Adobe Acrobat Reader installer installs Acrobat Pro instead

[ITadmin@NexGen]

Confirmed on macOS 14.3.1 and macOS 14.5.

Previously, Acrobat Pro (paid) and Acrobat Reader (free) could both be downloaded, installed and run separately. Now, the Adobe Reader installer installs the app 'Adobe Acrobat', but when you open it, it has some branding for Reader. It's quite confusing.

To confirm, I download the app from https://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/ and run the installer multiple times, which completes without any errors but still produces the same result: in the Applications folder, it installs 'Adobe Acrobat' (not Reader) - see screenshot.

I've tried the Acrocleaner tool (https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/AcroCleanerMac.dmg) - after running the downloaded file and completing the cleanup, I cleared my bin and restarted the machine, then tried to reinstall Acrobat Reader from a fresh download, but still had the same result.

Adobe support confirm this is the first case received and there is no system health error.

If anyone has any experience with this or can comment on an update pushed by Adobe (perhaps to combine the two apps?), it would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi ITadmin@NexGen,

Thank you for reaching out.

There is a single installer for Acrobat and Reader 64-bit. If you install Acrobat Reader and have a subscription, once you sign in using your Adobe ID, the application will upgrade from Reader to Acrobat.

If you do not have a subscription, it will work as Acrobat Reader. 

Hope the information helps. 

Let us know if you have any questions. 

Thanks,

Meenakshi

Got your issue resolved? Please label the response as 'Correct Answer' to help your fellow community members find a solution to similar problems.

[ITadmin@NexGen]

Hi Meenakshi,

Thank you for confirming this.

Firstly, this won't work for a lot of businesses - virtual machine sharing is very common with hybrid work these days, where multiple staff access the same machine but require different levels of software. We've always paid for Acrobat Pro for staff who need it, those who don't just use Reader for simple tasks. This will cause a lot of trouble for a lot of people, not just us.

Secondly, you need to inform your staff - I guarantee you countless hours are being spent on trying to resolve "bugs" that are actually expected behaviour - that includes my own experience - it's infuriating!!

Thanks again for your help, but it leaves us absolutely nowhere to go but away from Adobe.