Infrastructure Integration of Acrobat - Updated

Elise Williams

2024-04-08 10:50:28 • Filed to: Software for Business • Proven solutions

Most of the time you are surfing the Internet you will be looking at HTML pages but if you want to open an invoice, report, or even an ebook from your web browser you will probably need to open a PDF file. Opening PDFs is important but it isn't always set up by default in your web browser. In this tutorial you will learn how to work with PDFs in Google Chrome and SharePoint.

Working with Google Chrome

Google Chrome is one of the most popular browsers available but you will need to configure the browser to allow you to read PDFs from your browser. Adobe bundle the Acrobat Chrome extension with Adobe Acrobat Reader so by following these simple steps you can quickly start accessing PDF documents in Chrome. Once installed and enabled, the extension will allow you to:

Open PDF files by clicking on a link within the Chrome browser
Fill in forms, add comments, and sign your PDFs

To install the Acrobat Reader Chrome extension

Ensure that you have Acrobat Reader set as your default PDF program. If Acrobat Reader is your default program you will be prompted to install the Chrome extension when Acrobat Reader is next launched. Click Continue or Next to follow the prompts on the screen to install the Chrome extension.

When you next open Google Chrome. You will see a prompt informing you that a new extension has been added. It is important that you click the Enable extensionbutton.

PDFs will now open within your Google Chrome browser. If you would prefer to open a particular PDF in Acrobat Reader you can always click on the Adobe Acrobat prompt in the top-right corner of your window and select Open in Acrobat Reader.

Integrating Adobe Acrobat with SharePoint

Integrating SharePoint will allow you to check PDF files in or out of Acrobat. Once your Administrator has enabled SharePoint integration the SharePoint browser user interface will show which users have checked out each PDF file. Additionally, the SharePoint server menu allows users to Discard Check-Out, Check In or Prepare Document Properties from inside both Reader and Acrobat.

Here is how to configure SharePoint and get it working for you:

Do you have Acrobat 10.1.2 or higher?

It is important to remember that beginning with Acrobat/Reader 10.1.2, the ActiveX control PdfFile. OpenDocuments is now fully supported as is Adobe Acrobat. OpenDocuments. Both on-premise SharePoint servers and Sharepoint Online are being updated so that DocIcon.xml will associate PDFs with the ActiveX control named PdfFile.OpenDocuments. If your SharePoint package has not received this update you will need to complete a manual configuration to your DocIcon.xml. You can see whether or not the update has been received by using a text editor to open DocIcon.xml search for the entry which says PdfFile.OpenDocuments. If you cannot find that entry, then the manual configuration is required.

Configuring SharePoint manually

The DocIcon.xml file forms a part of the front-end Web server for both Microsoft SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint 2010 deployment. It is used to indicate the icon that will be displayed for each file type. It can also be used to say whether or not an ActiveX control will open the file.

The three functions of the DocIcon.xml file are:

To associate display icons with file types
To assign an ActiveX control to allow the file to be opened for editing or viewing
To configure the text displayed in the pop-up menus within SharePoint

Adobe Acrobat. OpenDocuments is an ActiveX control which is installed on a computer with Acrobat or Reader. If you want to use this ActiveX control to open PDF files on your computer, you will need to change the DocIcon.xml file. You must assign an ActiveX control and associate an icon for PDF your files. Follow these steps to make the changes you need:

Locate the DocIcon.xml file, the location varies depending on your setup:

SharePoint 2010: %ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\14\TEMPLATE\XML
SharePoint 2013: %ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\15\TEMPLATE\XML
Open the DocIcon.xml file so you can edit it.
Look for the <ByExtension> tag. It's a child of the root tag <DocIcons>. If it doesn't exist, create it.
Inside the <ByExtension> tag, add the following:
<Mapping Key="pdf" Value="AdobePDF.png" OpenControl="AdobeAcrobat.OpenDocuments"/>
Save the DocIcon.xml file.
Go to https://www.adobe.com/misc/linking.html#producticons and download AdobePDF.png
Copy the icon you downloaded to the appropriate folder:
SharePoint 2010: %ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\14\TEMPLATE\Images\
SharePoint 2013: %ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\15\TEMPLATE\Images\

Your changes will take effect when you relaunch the IIS Manager.

Allow HTTP methods in IIS 7 or later

If you run into trouble see f the SharePoint WebDAVModule is running. If it is all requests are routed there and not to the SharePoint WebDAV component. You must disable the WebDAVModule avoid this.

Disabling the WebDAVModule is done like this: