You’re an IT professional. You’re responsible for ensuring software deployment happens correctly, securely and consistently. You may be responsible for configuring and then locking down what users can do on their machines. You may even be responsible for making sure the boss can update their “I like to appear in the background on TV” fan page wherever they may be. If all that sounds like your area of expertise (although you might want to find someone else to help with your bosses online and public habits), and if Adobe Reader XI and Acrobat XI are on the list of software applications that need to be installed on several (sometimes tens of thousands) desktops, then you need to get to know the Adobe Customization Wizard. The Customization Wizard allows you to configure and lockdown the Adobe Reader XI* and Acrobat XI* installation options prior to deployment via a simple UI. Sure, you could tweak installation tables and plist files, but this free tool makes all that work so much easier and faster. What kind of options are we talking about here? Not just things like pre-accepting the license agreement, or which features get installed, but also powerful controls such as configuring and locking down the many application security controls, tweaking preferences, including custom Actions and Tool Sets, determining how the software should be updated, and much more.

You can get all the juicy details on the Customization Wizard from the documentation that is part of the Enterprise Toolkit for the Acrobat family. Speaking of updates, the Customization Wizard was just updated itself with numerous bug fixes for installation configuration to help deployments go that much smoother. You can download the Customization Wizard for Windows and Mac OS X. If you have any questions about Customization Wizard, then feel free to send us a comment here or better yet, post to the Acrobat and Reader Enterprise Deployment forum. * Customization Wizard is also available for Adobe Reader X and Acrobat X too. If you need to configure those versions, please use the version of Customization Wizard specific to that Acrobat family version.

Adobe has released security updates for Adobe Reader and Acrobat XI (11.0.02) and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh, and Adobe Reader 9.5.4 and earlier 9.x versions for Linux. You can update your system to the latest versions from the built-in updater or by downloading the patch from the Adobe website. IT professionals can get more details on the update and deploying it from the Enterprise Toolkit for Acrobat products.

For more details please review the official security bulletin.

One of our favorite things about storing documents in Acrobat.com is how easy they are to access from any device. Whether you’re at your desk, using your tablet in a waiting room somewhere, or trying to teach your mother how to use her computer, you can find your files waiting for you in the cloud. Now, we’re extending that access for you: if you want others to be able to access certain files you’ve uploaded to Acrobat.com (from wherever they are), you can use the new sharing feature we’ve added. Just select the file or files that you want to publicize and click the “Share” button in the toolbar.

Once you’ve done that, you can share that document’s publicly-accessible link with anyone you’d like to show the file to. Email it directly from the Share dialog box, post it to Facebook, or put it on your website; that link can get around however you choose to share it. If you want to unshare the file, simply toggle the switch from “Public” to “Unshare File”; it will then be marked as private so only you can view it.

 Sounds good, right? Just log in or create a free Acrobat.com account to get started.

Mac OS has been one of a very widely used platform by Adobe customers. But recently, with a Safari upgrade the compatibility of Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat applications to open PDFs inside browser has again come to a hold.

As you install an Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat application on a Mac machine, the installer additionally installs a NAPI plugin inside Library -> Internet Plugins Folder, so that Mac users can open PDFs inside Safari using Adobe Reader/Acrobat app seamlessly (instead of using the conventional Preview which only supports a small set of PDFs).

But For Mac Snow Leopard users, the upgrade of Safari to 5.1.9 has proven fatal. Till Safari 5.1.8, users will be able to still open PDFs inside Safari without any issues. But post upgrading Safari to 5.1.9, Adobe Reader do not opens PDFs inside Safari.

As of now many users have reported this issue on Apple Blogs: https://discussions.apple.com/message/21880385?ac_cid=tw123456#21880385

Some users have reported this issue via Bug to Apple as well (rdar://13694491)

To resolve the issue, I hereby give our Adobe users a quick workaround:-

Basically, the earlier versions of Safari used to have an entry in the com.apple.Safari.plist for WebKitOmitPDFSupport which now do not exist anymore. So we just go and add it.

To add the entry:

1.)    Go to Library -> Preferences

2.)    Open “com.apple.Safari.plist” in Property List Editor or any Text Editor like TextWrangler.

3.)    Add a new key with the name “WebKitOmitPDFSupport” of type Boolean and define its value as True (checked). i.e.:

<key>WebKitOmitPDFSupport</key>

<true/>

4.)    Save the plist.

5.)    Restart Safari.

After applying the above workaround, users will be able to open PDFs inside Safari again. Note that, in case if you don’t have Adobe Reader / Adobe Acrobat installed on your Mac, then the above workaround will simply download the PDF onto your system.

Just for reference, Adobe fixed the same issue earlier in 2011 for Safari 5.1.0 : http://blogs.adobe.com/acrobat/compatibility-advisory-regarding-adobe-reader-plug-in-and-acrobat-plug-in-with-safari-5-1/

http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/pdf-plug-doesnt-load-safari.html

We all deserve a little treat once in a while: maybe you’re the type to indulge in a little chocolate every so often, or maybe you’ll take a weekend getaway at the end of a big work project. In any case, there’s nothing wrong with being good to yourself; and if being good to yourself is also good for others, well, that’s a bonus!

If you’re in a self-indulgent mood, check out the latest offer from the ExportPDF team: starting today, you can refer friends to ExportPDF to earn cold, hard cash (to help you afford that getaway, perhaps?). Not only are you getting a little boost, your friends will be introduced to the ExportPDF service to help edit PDF content in their day-to-day work life. You’ll be doing them (and yourself) a favor.

Here’s how it works: For every one of your friends who signs up for a new ExportPDF subscription, you’ll be rewarded with a cool $5.00; signing up one friend will get you a tasty treat from the bakery next door, and signing up 20 friends will get you to go out to dinner at that new restaurant you’ve been dying to try. Why hold back? You’ve earned this. Learn more and get started at https://www.acrobat.com/exportpdf/en/referral/epdf_referral_landing.html

I am a very fortunate individual indeed, for many reasons, most of which wouldn’t be appropriate for me to divulge in a public place like this one. One of the reasons I am so fortunate is that I get to work with talented and dedicated people on a daily basis. Take Steve Cordero, for example. Steve has just posted three new how-to videos on Adobe TV just for IT professionals like you who need to configure, deploy, update and manage Adobe Acrobat XI and Adobe Reader XI within their organization.

Steve is one of our technical support managers, who tirelessly helps our largest customers through their Acrobat deployment needs. But he doesn’t bottle that knowledge up in some kind of magical memory store [due to international copyright laws I am probably not able to make a direct reference to a famous wizarding professor in a famous castle with a famous student wizard that stumbles across a famous magical memory store]. We’re grateful that Steve has been able to share with us all how to get things done.

The latest videos from Mr. Cordero are:

• Creating an AIP for Acrobat XI
• Chaining the Installer for Adobe Acrobat XI on OS X
• Building a Bootstrapper for Acrobat 11.0.01

There are also many other videos within the Acrobat IT Tips show on Adobe TV to help you be successful with Acrobat XI in your organization.

Now, time for me to go back to brewing butterbeer…