Unable to open PDF file with Adobe Reader
 

I use Xubuntu on a Lenovo laptop T400. When I go to a website that has a PDF component to it, I cannot get the file to open using the Adobe unit installed on my computer. How do I configure Adobe such that when I want to open a PDF file it will do so automatically? Thank you in advance.

Hi, first I'll point out that I am using Fedora and I don't have adobe installed but if you are using firefox:

go to preferences->applications and scroll down to PDF. I am using the default "preview in firefox" but you can change this to "Use Document Viewer/Use Other". So I am guessing that by following this you should be able to specify the reader of your choice.

Cheers

Ah, I am glad you mentioned Firefox. I am using SeaMonkey as my browser and the format there is a bit different. Thank you for that, but I couldn't find the same categories under "Preferences" in SeaMonkey.

It is under "Browser" > "Helper Applications."
When you click on a .pdf file a box should pop up asking what you want to use to open the file. Pick "other" and work your way to the Adobe Reader. Before clicking on "OK" or "Open" put a check mark in the box to use it as the default for future similar files (something along that line).

Thank you for this but still not working. Under "Helper Applications" I don't see Adobe under any of those listings. When I try to open a pdf attachment, I just get this thing asking me where I want to save the document (or whatever). Does this make any sense?

The first time you open a document that isn't on the list you should be presented with a box that asks if you want to "save it" or "open it." Click on "open" and then go through the steps to open it with Adobe Reader.

The box said "Enter name of file to save to." It wants me to save the file as the default position, not open it.

The linux "adobe reader" is a piece of GARBAGE

use your already installed pdf reader
it should be
evince or okular

I usually agree with you, but not this time. Complete nonsense. The Adobe Reader for Linux works just fine and it does, as pointed out in another recent thread on this subject, a couple of things Okular doesn't do, e.g., allows you to "fill in the blanks" and open and complete and save .pdf forms that are security protected. The latter is very important for some business purposes.

But the problem seems to be that my system isn't recognizing Adobe. I know it's installed, but it doesn't come up as an option.

You have to "work" your way to it, the executable, and select it.
Perhaps, if you search for the problem on the 'Net could can find an example of how to do it step by step?

That's what I was looking to find here! Where should Adobe (or whatever the pdf reader) be located on my system? In other words, in what folder does Adobe (or whatever the pdf reader) need to appear in order to be executable?

On my Slackware64 system the executable is located at,

/opt/Adobe/Reader/bin/

and the executable is named, acroread, so the entire path is, /opt/Adobe/Reader/bin/acroread

Your system might be different.

Open a linux shell windows and type: which acroread
It will print the complete path to the application acroread, as long as it is in your PATH. (Which it normally is).

And I've learned something new here :) which command I was unfamiliar with, but it's very useful. :)

Here on my Mint 17 box everything is stored under /usr/bin -> such as /usr/bin/banshee or /usr/bin/vlc. I don't have Acrobat Reader installed, but my guess it would be /usr/bin/acrobat :)