PDF is an excellent format for documents involving graphics and text. It is a popular format worldwide and used extensively to exchange information in emails. Adobe is the company behind the PDF (Portable Document Format).

Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader is free and can be installed in Windows and Mac OS operating systems easily. For Linux, things get a tad more robust as there is no readily executable binary made by the company.

What about the acroread AUR package?

Though there is an “acroread” package that can be installed from the AUR repository, it’s outdated and stuck at Adobe Reader 9, which is ages old and not stable. I tried to install it in my test PC but dealt with missing dependencies lib32-gtk2 and lib32-libxml2. Somehow, painfully, I figured out a way to resolve the dependencies, too, and finally got Adobe Reader 9 installed. However, the program won’t launch! Therefore, I don’t recommend using the acroread package from AUR anymore. Instead, install the latest Adobe Reader executable direct from official servers and run it via Wine. Here is the complete guide.

Installing Adobe Reader in Manjaro

Step 1) The first step is to download the latest Adobe Acrobat Reader Windows version from the Adobe servers. Use the below link:

Download Adobe Acrobat Reader

You need to download the Windows version. By default settings, the downloaded exe file (similar to AcroRdrDC1801120058_en_US.exe) should save into the “Downloads” folder.

Adobe Acrobat Reader Download from Official website

Step 2) The next step is to install Wine and Wine Tricks. To do that, open “Add/Remove Software” and type “wine.”

Step 3) Select “wine” and “winetricks” from the list.

Installing Wine and Wine Tricks

Step 4) Click “Apply,” followed by “Commit,” and you should be done with the Wine installation.

Step 5) Launch ‘Terminal”.

Launching Terminal in Manjaro GNOME

Step 6) Enter the following commands, one at a time and press enter. Click “Install” for the Wine Installer dialog boxes.

winetricks atmlib
winetricks riched20
winetricks wsh57
winetricks mspatcha

Winetricks atmlib

7) It’s time to install the Adobe executable file that you downloaded in Step #1. Navigate to the “Downloads” directory in the Terminal. You can use the “ls” and “cd” command as follows:

ls
cd Downloads

Step 8) Enter the wine command followed by the name of the downloaded exe file. You can select and right-click the file name within the Terminal. Note that the Ctrl+C keyboard shortcut will not work in the Terminal.

Execute Wine command

Replace the file name of the exe file with that of your exe file name.

Wine command

wine AcroRdrDC1801120058_en_US.exe

Step 9) Acrobat Reader installation should progress.

Step 10) After the installation is complete, you should see the new program in the right-click context menu on a PDF file.  You will also see it in the Apps.

Open with Adobe Acrobat DC option

Step 11) When you launch the Adobe PDF Reader the first time, you should see three options. Select the “Always protected mode disabled” option.

Adobe Reader Protected Mode

That’s it! Enjoy the latest Adobe Reader in Linux!

Adobe Reader DC in Manjaro GNOME