Comments pathing

Geek stuff - The commenting path for A7 is stored in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\7.0\Collab\cServerSettings
Name : tFSFDF
Type : REG_BINARY
Data : Path to directory.

There are two issues at work here that you will need to investigate/resolve.

1) Importing the registry setting for all users. Tuner can help with that, but you may have to do it manually as a post install step.

2) Making sure that Windows has an active connection to the path before trying to use it.

#1 - If you are finding that Tuner just isn't cutting it create a .REG file with the appropriate reg setting that someone can use. I know this is a hack, but sometimes that's what we need to do. Two points here 1) Preferences loads/saves this setting from/to the registry at app startup/shutdown. 2) If the path given is invalid, Acrobat will let you know at startup with a message you can OK through.

#2 - Acrobat will not always create a connection to a server/UNC. While the call, via Acrobat through Windows during startup should do it, I've run into many instances in Windows where, for whatever reason, it doesn't. To get around this I would add a 'net use \\server\path' command (Active Directory) or MAP (Novell) to the startup script for each user. That way all the necessary workstation server authentication and connections have taken place before they go to use the commenting feature.

Give this a try and let me know if you run into any additional problems.

Thanks.

I am also running into this issue.

I have Adobe Acrobat Standard 8.1.2 and under Edit > Preferences > Reviewing Category > Online Comments Repository Section, I set the 'Administrator Provided Server Settings' to point to a network folder '\\drive\folder'. Periodically at random times, the setting would reset to a blank value. So if comments were entered, they would appear to be lost after the setting has been reset. In order to see the comments again, I just apply the settings to the network folder.I've also mapped the folder and assigned it a local drive such as the M drive and the problem still persists.

Is there some logic within Adobe that causes this? More importantly, is there a good long-term solution where we wouldn't have to keep setting the value over and over again.

Thanks in advance.

To be honest, sounds like a bug. I agree, behaviour that should not be happening.

A couple of things to investigate.

Is the workstation used by more than one person? Does it happen in a 'switch user' type situation?

Does it happen if, on the first instance, the path cannot be found? Acrobat tries to find the location, cannot. Assumes it's a non-existant path and purges the setting to prevent other problems. This situation can happen during system backups, network hiccups, heavy usage, etc.

If you've ruled all of those out, it just may be a bug that should be fixed.

Thanks

-Doug

Is the workstation used by more than one person? No

Does it happen in a 'switch user' type situation? No

Does it happen if, on the first instance, the path cannot be found? No. The way I proved this is by setting the path to my local 'C' drive. This would still get cleared. I tested this situation on my machine as well as another co-workers machine and the same happened.

I am open to other ideas.

If this is a bug, what is the recommended way to report a bug to Adobe?

Thanks again.
Leon

This is a bug we have experienced with all of our clients at different locations using different versions of Acrobat Standard and Pro. There may be a solution, but we have yet to find one.