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Teilo
Participating Frequently
April 6, 2015
Answered

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

  • April 6, 2015
  • 53 replies
  • 94517 views

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.
    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer lrosenth

    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.

    Adobe has NEVER supported the installation of multiple versions of Acrobat on the same machine.  Not on Windows and not on Mac.

    We are aware that some of our customers choose to use this UNSUPPORTED configuration AGAINST OUR RECOMMENDATIONS, however, it is NOT supported.  As such, the act of upgrading from Acrobat XI to Acrobat DC is just that - an UPGRADE.  It's not a "install a new piece of software next to my old one".  Just as when you update/upgrade apps from the Mac App Store or with the Chrome browser - you don't get to keep old software, you simply get the shiny new thing.

    Concerning plugins - it appears that some of you have been installing your plugins inside of the application package on the Mac.  This is also an NOT RECOMMENDED configuration since Acrobat X, when we enabled support for an external plugin folder - for exactly this reason - that when we uninstall an application it also uninstalls the included plugins.  Had they been in the proper external folder, they would have been left alone.   Though, as Andrew said, none of the plugins would still work on the Mac.

    53 replies

    kevinm97684847
    kevinm97684847
    Participant
    August 5, 2020

    That's all very nice. You failed to mention that I bouth the stand-alone Acrobat Pro  becuase it had a few basic editing features I use and have used for 10 years. All I used if for was signature and coverting WORD to PDF. I upgraded to Pro years back to ge those features. I worked fine on Tuesday. On that day, I upgaded Litghtroom. I've been a Photoship user for over a a decade. In the process of upgrading and aos purchaseing Spark, you doenloaded your MONTHY FEE versionof Acrobat and removed my Acobat Pro 11. That's called forcing me to pay you once a month for you upgraded version which I don't need. Thanks for noting. I also use Abbey Soft Reader. I believe the can do PD work - and there's no exstra subscription. I did did not buy your upgrade. I recent teh way this was handled.

      D
      DCinFrance1
      Participant
      July 16, 2020

      Does not your arrogance know no bounds? I PAID for Acrobat XI. You had and have no right to destroy my property with out a word or option to say no, stick your DC trial up your rear end. I got it back to work by reinstalling it because I wasn't about to get dragged into you software rental scheme. However, now all the menu text, icons, option bars, etc. are 10 times their correct size and I have spent hours on trying to fic it to no avail. And your analogy of other software...I'm sorry, Acrobat XI and Acrobat DC are DISTINCTLY different products. I will never pass on an opportunity to tell others, both by word of mouth and social media, about your scam and your response to it.

        abailescollins
        abailescollins
        Participating Frequently
        August 18, 2017

        Update on the disappearing tool bar story.


        You do not have to remove your Acrobat preferences.

        In Acrobat preferences, please enable “Open documents as new tabs in the same window” to avoid the issue until Adobe permanently fixes it in Acrobat.

        Known issues and solutions | Enfocus

        glaustin
        glaustin
        Inspiring
        August 14, 2017

        If only Adobe listened to their customers instead of telling them they're wrong, they would be unstoppable....

          R
          renestenfeldt
          Participant
          August 14, 2017

          Well i just got this answer from Pitstop - GREAT Adobe!

          We've had reports of this issue by several of our customers already. For all the customers that we tested, we installed a plugin from another third party vendor. The plugins from the other third party vendors had the same issue as PitStop Pro. This proves that the issue is not caused by PitStop Pro, but by a change in Acrobat.

          We also discovered that removing the Acrobat preferences temporary resolves the issue. This is another indication that it is an issue caused by Acrobat.

          If you wish to test yourself, you can use the free trial of the Quite Imposing plugin, which you can download here

          http://www.quite.com/imposing/download.htm

          If it also doesn't show any toolbar, then you can use this as proof to Adobe that the issue is not caused by PitStop Pro.

          Please also check this page which describes how to remove the Acrobat preferences to temporary resolve the issue. This will be much faster then reinstalling Acrobat:

          https://www.enfocus.com/en/support/known-issues-and-solutions#!/SupportPortalSolution?id=501570000018YbEAAU

          Kind regards, 

          Jonas Yde

          Enfocus Product Specialist

          R
          renestenfeldt
          Participant
          August 14, 2017

          Hi there,

          It's August 2017 and my Acrobat Pro DC just killed my 3. party quickbar tools.

          This is really frustrating!

          The Quite Impose and Pitstop plugins is “deleted” from Adobe Acrobat Pro DC tools menu.

          This means that, i can’t get it to the quickbar tool pane.

          I just tried to uninstall everything, and installed acrobat again, then quite Impose.

          It worked after reinstall and updating to the newest version.

          This morning when i opened the program, the tools is gone from the pane.

          I also made a quickbar tool pane, and the icons is gone from there.

          I contacted adobe support, and they told me to contact the 3. party application, but this is related to Acrobat Pro DC.

          Do you have any solution for this, as it’s really frustrating.

          M
          michaelm56724827
          Participant
          October 25, 2016

          Got rid of Acrobat 3D Toolkit. Wont let me us it anymore.

          Bastards.

          I
          Igor.Freiberger
          Participating Frequently
          May 25, 2016

          It's sad to come back here after months and still find Adobe staff trying to convince users about the correctness of Acrobat DC interface. I went back to Acrobat XI long ago and will not update to the new 2016 version, no matter how wonderful Adobe marketing describes it, as the UI approach is the same.

          More and more I hear people asking for ways to escape from CC – mostly due to the subscription model, but also because of drawbacks like Acrobat DC problems, lack of support for third-party plugins, lots of inconsistencies between applications, slow bug corrections and so on.

            Kalaniokai
            Kalaniokai
            Participant
            May 6, 2016

            After a lengthy on line chat battle with Adobe customer support over several days of to get my Pro 11 back; I have finally found a way to circumvent the expense and difficulty of getting rid of Acrobat DC Pro.

            Delete it and install a competitors software.

            If you own Adobe stock I would get rid of it because "Cloud" or software "rental" is  going to cause a mass exodus back to a simpler life. I simply don't have that kind of money to pay for software on a monthly basis or high end Direct TV either.

            Another example of the "have's" and the "have no'ts" in an increasingly polarized society.

            Kalaniokai
            Kalaniokai
            Participant
            May 5, 2016

            I can only agree that you have wasted my entire work day in trying to fix this installation nightmare! Your offer to install Acrobat DC at 14.95 per month HAS NO OPT OUT.  I want access to my paid for Acrobat 11 version back.

            The lost productivity in this issue is staggering and I will not at all be surprised if a class action lawsuit springs out of this debacle. I for one would sign up for that.

            Gary__F
            Gary__F
            Inspiring
            May 5, 2016

            I've made a backup of the Acrobat Pro v11 installation file so I can always re-install it again if my computer dies. The CC desktop app keeps telling me there's an update but I ignore it knowing that Adobe haven't addressed the issues documented in this thread.

            David, there is a link early on in this thread to download the v11 install file. I don't know if it still works?

            My biggest gripe, apart from the crashing, is the horrid interface that's ridiculous on my 27" UHD monitor. Acrobat DC has been designed predominately with tablets in mind with no thought for professional power users who work from a desktop and need all the tools on-screen at the same time.

            lrosenth
            Adobe Employee
            lrosenth
            Adobe Employee
            May 5, 2016

            Gary – do you really need every single tool on the screen at the same time? I can understand the need for custom grouping(s) of the tools, which is why we have the ability to create custom tool sets – with full choices of what goes on the top bar and what goes on the right hand panel.

            Can you elaborate on why that doesn’t address your needs?

            dcannatella
            dcannatella
            Participant
            April 9, 2016

            I second Teilo's complaints.

            I'm paying a lot of money for Adobe CC, and what makes these problems partictularly annoying is that the online documention is horrible.

            For example, I am trying to UNINSTALL Acrobat DC, and Creative Cloud will not allow me to do this. Worse, a Google search for "adobe acrobat DC uninstaller download" yields nothing about how to uninstall, only links to installation. There's no excuse for this.

            My simple question is, where can I download Adobe DC uninstaller for the Mac?  A clear and unobnoxious response would be appreciated.

            Dave

            S
            scrumplestiltskin
            Inspiring
            April 11, 2016

            dcannatella,

            I'm not an Adobe expert, but I believe I can answer your question, and I sympathize with your frustration.

            Follow these steps to uninstall Adobe Acrobat DC:

            1. Start the Adobe Cloud application.

            2. Find Acrobat DC.

            3. Click the Gear icon next to Acrobat DC.

                A context menu appears under the Gear icon as shown in Figure 1.

               

                Figure 1: context menu under the Gear icon

            4. Click Uninstall.

            5. Follow the remaining instructions or prompts that appear on your machine or device.

                Adobe Cloud uninstalls Acrobat DC.


            Hope this information helps.

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