or, What to look for when your Adobe Acrobat 9 does not install

I realize that Adobe CS5 Design Premium is launching within a matter of hours — so this may be a moot point. But I want to caution any of you considering downloading the CS4 Design Premium Trial and then purchasing CS4 elsewhere.

As is indicated by Adobe, you have to completely uninstall any Trial versions from your computer before installing a purchased product (from anywhere other than Adobe). Sound simple, right?

About 6 weeks ago, my HP computer suddenly crashed. The fans quit working and the HD became overheated. I had planned to get a new Mac (since my G5), so now was the time. I ordered my new iMac machine and it arrived within a few days.

Since I was in the middle to several large projects, I chose to download the CS4 Trial (CS5 had not even been hinted at then). The download went well, although I do not recall seeing Acrobat 9 as an option for install. That was not an issue as I would not be using Acrobat immediately. But I did not receive a warning or any other related issue with the install. In fact, it informed me that everything installed properly.

Adobe manually processes orders, and it takes 2-3 days for shipping so don’t wait for your Trial to end before ordering.

3 days before my Trail ended (on a Friday morning) I planned to purchase the software and get my key. I clicked the link from the startup of my Dreamweaver program, which took me directly to the Order page. But it took me to the order page of CS5. At first, I could not even find the order for CS4 (it’s in very small text toward the bottom “Can’t wait, order CS4 now”). CS5, due to lauch in a week, would have been preferable, but I could not wait. A trial or product was not even going to be available until April 30, so I ordered CS4, requested the download version (not actual disks) and….. nothing. No unlock serial key.

I called support and I was informed that purchases were manually processed, which took 24 to 48 hours. Correction: BUSINESS HOURS. Since this was a Friday, they said the earliest I would receive my key would be Tuesday, but more than likely on Wednesday or Thursday.

I was floored. Not only did they not process the order immediately so I could receive my serial number, I would have to wait almost a week. For $1800, that was unacceptable. I chose to look to Ebay for a CS4 Design Premium commercial license product.

I found a 100% powerseller and proceeded to order the product. I was informed that the CS4 Trial version had to be completely uninstalled before I installed my purchased version. Simple enough. I received my CS4 software in 2 days.

Check other software for any Adobe software installed, including Reader and Distiller, as they may cause conflicts

I uninstalled the Trial using the “unistall” program that came with the Trial. I then installed CS4 from the DVD’s. I input the serial number and then noticed that Adobe Acrobat 9 was not listed at all for install. I contacted Adobe and the “took control of my computer” and were dubfounded as to why the product was not listed. They indicated it must have been a problem with the disk and I should request replacements.

The seller insisted it was a failure to uninstall all of CS4. Little did I know taht both parties were wrong.

After a lot of searching on the internet, it appeared my predicament was not unique. There are possible solutions, all of which I tried. First, I went to the HD and user areas and removed everything that stated Adobe, Adobe.com and Acrobat. I tried the Clean Uninstall software from Adobe – everything. All of this accomplished my ability to at least see the icon for Adobe. But it was grayed out, and said it was already installed on my machine.

Where? Where and when was the software ever installed? so I started to consider. Perhaps some version of PDF, Adobe, Acrobat, Reader or Distiller were on my machine and casing a conflict.

Watch Your Install carefully. If Adobe Acrobat isn’t in the list, then you have a conflict.

The only software on my computer was Microsoft Office. I had it installed with my computer before delivery. With the new office, you can “save as” to a PDF. Hmmmm. Could it be that this was the conflict?

I checked in the Microsoft office application folder and deleted from the “Additional Tools” folder anything related to Adobe or Acrobat. I emptied my Trash, restarted my machine and Viola!

Everything installed. Even Word is able to create PDF files from the Save As.

I am not sure if this solution will work for everyone, but it seems to me that Adobe needs to address this conflict in future releases. With CS5, Adobe Acrobat is being shipped (or downloaded) as a separate install disk. Perhaps that will help. All I know is that I finally have all the software loaded and working.