Installing Adobe Reader

in Applications

What is Adobe Reader?

Even before the World Wide Web became a reality, there was a document sharing global network called Gopher. One of the major problems involved in sharing documents was having a standard format that everyone could read. The HTML page descriptor language eased most of the problem for simple text documents. But HTML was not sufficient for all kinds of document, especially technical documents, documents with embedded pictures, and magazine style pages laid out for the print media.

Then in 1993, Adobe Systems created the Portable Document Format (PDF). PDF can represent technical documents, drawings, photos and even complex graphical print layouts in an easy to read electronic format. You can embed hyperlinks into the document which makes it especially useful for the internet. At first PDF was slow in being adopted because you had to buy Adobe Acrobat Reader software to be able to read the documents.

Then Adobe started distributing the Adobe Acrobat Reader free of charge for use in reading PDF documents. As a result of this innovative marketing strategy, PDF became the defacto standard for exchanging electronic documents world wide and is very close to becoming an actual industry standard called ISO 32000.

Until the release of Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and Netscape Navigator 6, Adobe Acrobat reader was an application installed and run on your PC. Then Adobe created plug-ins for all the popular web browsers and now with the plug-in installed, you can open PDF documents in your web browser. This allows anyone, anywhere, using any kind of computer operating system to share documents that everyone else can read.

Adobe Reader also allows you to fill out forms on your computer and then print them for use. Adobe Systems has recently released a server product that allows a company to create forms in PDF format that includes a button so the person filling it out can email the completed form to the originator with the click of a button. However, The server software is very expensive so only the largest companies have installed it.

You still need to purchase software to create documents in the PDF format. But, you can also create pdf documents online at http://createpdf.adobe.com/ for a monthly fee. Adobe will let you create up to 5 documents free, but after that you will have to subscribe.

Why Install Adobe Reader?

You need to install the reader on your PC and the plug-in in your browser software to be able to read PDF document. More and more online information, such as product brochures, application forms, electronic books, etc are being posted online in PDF format. Without the Adobe reader, you will not be able to open and read these documents.

Since the Adobe Reader is free, there really is no good reason not to download and install it. You can even get it for your mobile devices.

Downloading Adobe Acrobat Reader

  • Open your web browser and type http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html in the address bar or just click on the link. This will take you to the Adobe Reader Download Page.
  • At the moment you have the option of installing the Photoshop Album Starter Edition software as well. If you don’t want this software, make sure you uncheck the box.
  • Click on Download now. If you are using firefox, please see the instructions for firefox users at http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/dlm/firefox_steps.html
  • The file should download automatically, if not click on the click here to download link in the top left portion of the page.
  • A dialog box will appear asking if you want to save the file. Click the save option.
  • A new widow will open, showing you the download progress. Please be patient, even with a high speed connection it can take several minutes for the file to download.

Installing Adobe Acrobat Reader

  • There are two ways to install Acrobat Reader: Click on the run button in the Download Complete window or Click on the new icon on your desktop or wherever you chose to save the file (the file will have a name like AdbeRdr811_en_US.exe).
  • It can take several minutes for your computer to prepare to install the application, so be patient.
  • In the Acrobat Reader 8 setup choose destination location window click next.
  • To start the installation click Install
  • Accept all the defaults

ยท When the installation is complete, an icon entitled Acrobat Reader 8.1.1 will be created on your desktop. Double click on the icon to launch Adobe Reader.

Questions or Problems

If you experience problems with your download, you can go to the Adobe Reader Center on Adobe’s website at http://www.adobe.com/support/products/acrreader.html . There are several articles and even a section on how to fix Adobe reader.

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