How do I install Adobe Acrobat in Ubuntu 16.04?

Question

I know the thread How do I install Adobe Acrobat Reader deb package downloaded from Adobe website? However, there is no Linux anymore in the installation site here. Unsuccessful attempts

I do DriraWassim's proposal which does not add anything to apt-get and does not show the installed .deb package in the path/search
```
sudo apt-get install libxml2:i386 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade 
apt-cache search adobereader-enu
```
I download the newest .deb package here and run it. I cannot find the application anywhere in the system. It is not in the path and not in Ubuntu's search. How can you start it?

System: Ubuntu 16.04, 64 bit
Hardware: Macbook Air 2013-mid
Linux kernel: 4.6

score 129 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 03 '18 at 03:35

129

I followed the tips below on Kubuntu 16.04 64 bit:

sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ precise partner"
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt install adobereader-enu

After properly installed Adobe Reader, don’t forget to remove the Canonical Partners repository for Precise:

sudo add-apt-repository -r "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ precise partner"
sudo apt update

edited Jan 03 '18 at 03:35

Ads20000

1,963

answered Jul 31 '16 at 20:17

A.Pereira

1,402

9

It actually installs acroread-bin:i386 rather than adobereader-enu – pd12 Aug 21 '16 at 09:07
7

Why does this install so many packages ? It seems this procedure re-installs most of my system. I saw things like systemd – bli Oct 14 '16 at 17:19
1

the version of acrobat is too old. – ses Oct 16 '16 at 22:39
2

You could remove 3. and move 4. to 3., since 3. is unnecessary. – anderstood Nov 16 '16 at 20:15
35

@bli Yes this is probably the wrong approach, you can get the Deb from here rather than add an old repository which is more likely to break your system. – Ads20000 Nov 20 '16 at 22:58
4

@ses There's nothing Ubuntu can do about that, Adobe aren't updating Adobe Reader for Linux. You can, however, install Adobe Reader 11 or DC using Wine if you wish (try using PlayOnLinux (for Reader DC), it makes the process fairly self-explanatory). – Ads20000 Nov 20 '16 at 23:00
1

@Ads20000 that's right, shouldn't forget step 5. sudo add-apt-repository -r "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ precise partner" as in http://askubuntu.com/a/767939/69953 – pd12 Dec 19 '16 at 14:30
23

ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/unix/9.x/9.5.5/enu/AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i386linux_enu.deb should be in the accepted answer, and it is the latest version available from adobe. – XoXo Dec 25 '16 at 18:11
I forgot to say that I removed the acroread step and added the removal of the ppa after being finished. (taken from the next answer this page.).. It seems like someone cleaned up my work and made it neater. Very good. – Bhikkhu Subhuti Jan 31 '17 at 12:55
Just to mention that Reader 9.5.5 doesn't handle DRM-protected PDFs correctly, so Ads20000 comment above seems to be best. – untill Feb 13 '17 at 10:00
What the heck is wrong, it deleted my vlc player, php, perl, phpmyadmin and many other things???? – sirajalam049 Mar 01 '17 at 21:45
4

Not answering to the question but a comment to whom just want run the reader without install it (connect to the desktop environment).
There is a docker image and can run it without pollute your system lib/apt dependency https://github.com/chrisdaish/docker-acroread
– Dennis C Sep 29 '17 at 06:52
@DennisC Thank you! You should submit as an answer because other than wine, this is the only reasonable approach for running acro (IMO). Your super helpful comment was buried, so a separate answer ensures folks see it. – Mike S Oct 12 '17 at 16:34
untill My link in the comment is to the Deb for 9.5.5. If you want a newer version see my answer below.
BhikkhuSubhuti Ah that's brilliant thinking thanks for editing and pd12 with that command it's OK yes, but as you can see with examples like @Siraj some people will forget the last step and completely ruin their system. It's much safer to download the Deb directly.

wordsforthewise Because older answers that work tend to be higher on Stack Exchange sites. Upvote my answer below! :)
– Ads20000 Jan 03 '18 at 01:01
Is it right to ask for upvote your answer? – sirajalam049 Jan 03 '18 at 07:27
Probably not normally, but I think it's justified in this case because it would send my answer to the top and less people would break their systems like you did! – Ads20000 Jan 06 '18 at 17:26
W: GPG error: http://archive.canonical.com precise Release: The following signatures were invalid: 630239CC130E1A7FD81A27B140976EAF437D05B5 E: The repository 'http://archive.canonical.com precise Release' is not signed. N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default. – Mobigital Jan 16 '18 at 21:40
@Mobigital you can work around that (not recommended) but really you should just download the Deb rather than adding a 12.04 repository (see my answer below) – Ads20000 Mar 27 '18 at 12:18
Using ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/unix/9.x/9.5.5/enu/AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i386linux_enu.deb on 16.04, got /opt/Adobe/Reader9/Reader/intellinux/bin/acroread: error while loading shared libraries: libxml2.so.2 – Darren Weber Apr 20 '18 at 18:18
@DarrenWeber See my answer below, you need to use sudo apt -f install and maybe sudo apt install libxml2:i386 – Ads20000 Aug 01 '18 at 21:45
Bastard. I followed this and fucked up my system – raaj Apr 17 '19 at 17:08
@wordsforthewise "Why is this the top-voted AND the accepted answer even with all these bad comments and the fact that it's not the best way?" In my case I upvoted it because it worked perfectly in my case (not sure what was the difference, it was not deinstalling half of system in my case, though I controlled the installation process rather than blindly agree to destroying my system). – reducing activity Apr 30 '19 at 17:06
Doesnt work for ubuntu 19.04, errors are : W: GPG error: http://archive.canonical.com precise Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 40976EAF437D05B5 E: The repository 'http://archive.canonical.com precise Release' is not signed. N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default. N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details. – Vipin May 11 '19 at 08:10
@Vipin I know you left this comment a while ago but, as I've said previously, please see and upvote my answer below so it rises to the top of the list - you should not be adding an Ubuntu 12.04 repository to install this software, you should be installing the package directly from Adobe or using Wine (via PlayOnLinux, which I've written instructions for, or Lutris) to install an up-to-date Adobe Reader. – Ads20000 Jan 24 '21 at 15:52

Ads20000 · Answer 2 · 2019-02-11T23:23:10.207

57

For Adobe Reader 9.5.5 (running natively without Wine)

Don't add the Ubuntu 12.04 Partner repository, you're not really supposed to add repositories from previous Ubuntu versions! Get the Deb from here (source - it's also linked in the question), no it won't be automatically updated but since it's no longer supported (and Ubuntu can't patch security vulnerabilities for it in Ubuntu 12.04 anyway because it's proprietary) that doesn't matter. There's less of a chance you'll ruin your system if you get it this way.

If you can't find/run Adobe Reader, you will need to run sudo apt -f install to resolve dependencies. If it still doesn't work, try sudo apt install libxml2:i386.

This is, of course, a very outdated version of Adobe Reader, but this is not Ubuntu's fault, Adobe haven't updated the Linux client of Adobe Reader. You can, however, get a newer version using the process below (this installs a Windows version of Adobe Reader on Ubuntu).

For Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (running with Wine)

Install PlayOnLinux (as of 22 December 2018 you must get it this way, and not through Ubuntu Software, to ensure that you have the Wine version required to install Adobe Acrobat Reader DC)
1. Press Ctrl + Alt + T
2. Type sudo apt install wine:i386, press Enter , type your password, Enter , then type Y (when prompted), and Enter
3. Click on the link above
4. Click 'Ubuntu'
5. For your Ubuntu version (to find that out, type lsb_release -a into Terminal and press Enter, look at the text next to codename), select the first line to be put into Terminal, press Ctrl + C then switch back to the Terminal, press Ctrl + Shift + V and press Enter. Follow the prompts in Terminal, do that for each of the four lines for your Ubuntu version.
Load PlayOnLinux (press Super, type PlayOnLinux, press Enter)
Click 'Install' (in the toolbar)
Type 'Adobe Acrobat Reader DC' in the search bar
Click 'Adobe Acrobat Reader DC'
Click 'Install' (bottom-right)
Follow the install screens
Once installed, click 'Adobe Acrobat Reader DC'
Click 'Run' (in the toolbar)

You'll need to open PlayOnLinux to run Adobe Reader DC each time (note that you can have this installed alongside Adobe Reader 9.5.5). You can drag the desktop file into the Launcher to get a button there, you can also add an icon for it in the Ubuntu Dash using alacarte ('Main Menu'). I might add instructions for that later (seems unlikely given that I wrote that over two years ago!).

edited Feb 11 '19 at 23:23

answered Nov 20 '16 at 22:49

Ads20000

1,963

1

When using the deb acroread doesn't run, I needed to install libxml2:i386 – Gerhard Burger Nov 25 '16 at 11:28
Oh sorry, sudo apt -f install may have done that automatically? Should I add that to the answer (which command?)? – Ads20000 Nov 29 '16 at 16:09
I installed with the Ubuntu Software Center so I guess it's a missing dependency. Thanks for your guide, works great! – Gerhard Burger Nov 29 '16 at 20:56
1

FTP client users: To connect, use "anonymous" as the login, and use your e-mail address as the password. For example, login: anonymous password: ftpuser@adobe.com ftp://ftp.adobe.com/signon.txt – Luka Jan 22 '18 at 14:38
Another way to get the package is to download it from Launchpad. – Ruslan May 30 '18 at 12:23
PlayOnLinux is asking for wine 3.0.4 now, which doesn't appear in the list of "Available Wine versions". – rudolfbyker Feb 07 '19 at 14:10
@rudolfbyker what do you mean by 'asking for'? You can set the Wine version for Adobe Reader DC by clicking on its entry in PlayOnLinux, then Configure in the panel on the left, then changing 'Wine version' to something that works :) I'm sure most Wine versions would work but you need to set the Windows version to 'Windows XP' in the Wine configuration dialogue – Ads20000 Feb 08 '19 at 17:13
What I mean is, when following the instructions in your answer, it throws an error that Wine 3.0.4 is not found, and then it fails to install. An entry for it never shows up. – rudolfbyker Feb 08 '19 at 17:49
@rudolfbyker it's a bug, I'll send the PlayOnLinux developer an email and hopefully he'll fix it! :) – Ads20000 Feb 11 '19 at 01:05
@rudolfbyker the developer says the latest version of PlayOnLinux has Wine 3.0.4, so you need to add the PlayOnLinux repository, which can be found here, I'll add it to the answer, let me know if that works for you! External repositories are not a very stable or secure way of updating software, in my opinion, so an alternative is the Phoenecis PlayOnLinux 5 Beta 2 Flatpak, but I'm not sure Acrobat Reader DC is working in that, I'll test it again and then file a bug :) – Ads20000 Feb 11 '19 at 19:56

score 13 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 21 '16 at 21:18

Yes there is, but the support has been dropped. Check this out and follow instructions to install:

Open up terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, paste the command below and hit enter to add the repository:
sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ precise partner"
Type in your user password when it asks. Note that there’s no visual feed back when you typing a password.
After you added the repository, update package lists and install the acroread package by running below commands one by one:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install acroread
Once installed, you should be able to open it from Unity dash or Application menu.
After properly installed Adobe Reader, don’t forget to remove the Canonical Partners repository for Precise:
sudo add-apt-repository -r "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ precise partner"
sudo apt-get update
How to Set Adobe Reader as default PDF reader:
Run command below in terminal to edit the config file:
    sudo gedit /etc/gnome/defaults.list
When the file opens, do:

Find out and change the line
application/pdf=evince.desktop
into:
application/pdf=acroread.desktop
Add below line into the end:
application/fdf=acroread.desktop
application/xdp=acroread.desktop
application/xfdf=acroread.desktop
application/pdx=acroread.desktop
Finally save the file and restart nautilus (run command nautilus -q in terminal) to apply changes.

I get that some packages could not be installed when trying this (for 16.04): " acroread : Depends: nspluginwrapper but it is not installable". Trying to install nspluginwrapper indicates it has no installation candidate. — Steve Kroon, Jun 29 '16 at 08:23
Update: by running sudo apt install adobereader-enu, I was able to successfully install. — Steve Kroon, Jun 29 '16 at 08:32
the version of acrobat is too old there. it does support a editing calendar-like inputs. — ses, Oct 16 '16 at 22:40

wordsforthewise · Answer 4 · 2021-01-04T19:09:10.770

13

You should just be able to download the .deb from here: ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/unix/9.x/9.5.5/enu/AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i386linux_enu.deb

and install it by opening the file. If thath doesn't work, try using dpkg:
sudo dpkg -i AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i386linux_enu.deb. https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/159103/173836.

I typically open files with Acrobat by using the terminal and the acroread filename.pdf command. It took a while to open the first time I ran it.

When I most recently installed it on Ubuntu 16.04, I got a few errors:

libxml2.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

and

Gtk-Message: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module"

I fixed these with

sudo apt-get install libxml2:i386 libstdc++6:i386 (command obtained from here)

and

sudo apt-get install libcanberra-gtk-module:i386 (command obtained from here)

Apparently, there can be another error related to adobereader-enu:i386; run:

sudo apt-get install libgtk2.0-0
sudo apt-get -f install

The apt-get -f install is for fixing broken dependencies if there are any. Then install the .deb file again and you should be sorted.

edited Jan 04 '21 at 19:09

answered May 27 '17 at 04:04

wordsforthewise

828

1

Have you tried installing it? If this was that simple, people would not have gone through all this – Anwar May 27 '17 at 04:13
2

This does in fact work. I'll edit the answer with some additional steps in case someone gets the errors I got. – alecvn Jul 19 '17 at 09:56
The version of libgtk2.0-0 is not high enough to install this particular deb file. Adobe requires libgtk version 2.4 and on Ubuntu 17.04 there is only version 2.24 of libgtk – practicalli-john Jul 20 '17 at 09:58
I think that was @skepticscript that added that part, so I don't know what to tell you. – wordsforthewise Jul 20 '17 at 18:20
2

The question was for Ubuntu 16.04. It works on that version. – alecvn Jul 21 '17 at 19:02
1

Installed after following the procedure, but it failed silently when launching. – user276851 Jan 17 '18 at 20:56
doesn't work on Ubuntu 16.04, 64bit version. – Penghe Geng Feb 08 '18 at 21:26
Worked perfectly for me on Ubuntu 17.10, did not have to install any dependencies luckily! – JackDev Apr 23 '18 at 16:22
@user276851 did you run it from the terminal or from the launcher menu? Running from the terminal will help you see the errors; I just added some fixes for the errors I got when I just installed it today on 16.04 LTS. – wordsforthewise Jul 13 '18 at 19:18
@xiaobai if you have problems installing, I recommend trying through the terminal so you can see any errors: https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/159103/173836 – wordsforthewise Jul 13 '18 at 19:18
@PengheGeng: I have 16.04, 64 bit version. It works for me. Perhaps you could check if all the steps for installation were followed. Or perhaps you tried clicking on the deb file. Instead, use sudo dpkg -i AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i386linux_enu.deb – Nav Jan 04 '21 at 18:36

score 9 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 10 '17 at 16:50

Installing Dependencies for adobe reader

sudo apt-get install gtk2-engines-murrine:i386 libcanberra-gtk-module:i386 libatk-adaptor:i386 libgail-common:i386

Install Adobe Reader using the following commands

sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ precise partner" 
sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install adobereader-enu

After installing you have to Remove precise repository using the following commands

sudo add-apt-repository -r "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ precise partner" 
sudo apt-get update

For Configuration I Wrote a breif article Installing Adobe Reader in Ubuntu 16.04/16.06

Yes, it works (tested on 16.04.3). Thank you! – user276851 Feb 02 '18 at 19:54 — user276851, Feb 02 '18 at 19:54

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered May 19 '18 at 07:42

You can still use its latest version "Adobe Acrobat Reader DC" along with wine although Adobe discontinued their PDF reader software for Linux several years ago. It works perfect for me.

First install wine and winetricks

sudo apt install wine-stable winetricks

Prepare wine to receive Acrobat Reader DC installation:

winetricks mspatcha

Download the latest version of Adobe Reader for Windows 10 from official site http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/otherversions/

A file with extension exe will be downloaded. (AcroRdrDC1801120040_en_US.exe) Now install that exe file in wine:

wine AcroRdrDC1801120040_en_US.exe

(Use the same name as that of downloaded exe file)

Click Install button.

Wait until the setup is completed and click on Finish.

Now search for Acrobat Reader in applications menu and open it.

Select Always open with Protected Mode Disabled. (Adobe Reader DC runs in protected mode by default to provide an added layer of security)

Accept Licence.

Now you can open your files using Acrobat Reader DC even on Ubuntu.

Worked in Manjaro too, though the winetricks mspatcha did end with an error. Note: the executable to run with wine is AcroRd32.exe — zezollo, May 28 '18 at 15:05
This doesn't work for me as of 2019-08-03, this file given by adobe.com is readerdc_uk_xa_install.exe which is 1.1MB and simply opens an "Adobe Download Manager" which sits doing nothing; when I close the app a browser window is opened to the download page for downloading the app which sent me to that download page. The download page tells_me it's going to give me a 170MB file, but instead gives me the downloader, so it's probably blocking based on my UA not being a MS Windows one or something. — pbhj, Aug 03 '19 at 11:54

karel · Answer 7 · 2022-11-30T10:20:23.463

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC can be installed in all currently supported versions of Ubuntu by installing the acrordrdc snap package. The acrordrdc snap package downloads a proprietary Windows version of Adobe Acrobat Reader and installs it with Wine.

Install the acrordrdc snap package.
```
sudo snap install acrordrdc
```
Launch acrordrdc.
```
acrordrdc
```
Configuring messages will be shown in the terminal while Wine is configuring for Adobe Reader. Wait for Wine to finish configuring for Adobe Reader. After Wine is finished configuring you will see a red Adobe Reader icon in the Dock and this window will open.
Select a language for installer download from the dropdown menu and click the Install button in the Adobe Acrobat Reader DC window. A small progress bar window will open to show the progress of downloading Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.
Launch Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. A red Adobe Reader icon will appear in the Dock when Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is open.
```
acrordrdc
```
You may need to disable Protected Mode to open Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.
Press the accept button to accept the Adobe Acrobat Reader DC License Agreement and continue.
You can auto-fill forms if you sign in to Adobe Acrobat Reader DC as shown in the upper right corner of the below screenshot.
My current version of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is 21.007.20091.59174, the latest version. You may have to reinstall the acrordrdc snap package if you upgrade your Ubuntu release to ensure that it is compatible with your upgraded operating system.

That doesn't really mean a Linux/snap version of Acrobat Reader, but a snap wine under which the Windows version is downloaded and installed. — cipricus, Nov 30 '22 at 09:26