While Ubuntu and Debian come with native applications to open PDF documents by default, some users may prefer to install Adobe Acrobat Reader for its additional features and compatibility. This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing Adobe Acrobat Reader on Ubuntu and Debian. This application will provide enhanced capabilities for opening and managing PDF documents on these Linux distributions.
The advantage of Acrobat Reader, of course, is that it’s the official program and recommended for reading PDF documents in the way they are intended. However, many other free applications exist for reading PDF documents. You may also be interested in our list of PDF viewers available for Ubuntu and Debian. PDF documents are a standard created and maintained by Adobe, but it has become a widespread document type that many applications can now open or even edit.WARNING
Please note that Adobe no longer supports Acrobat Reader for Linux. The latest native Linux version is 9.5.5 dated from 26/04/2013. From this reason you should refrain using/installing Adobe Acrobat Reader to avoid potential vulnerabilities and hacker exploits. You are recommended to consider installation of Adobe Acrobat Reader on Wine.
In this tutorial you will learn:
- How to install Adobe Acrobat Reader prerequisites
- How to download Adobe Acrobat Reader
- How to install Adobe Acrobat Reader
- How to start Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Alternative method to install Adobe Acrobat Reader using Snap
Software Requirements and Conventions Used
| Category | Requirements, Conventions or Software Version Used |
|---|---|
| System | Installed or upgraded Ubuntu or Debian |
| Software | Adobe Acrobat Reader |
| Other | Privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the sudo command. |
| Conventions | # – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command$ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user |
Install Adobe Acrobat Reader using Snap
- Open the terminal and enter the following
snapcommand to install Adobe Acrobat Reader:$ sudo snap install acrordrdc - Once installed, you can run Adobe Acrobat Reader by entering:$ acrordrdc
Adobe Reading installed on Ubuntu Linux
Adobe Reading installed on Ubuntu LinuxInstall Adobe Acrobat Reader on Ubuntu and Debian step by step instructions from package
Follow along with the step by step instructions below to get Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on Ubuntu or Debian. Note again that this is an old release and Adobe no longer develops an Acrobat Reader version for Linux systems.
- To download Adobe Acrobat Reader open the terminal and enter the following
wgetcommand:$ wget -O ~/adobe.deb ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/unix/9.x/9.5.5/enu/AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i386linux_enu.deb - Next, enable
i386architecture:$ sudo dpkg –add-architecture i386 $ sudo apt update - Install all prerequisites by executing:$ sudo apt install libxml2:i386 libcanberra-gtk-module:i386 gtk2-engines-murrine:i386 libatk-adaptor:i386
- Now, we are ready to install the actual Adobe Acrobat Reader package downloaded previously:$ sudo dpkg -i ~/adobe.deb
- To start the Adobe Acrobat Reader use the activities menu to search for
adobeand click on the relevant icon. Or you can find your PDF document in the file browser, right click, press “Open with other application” and find Adobe Acrobat Reader in the list of options.Launch Adobe Acrobat Reader on Ubuntu and DebianAccept terms and conditionsAlternatively, you can start the Adobe Acrobat Reader on Ubuntu or Debian from a command line:$ acroread https://0fb31d8f65003d8756140dbe46380a09.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.htmlAdobe Acrobat Reader on Ubuntu and Debian
Closing Thoughts
In this tutorial, we saw how to install Adobe Acrobat Reader on Ubuntu and Debian Linux. The program can now be used to open PDF documents on your system. You may eventually wish to migrate to a new reader, or use the Windows version with WINE, as Acrobat has become out of date and unsupported on Linux.