Is a manual download available for Adobe Acrobat Pro 8.1 & 8.1.1 for Mac?

[theorist9]

I've got CS3 Design Standard for Mac, which mostly works fine on Yosemite, but the problem is that the Updater doesn't function anymore, so I can't update these programs to their latest versions.  I went to Download CS3 products and downloaded from there, thinking that this would give me the latest versions.  Adobe's download supplies the original versions of each app, not the final CS3 revisions (maybe one can't install the final revisions directly, so they need to supply the original and leave it to the customer to update).  So I'm left needing to download these manually.  For reasons I can't fathom, Adobe's download section (Product updates) has the final revisions of Photoshop CS3  for Mac and Illustrator CS3 for Mac, but shows no downloads whatsoever for Acrobat Pro CS3 for Mac!  [The revision for PS works, but the patch for AI can't be applied; but I'd like to at least give updating Acrobat Pro a shot.]

Nevertheless, even though it can 't be found in Adobe's download center, elsewhere on their site there is a manual download available for Acrobat Pro 8.1.2 (Adobe - Acrobat Professional : For Macintosh : Adobe Acrobat 8.1.2 Professional update - English and...).  HOWEVER, I have 8.0, and one needs to follow the path 8.0 -> 8.1.1 -> 8.1.2.  The problem is that I've not been able to find either of these intermediate versions

Anyone know where on Adobe's site one might find these?

[And please don't tell me that CS3 is not officially supported on Yosemite, etc.  I know that.  I'm just looking for a download path for Adobe's Acrobat Pro CS3 for Mac, and don't understand why such downloads are available on Adobe's site for PS and AI, but not for AP.]

[kglad]

if you follow all 7 steps you can directly download a trial here:  Download Adobe CS4 and CS3 Free Trials Here (incl. After Effects) | ProDesignTools

and activate with your serial number.

if you have a problem starting the download, you didn't follow all 7 steps, or your browser does not accept cookies. 

the most common problem is caused by failing to meticulously follow steps 1,2 and/or 3 (which adds a cookie to your system enabling you to download the correct version from adobe.com). 

failure to obtain that cookie results in an error page being displayed after clicking a link on prodesigntools.com or initiates the download of an incorrect (eg, current) version.

[theorist9]

Thanks kglad.  Before I do this, can you confirm that this trial will feature more versions of the CS3 apps than what you get when you download the suite from Adobe?

[theorist9]

...i.e., note that Acrobat Pro is not available as an individual download from Adobe, so I'd need to download the entire suite.  So why would the Adobe's free trial of the CS3 suite be any more recent than the download of the CS3 suite available from Adobe?

[theorist9]

correction: Acrobat Pro CS3 for Mac is not available as an individual download *from the site you linked*

Why is there no edit feature on this site??

[kglad]

do you have an acrobat pro 8 license?

if so, you need to download the acrobat pro 8 installation files and then update to 8.1 or 8.whatever.

if you're acrobat pro 8 is part of a cs3 suite, you need to download the suite to install your acrobat version.  and then update.

pre cc updates:  http://www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/

[theorist9]

My Acrobat Pro 8 is part of a CS3 suite.   I have a license for this.  I have downloaded and installed the suite, as I already explained in my original post.  In addition, the link you're suggesting I go to is the one I already cited that I went to in my post.

[kglad · Accepted solution]

try the ftp server for acrobat 8 updates, ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/

[theorist9]

Thanks kglad, I just upgraded to 8.1 from the ftp server, and that works!

I tried following Adobe's recommended upgrade path:

8.0.0 > 8.1.0 > 8.1.1 > 8.1.2 > 8.1.3 > 8.1.6 > 8.1.7 > 8.2.0 > 8.2.2 > 8.2.3 > 8.2.5 > 8.2.6 > 8.3.0 > 8.3.1

(source: Update, patch | Acrobat, Reader 7.x - 9.x | Windows)

...but found it didn't work if I skipped some of the versions (e.g., I couldn't go 8.1.3 > 8.1.6 ).

In many cases, there are three versions of the update:

..._all.dmg

..._all_ce.dmg

..._all_me.dmg

Would you happen to know what the latter two versions are?  I just used the first variant in all cases, and it seemed to work fine.

[kglad]

you're welcome.

unfortunately, i don't believe adobe followed any consistent pattern in its updates.  i don't know any way to determine which updates roll-up prior updates (unless that's specifically stated and there's no such info on the ftp server) and which updates are sequential.

the only saving grace is an update that's not applicable (ie, the current product/version is not the one designed for use with that update), will generate an error when trying to apply it.

the source you found about the upgrade path is something i didn't know about so you're ahead of me on this.  well, you should be ahead of me if that document were accurate.

[theorist9]

I can now confirm that the update path works all the way from 8.0 to 8.3.1. Whenever there was a choice, I clicked on _all.dmg, rather than _all_ce.dmg or _all.me.dmg.   Fortunately none of the 18 patches required a restart!

My only remaining concern is whether 8.3.1, which was a 2011 update, now has security issues (there were repeated security issues with earlier versions of Acrobat 8, which was what triggered many of the patches; by comparison, Photoshop and Illustrator, from that same suite, have only one update each).  I'll just have to be careful to restrict its use to documents I trust.  Eventually I'll either get a perpetual license for a current version of Acrobat, or lease CC, depending on how my needs evolve; but this will tide me over nicely until then.  Thanks again!

[kglad]

you're welcome.