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Configure Acrobat

jimrit
Registered: Feb 28 2007
Posts: 2

How can I open multiple pdf documents in separate Acrobat windows or separate instances?

My Product Information:
Acrobat Standard 6.0.5, Windows
tedpadova
ExpertTeam
Registered: Dec 31 2005
Posts: 848
Using the File > Open command and selecting PDFs in the Open dialog box automatically opens the files in separate windows. Are you looking for something else?ted

The author of numerous books on Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator and the Adobe Creative Suite, and an international speaker on Adobe Acrobat, Ted Padova is a well-known PDF guru.

buddytoliver
Registered: Sep 22 2007
Posts: 8
Is there any way to open multiple instances of Acrobat--not just multiple windows in the same instance. One reason for doing so is to facilitate spreading multiple documents across different monitors. Using the "spread across monitors" feature in Acrobat 8.0 does not work well since you then have to go in and size each monitor and put it where you want it. It would be much better if there was a way to launch multiple independent versions of Acrobat (like what happens with MS Word) so that you could use your system commands to move the windows, maximize independently, etc.
tedpadova
ExpertTeam
Registered: Dec 31 2005
Posts: 848
I think you're stuck with running a single instance with multiple windows. I'm not aware of changing the behavior.

ted

The author of numerous books on Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator and the Adobe Creative Suite, and an international speaker on Adobe Acrobat, Ted Padova is a well-known PDF guru.

lkassuba
ExpertTeam
Registered: Jun 28 2007
Posts: 3636
You can try running Acrobat from the command line running a new instance using the following syntax acrobat.exe /n; however, you should be aware that this is not a supported configuration.

Lori Kassuba is an AUC Expert and Community Manager for AcrobatUsers.com.

jrgreenman
Registered: Apr 4 2008
Posts: 1
In Windows, I tried manually changing the entry in Windows Explorer (Tools => Folder Options => File Types => PDF => Advanced => open) in order to PDFs using the /n switch. But I could not get my edit to stick.But I found where it is in the registry.

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CAUTION: Standard registry editing disclaimer here. Registry editing is not for the faint of heart. Make sure you know what you are doing and let's be careful out there.
======================================================

Go to the key:

My Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document.7\shell\Open\command

and change the value from:

"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe" "%1"

to:

"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe" /n "%1"

That oughtta do it.

Good luck!!

Jace