Adobe EchoSign
As we promised, we continue to integrate Adobe EchoSign technology into our document services – and now Adobe Reader users will be able to send PDF files to be signed from the application as well as sign documents electronically themselves. The new update makes Adobe Reader the application for getting documents signed electronically. This is just one more step to make it easier than ever for businesses to “seal the deal” and keep up with the demands of a growing mobile workforce. You can read more about how Adobe EchoSign and Reader work together here.

Printing PDF files
We’ve also taken a fresh look at printing PDFs. Printing a PDF file is something that all of us do a lot. In most cases, the PDF file was created in an orientation and page size that makes it very straight forward to print. In some cases, though, you want more control over how it comes out of the printer. For example, you might want to save paper by printing on both sides of a page or including multiple pages of the PDF file on a single piece of paper. Other times you might want to print a page in the PDF file across many pages of paper, so you can assemble them together into a poster. Those and many more options are now much easier to find. When you print from Adobe Reader 10.1.2, you’ll see a new print dialog that makes it much easier to print the way you want to.

New Print Dialog

Exporting PDF files
We all know that sometimes we need to export a PDF file to Word or Excel. We’ve made it easy to do just that directly from Adobe Reader through new integration with our Adobe ExportPDF service. Now when you click on the Export toolbar button the Tools pane will open on the right hand side to display a new Export PDF Files panel. Just select whether you want to convert to Word or Excel and click on Convert. You’ll need to be connected to the Internet and have an Adobe ExportPDF account. You’ll be able to sign up the first time you use it if you don’t already have an account.

ExportPDF Menu

ExportPDF Pane

New JavaScript Whitelisting Capability
Acrobat and Reader 9.5 and 10.1.2 also add a JavaScript whitelisting capability, allowing IT administrators to lockdown control over which documents can run JavaScript through Privileged Locations. This allows IT desktop managers to turn on JavaScript in Acrobat and Reader for their required workflows. For more information, see the Release Notes Library.

Apple Safari 5.1 and Adobe Reader/Acrobat workaround
Adobe Reader plug-in and Acrobat plug-in are currently not compatible with the Safari 5.1 browser that ships with Mac OS X 10.7 and 10.6 as stated in Compatibility Advisory Regarding Adobe Reader plug-in and Acrobat plug-in with Safari 5.1. While we continue to work on a solution to this problem, you can download our Firefox plug-in from Adobe Labs and use Mozilla’s Firefox browser with Reader and Acrobat 10.1.2 for your critical LiveCycle and Acrobat workflows.

Steve Gottwals, Group Product Manager, Adobe Reader

We’re constantly working to improve Adobe Reader for Phones and Tablets, and we have some great enhancements already underway in 2012 that I’m sure you’ll be excited to see. We appreciate your ongoing feedback and support!

Dennis Griffin, Principal Product Manager, Adobe

Thank you for your continued support and feedback.

Dennis Griffin, Principle Product Manager, Adobe

And, we just released Adobe Reader 10.1 for Android, offering many of the same great features for fast, high-quality interaction with PDF files on your Android smartphones and tablets. Simply scan the following QR code to download the latest version from Android marketplace. Enjoy!

Steve Gottwals, Group Product Manager, Adobe Reader

EchoSign for Adobe Reader
With Adobe Reader X (10.1.1), you can now click on the EchoSign link directly in Reader and you’ll be taken straight to the EchoSign page where you can start signing, sending and tracking your PDF documents. The entire signature process from the request for signature to the distribution and execution of the form or agreement is done online. The EchoSign signature service provides a secure subscription-based service to individuals, SMBs and enterprise customers. It enables real-time visibility into the signature process and automatically storing and managing all signed documents. We expect it will make electronic signatures the common way for people to sign documents.

Adobe Reader X(10.1.1) UI Enhancement
As we add new services, like EchoSign mentioned above, you will notice that the Reader UI has enhanced tools panes as well. Instead of “Comment” and “Share”, we have now re-organized them to hold “Tools” and “Comments”. These enhancements not only allow for better expansion in the future, they also provide a better user experience when accessing Reader’s advanced capabilities as tested with our end-users.

Adobe Reader and Acrobat Version 8 End of Support
As a reminder to the previous blog post: Adobe Reader and Acrobat Version 8 End of Support, Adobe provides five years of product support from the general availability date of Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat (Windows and Macintosh – Note: Adobe only supports the most recent major version of Adobe Reader for Linux Version 9.x). In line with that policy, support for Adobe Reader 8.x and Adobe Acrobat 8.x will end on November 3, 2011.

Steve Gottwals, Group Product Manager, Adobe Reader

End of Support
End of Support means that Adobe will no longer provide technical support or distribute runtimes, including product and/or security updates, for all derivatives of a product or product version (e.g. localized versions, minor upgrades, operating systems, dot and double-dot releases, and connector products).

Recommendation to Customers/Users
Adobe strongly recommends that customers update to the latest versions of Adobe Reader at: http://get.adobe.com/reader. By updating installations to the latest versions, customers benefit from the latest functional enhancements and improved security measures.

Additional Resources
For more information on the Adobe Support Lifecycle Policy, visit: http://www.adobe.com/support/products/enterprise/eol. For a complete list of Adobe products and technical support periods covered under the policy, visit: http://www.adobe.com/support/products/enterprise/eol/eol_matrix.html.

Steve Gottwals, Group Product Manager, Adobe Reader

As we continue to investigate this, we will be sure to keep you updated. Currently, we expect to provide a better workaround for this issue in early 2012.

For more information, please see Knowledge Base Article CPSID_90885.

Steve Gottwals, Group Product Manager, Adobe Reader

Auto-Updates
About a year ago, we released enhancements to the Adobe Reader Updater (see “Update on the New Updater“). At that time, our data showed that the user population was adopting our updates roughly three times faster than before. With Adobe Reader 10.1 for Windows, we’ve enhanced the fully-automated capability of the new updater, and will be moving our users to adopt that setting, by providing the dialog pictured below within the product.

As a reminder, “fully-automated” mode will regularly check for important updates, download them to your machine, and install them automatically. When finished, you will be alerted via a small message in the system tray that your software has been updated. This method is the recommended best practice for keeping Adobe Reader up-to-date and more secure given the fact that it does not require user intervention.

Acrobat Protected View
Leveraging the sandboxing work we did in Adobe Reader X, we’ve extended Adobe Reader Protected Mode to Acrobat 10.1 operating inside the browser. We’ve also introduced Protected View for Acrobat 10.1 operating in standalone mode. Protected View offers a simple view of documents, requiring confirmation before advanced functionality can run. For more information, see ASSET Blog Post: Inside Adobe Acrobat Protected View.

Enterprise Notes
Adobe Reader X (10.1) is a full installer on Windows and a cumulative update on Macintosh. Adobe Acrobat X (10.1) is a cumulative update on both Windows and Macintosh. As stated previously, SCUP catalogs are available for the Windows platform. For more information, please see the Release Notes.

Steve Gottwals, Group Product Manager, Adobe Reader

Not any longer. Today we announced Adobe ExportPDF, an easy-to-use, subscription-based, online PDF-to-Word converter that lets you reuse your Word content, which means you reduce errors, improve productivity and finish your projects faster than before. All you need to do is upload your PDF file to our online service via your Web browser. We turn it into a Word document that you then download and edit with ease.

Adobe ExportPDF converts PDF files to native Word 2010 or 2007 DOCX format and can convert the vast majority of PDF files around today, including those containing scanned documents. The only files that it won’t convert are PDF Portfolios, password-protected PDFs, or PDFs with permissions applied to prevent printing, copying or altering content. It will support the conversion of PDF files up to 100MB in size.
By the way, once you’ve edited your Word document, you can use Adobe CreatePDF to reconvert it to a PDF file that anyone can read using Adobe Reader. Learn more about CreatePDF here.

I expect ExportPDF will make my life easier. How about you? Annual ExportPDF subscriptions are just US$19.99 for unlimited conversions. So sign up today.

Todd Gerber, Group Product Marketing Manager, Acrobat.com Solutions

You can download this free update (V10.0.1) from here (click from your Android device). With this update, you can now use Adobe Reader X in any of the seventeen languages – English, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Portuguese, Swedish, Russian, Czech, Polish & Turkish.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts: you can post your comments on this blog or in the user forums.

Aman Deep Nagpal, Senior Product Manager, Acrobat Solutions