Developing Plug In for Adobe Reader

[bogdanm78147864]

I want to develop a plug in for Adobe Reader in which the documents will be signed and the certificates will be stored in the cloud. What are the steps that i must take in order to accomplish this?

[Thom Parker]

Read this:

Acrobat DC SDK Documentation

And download the SDK

[bogdanm78147864]

Thank you very much! I have some more questions if you can help me:

1.Is this plugin possible to implement?(its a project for my school)?

2.Is it free?

3.Can you give me the link to the sdk?

4.What programming language will i use to develop this?

5.What platform do you recommend me to use in order to write the code (Visual Studio or something else?).

[Thom Parker]

All of those answers are of course easy to find on the internet

Hmm, Reader is heavily sandboxed for security reasons, but an Acrobat script can sign a document if it is Reader enabled for such, so perhaps a plug-in can as well. I also think you can pull data from the internet, such as your signature files, as long as you follow the access rules.  You might be able to do this with JavaScript, but an acrobat script can only do something in Reader, in a document context if the document is Reader enabled for that operation. So you'll have to check it out.

Plug-ins are developed in C++, and you'll need the correct version of VS for it. There is an add-in wizard to VS for creating a plug-in project. However, there is a lot you'll have to learn, especially because you want this to work in Reader. The SDK is free, but I'm not sure you'll be able to create a plug-in for Reader for free. Adobe likes to keep a handle on what's developed for it.

Again, read the documentation.

[Test Screen Name]

No, it's not free. You can create a plug-in for Acrobat for free. Acrobat is the paid for product. YOU WILL NEED THE PAID FOR PRODUCT TO DEVELOP THE PLUG-IN. Acrobat Reader plug-ins are reviewed and a license is not always granted.

To summarize.

1. You will need to subscribe to or buy a permanent license to Acrobat.

2. To make a Reader plug-in you will also need a special license. The fee is variable, and can be as high as $50,000 per annum for certain types of plug-in.

3. Reader plug-in rights are not given for many kinds of proposed plug-in: in such cases each end user needs to pay for Acrobat anyway.

[bogdanm78147864]

Thank you very much! Any other advices?

[Test Screen Name]

If you want a Reader plug-in license, apply in PLENTY of time.

[Thom Parker]

Which is why I've pretty much ignored Reader development. Good Luck.

[bogdanm78147864]

Ok. I can also create this plug-in for Adobe Acrobat, would that be free?

[Bernd Alheit]

This is free.

[Test Screen Name]

The plug-in would be free. Every user of the plug-in would pay, of course.

[bogdanm78147864]

Perfect. So now i must download the SDK and open it in visual studio right? Any recommendation of the version of visual studio ? And what version of Acrobat should i use to develop this? Thanks.

[lrosenth]

Acrobat DC is the only supported version of Acrobat.

The SDK will tell you what version of Visual Studio is required.

[bogdanm78147864]

Ok. But can i implement this without any cost? I think i must pay for Acrobat DC, am i right? (this project is for my school).

[Test Screen Name]

As I said in my first reply: "You can create a plug-in for Acrobat for free. Acrobat is the paid for product. YOU WILL NEED THE PAID FOR PRODUCT TO DEVELOP THE PLUG-IN. "

And as I said later "Every user of the plug-in would pay, of course."