Reader plugin gone since Safari 12?

Question

Since I upgraded to Safari 12 on mac os, PDFs seem to now always open with preview instead of the Acrobat Reader, i.e. i get only the small button bar shown below instead of the larger one incl. the "print" button to get to Reader´s printing dialog. Instead, I can only open a local copy and then print.

Reader is set as the default application for PDF, and the hints about enabling the plug-in do not apply, since there is no Acrobat Reader plugin shown in Safari anymore (I think it was there, but did not actively enabled or disabled it since it always just worked).

How can I check whether the Acrobat plug-in is installed? Re-installating Reader did not help.

AnandSri · Accepted Answer

Hi Thegos,As correctly mentioned by George that Adobe does not have control over the Safari web browser and the plug-ins allowed by them to view the PDF.The Acrobat/Reader plug-in for Apple Safari is based on Netscape Plug-In API (NPAPI), which is supported only till Safari version 11. In Safari 12, support for NPAPI plug-ins is removed, and hence the current Acrobat/Reader plug-in will not work. For detailed information, please refer to help articles Display PDF in browser Adobe Acrobat, Acrobat Reader What’s New in Safari - Apple Developer Our Development and Engineering team is working on it and are still exploring the options that are available for supporting Acrobat/Reader plug-ins in Safari browser. We will share an update as soon as it is publically available.Thanks for your time and patience thus far.Regards,Anand Sri.

gkaiseril · Answer

I do not think Adobe has control over the Safari web browser and what plug-ins are allowed and they do not work on updating the viewer of the developing Operating Systems until the final production version is released to the public, Then they can review the new OS and see if the Reader Plug-in can be adapted to the new release of the OS.

Many developers of OSs are restricting JavaScript or the Adobe Reader plug-in in favor of their PDF reader application.

The Acrobat PDF plug-in relies heavily on JavaScript for their forms and many software developers consider JavaScript to have many security issues. Adobe has their implementation of JavaScript very well isolated from the operating system or sandboxed but these outside developers still do not want to allow the Adobe Reader plug-in in favor of their version. Have you contacted Apple about this issue?

Apple has big problems for several years with their Preview application and completely ignore the issue and claim it is Adobe's problem.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded