Adobe Reader problems

• Default settings
• TeXnicCenter (LAN installation)
• TeXnicCenter (home installation)

Fixing default settings of Adobe Reader

Adobe Reader X has some unfortunate defaults. Here is how to change them:

Accessibility Setup Assistant

If you start Adobe Reader X for the first time, you may see an Accessibility Setup Assistant window. You may simply click Use recommended settings and skip setup and fix the configuration later. If you do go through with this setup procedure, pay attention to the following options:

• Screen 2: Uncheck the checkbox Disable text smoothing because without smoothing text may look horrible.
• Screen 3: Select Use reading order in raw print stream because the Reader may otherwise use up a lot of time to analyze the text before displaying anything.
• Screen 4: For the same reason, select Only read the currently visible pages. You probably also want to uncheck Override Page Layout Style.

On loading your first document, you may get a dialog box Reading Untagged Document. The suggested options should match what you selected in Screen 3 and 4. Check Always use the settings from the Reading Preferences.

Preferences dialogue

The above settings are also available via Edit / Preferences:

• Page Display screen: for Smooth text, pick For Laptop/LCD screens
• Accessibility screen: turn off both Override Page Display options
• Reading screen:
  • Reading order: Use reading order in raw print stream
  • Page vs. Document: Only read the currently visible pages

TeXnicCenter (LAN version) and Adobe Reader

TeXnicCenter has a long-standing problem that it does not automatically notice that Adobe Reader has had an update. You might get a message such as:

Previously, this could be fixed by rerunning the TeXnicCenter reconfiguration utility in the RuG TeX Live utilities submenu.

Adobe Reader X requires a different invocation from TeXnicCenter. The reconfiguration utility has been updated for the 2010 release of TeX Live for the university. The updated version tests for the Reader version and thens set the invocation appropriately.

For a LAN installation, simply run the reconfiguration utility - with TeXnicCenter not running, and you should be ok, except maybe the very first time.

Do not close the Reader

The error message above may still pop up even after the reconfiguration. This appears to happen when Adobe Reader is not yet running. In that case, return to TeXnicCenter without clicking anything in the Reader and click again on the View button.

When you are done with a file, do not close the Reader; just close the document, by clicking the cross below the titlebar.

TeXnicCenter (home installation) and Adobe Reader

The home installer, at z:\aps\TeXLive, now also has the updated version of the configuration script tnc_config.vbs.

Home users of TeXnicCenter can choose between the following options:

1. Install the updated version of the home installer; see the Home installer page. This should not affect the main TeX Live installation if you have a ≥ 2011 TeX Live release.
2. Fix the configuration manually. This In TeXnicCenter, choose Build / Define Output Profiles and then the Viewer tabs of LaTeX => PDF and LaTeX => PS => PDF. For each of the three occurrences of Server, enter AcroViewR10 (without the quotes); see the screenshot below.

 

RuG TeX pages last revised on December 18 2012