you are using, disappear. There is no warning. Pro XI is just simply gone.

It is not possible to install Pro XI along side of DC. If you try, the install seems to work, but the Applications folder only contains DC.

Also: Acrobat Pro XI does not appear in the Previous Versions list in the Creative Cloud app.

The only way I have found to get Pro XI back is to uninstall DC, then go to the Pro XI Download page: https://creative.adobe.com/products/acrobat

Click Download, and the CC applet will download and re-install Acrobat Pro XI. You will then need to re-install all your plugins.

Adobe: Thank you so much for creating a massive support headache for your customers! Your ability to screw us over knows no bounds.

[lrosenth]

Understand why direct text editing would work better in that case.

OCR has NEVER been part of Reader – only Acrobat. So if you had OCR before, then I believe that someone installed Acrobat on your computer but you may not have been aware of it. I would check what software you do have installed – look at the About X menu items.

So if you have Acrobat, then OCR is still there – and in fact, is MUCH improved in Acrobat DC. Not only in capabilities but also the ease of use.

[breesepub]

lrosenth, any idea when we can expect an update to Acrobat DC that might fix some of the many many issues reported? I thought updates were supposed to be sent our faster since this is now part of Creative Cloud?

[lrosenth]

Acrobat updates continue to be on a quarterly basis.

Subscribers (both via CC and directly for DC) will be entitled to fixes as well as improvements and new features, while perpetual users will only receive bug and security fixes.

[breesepub]

So updates won't be any faster as promised previously? Seems like I've been using a broken DC for 10 years now with no updates. I guess the problems just make it seem longer than it has been.

[preflightcrashagain]

So, at the start of next quarter - all of the issues mentioned here will be fixed, yes ?

[lrosenth]

I would expect things like crashes and improper functioning to be corrected, but I wouldn’t look for significant UI changes.

[breesepub]

So nothing will get fixed in the UI that every person on the planet that doesn't work for Adobe hates?

[lrosenth]

Are we going to back to it looking like Acrobat XI (or even Acrobat 9)? No, we are not.

Are we going to address some of the specific pain points of the new UI, such as things in your way that you may not want or taking too many mouse clicks (or travel)? Absolutely.

[scrumplestiltskin]

I don't care if Adobe doesn't go back to the way Acrobat XI looked. In fact, it was a disappointment compared to previous versions that included LiveCycle Designer. What I care about is functionality, and judging from this discussion thread, Adobe should stop and take notice. If something isn't done quick, Adobe Acrobat will no longer be the industry flagship for PDF creation or management. Moreover, the whole concept of Document Cloud (DC) is troubling from a privacy perspective. I think Adobe is way off on this release, and I really wonder how much user-centered research and design went into it. It's terrible.

[breesepub]

So the God awful Home screen will be gone? And the bright white background?

[joec88]

Update is out.

99.9% of user complaints on these forums was not addressed at all. We waited this long for this?

[lrosenth]

I am not sure what you were expecting…Many of the complaints here are about the overall changes to the UI, which is not something that we will be reverting.

However, we have addressed a few of key pain points with the new UI including making the Right Hand Panel (RHP) remember its setting and the Left Hand Panel (LHP) more intelligent about when to open (or not) as well as remembering its state. The comments panel is also now resizable, making it more useful when doing complex review workflows. The Tools in the Tools panel no longer “jump around” so you can be assured that your tools are always in the same place.

We also fixed a significant number of bugs, including many that were causing the crashes that were reported here as well. We fixed issues with Apple’s recent TWAIN (scanner) changes. And many more. Details can be found at http://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/ReleaseNotes/DC/dccontinuousjuly2015.html

Oh – and one other big thing that came through loud and clear…

We now support Acrobat DC (this new release, and later!) and Acrobat XI to officially co-exist on the same machine! And the installers will give you that option as well.

[scrumplestiltskin]

I will take what I hope is a cautious approach in my reply. If Acrobat DC will co-exist with Adobe Acrobat Pro XI, that is indeed good news; however, I'm still not satisfied with the way Acrobat DC generates forms. My complaint isn't just about a UI change. It's a complaint about reduced functionality. Adobe Acrobat Pro XI gave everyone more in terms of form creation with Adobe Forms Central. Adobe Acrobat Pro X with LiveCycle Designer gave significantly more.

These are not baseless assertions, but real insights derived from from years of personal experience with these tools. I was deeply disappointed when Adobe separated LiveCycle Designer from Acrobat Pro, and even more so when I discovered what Acrobat DC did with forms. From my perspective, Adobe Acrobat DC not only looks like a child's toy, but functions like one. This is not a light concern; it's a business issue that Adobe needs to take it seriously.

I may experiment with downloading Acrobat DC to see if it will exist along side Acrobat Pro XI as you suggest, but until Acrobat DC improves substantially, I will continue using Acrobat Pro XI or maybe even move back to Acrobat Pro X if I can. That, of course, is a security issue. The older a software application gets, the more vulnerable it becomes to hacking despite efforts to patch the holes. In the long run, if Adobe doesn't improve Acrobat DC, I'll find a replacement.

I hope what I've said here is direct but honest. I focused on forms, but the points by other contributors in this thread are equally legitimate and painful. I hope Adobe will hear our complaints and take them seriously.

[dballen41]

I have to agree with you completely. I had a bad experience with an unexpected "upgrade" on my Android tablet, which installed DC instead of merely updating my existing Adobe app. This morning I got a notice of a new "update" for Acrobat XI and after it downloaded and began readying to install, I saw the black DC logo and immediately hit Task Manager to shut it down. I do NOT like DC. Acrobat XI is the last good version. I will not replace it, no matter what Adobe wants me to do. I may have to refuse all future updates from them, which concerns me from a security point of view.

[joec88]

lrosenth wrote:

I am not sure what you were expecting…Many of the complaints here are about the overall changes to the UI, which is not something that we will be reverting.

And that attitude right there is what pisses off people more than anything. Your arrogance and stubbornness to listen to to your users will eventually be your downfall...just as it was with Quark Xpress.

Specific problem...the stupid SHIFT+CLICK modifier key that creates a sticky note but only with output preview open. It goes against every UI design on the planet and it is completely ignorant for Adobe to have changed it and even more ridiculous they have chosen once again to ignore the world-over common shortcut modifier for SHIFT+CLICK which is to add to an existing selection...which every other Adobe application adheres to.

[scrumplestiltskin]

"We now support Acrobat DC (this new release, and later!) and Acrobat XI to officially co-exist on the same machine!   And the installers will give you that option as well."

Maybe I did something wrong, but I just tried installing Acrobat DC on my Mac and it removed Adobe Acrobat Pro XI. I regret my decision to act on the advice above. It's time to start looking for a new PDF solution.

[Komoda]

I just tried installing XI with DC and it won't work because "setup detected that you have a more functional product installed".

Should I be doing something different?

[AshuMittal]

Hi Komoda,

Could you please open Acrobat XI, go to Help > Check for Updates and make sure you are on the latest release (11.0.12).

Pleas re-try and let me know if that works.

Thanks,

-ashu

[chiMaxx]

I am having the same issue.

I uninstalled Acrobat DC, and downloaded the Creative Cloud installer from the Acrobat page Free Acrobat Pro DC | Download Adobe Acrobat Pro DC free trial after selecting Acrobat XI.

As soon as the Creative Cloud installer was finished installing, it loaded Acrobat XI.

Within seconds after Acrobat XI was installed, it disappeared from the Installed Applications list, and an Acrobat DC Update button appeared.

When I clicked on it, and opened the "Advanced" secondary UI, there were two checkbox options, one of which would allow me to keep Acrobat DC--if I had been able to uncheck it. However, both options in the greyed out area were greyed out.

Seeing your instructions to ashumittai, I opened Acrobat XI and went to Help > Check for Updates. It upgraded me to the latest release (11.0.12).

Once I did that, the dialog opening after hitting the Update button in Creative Cloud no longer had an "Advanced" secondary UI. It simply says "Installing Acrobat DC will uninstall the existing Acrobat version on your machine. Click on "Learn More" for instructions on how to reinstall Acrobat XI on your machine.

The "Learn More" button redirects to Adobe Acrobat DC uninstalled Acrobat XI | How to get Acrobat XI back -- which of course tells you that you have to uninstall Acrobat DC in order to install Acrobat XI.

lrosenth wrote "We now support Acrobat DC (this new release, and later!) and Acrobat XI to officially co-exist on the same machine!   And the installers will give you that option as well." But if that's true, neither the latest installers nor your help pages are aware of the fact.

The versions of Creative Cloud and Acrobat XI installed by the Creative Cloud installer at Free Acrobat Pro DC | Download Adobe Acrobat Pro DC free trial after selecting Acrobat XI seem to WANT to give you the option in the Advanced section of the Acrobat DC Upgrade popup, but the options are greyed out and inaccessible. Updating to the latest version of Acrobat XI removes those "Advanced" options entirely.

All I really want to do is ignore the update to DC (I don't want my documents in the cloud, thank you very much, so I don't want to have to relearn an interface to accommodate a core feature I don't want). How can I tell Creative Cloud to ignore the update/upgrade to DC and still use the "Update All" link for everything else when I have multiple other products to update?

[chiMaxx]

UPDATE:

lrosenth wrote "We now support Acrobat DC (this new release, and later!) and Acrobat XI to officially co-exist on the same machine!   And the installers will give you that option as well."

This is still not true--and even more so.

The Creative Cloud Installer gives you no option to keep Acrobat XI. It simply says "Installing Acrobat DC will uninstall the existing Acrobat version on your machine. Click on "Learn More" for instructions on how to reinstall Acrobat XI on your machine."

The "Learn More" link still points to this page -- Adobe Acrobat DC uninstalled Acrobat XI | How to get Acrobat XI back‌ -- which points to and has screen shots for an Acrobat download page that no longer exists. When you click the link, which points at https:// creative.adobe.com/ products/ acrobat (minus the spaces), you are redirected to https: //acrobat.adobe.com/ us/ en/ products/ acrobat-pro-cc.html (minus the spaces), which not only has no pulldown allowing you to select Acrobat XI, but implies that you must be a subscription to the Document Cloud to download a copy of the software--even when you are logged into your Creative Cloud account.

So lrosenth: When will the CC installers give the option to allow both DC and XI to exist on the same machine? And what are users who want to roll back to Acrobat XI supposed to do now that there is apparently no path to download XI (or a CC installer that installs XI)? And why are CC subscribers being led to believe that they have to buy a subscription to the Document Cloud in order to have a copy of Acrobat DC?

[lrosenth]

I would double check that your CC desktop application is up to date – should be 2.2.0.129

[chiMaxx]

Aug 30: Double-checked. My CC desktop application is indeed 2.2.0.129

Sep 11: So now what?

[chiMaxx]

Having CC desktop 2.2.0.129 does nothing to fix the server redirect from Adobe Acrobat DC uninstalled Acrobat XI | How to get Acrobat XI back (the page the "Learn More" link for reinstalling Acrobat XI points to.

The instructional page above points to and has screen shots for an Acrobat download page that no longer exists--or that users can no longer reach because of a server redirect. When you click the link, which points at https: //creative.adobe.com/ products/ acrobat (minus the spaces), you are redirected to https: //acrobat.adobe.com/ us/ en/ products/ acrobat-pro-cc.html (minus the spaces), which not only has no pulldown allowing you to select Acrobat XI, but implies that you must buy a subscription to the Document Cloud to download a copy of the software--even when you are logged into your Creative Cloud account.

I checked just now, and this is still all true.

Why do you have a server redirect set up that prevents people from accessing the page that is pointed to by your primary information and instruction page for CC users on reverting to Acrobat XI. I call it your primary information and instruction page for this, because it is the page that the CC app's "Learn More" link for the Acrobat Upgrade points to.

This is a good way to get your customers to explode in frustration, if that's what you're going for.

[Guest]

Ah, that was it.  Yes, our company has a site license and installs Acrobat for all of us.  Unfortunately, when I installed the DC Reader it automatically changed my default .pdf opener program so whenever I went to a folder in Windows Explorer and opened a .pdf, it was opening with DC.  I just did a web search and found out how to change the default program back to Acrobat.  Why Adobe would make DC overwrite Acrobat as the default .pdf opener in the computer's default programs list, I don't know.  But now I've fixed it on my computer.  On a PC running Windows 7, the steps are:  click the Start button, select Default Programs, click Associate a file type or protocol with a program, scroll down the list to locate .pdf in the Name column, and click Change and selecting the correct program to use as the default.

[Earthbound Star]

When people purchase and use your products to do their WORK... the last thing anyone needs is to stop in the middle of a project to go to school in order to figure out how we can get back to our work.

Let me start by saying that we are sorry that you are experiencing the problem that you are.  However, you should understand why you have these pains and hopefully prevent them from happening in the future.

That is about the most GOD AWFUL thing ever spoken to customers.... Put simply your clients are trying to use your products for our businesses (which in my case is attending college while I'm still in high school) and I have a lot of work to do and ZERO TIME to figure out WTF your software geniuses are expecting me to do when you magically replace a perfectly good APP with something that is completely different.

You are not "Sorry" and you are also blaming the people who give you money to make their lives easier for being upset that you sold them unwanted complications! ...I'll be 16 next week and I can figure this out. Maybe if you step outside of your self righteousness you'd be able to serve your customers needs and help them get their work done.