Teaching Acrobat New Tricks: Running Two Versions Simultaneously

If you're using SVS to run multiple versions of Adobe Acrobat at the same, this tip from Juice editor Kevin Millecam will help you pull it off.

There's a post in the SVS support forum where a user is having trouble launching two versions of Adobe Acrobat (5 and 6) at the same time. He's created a shortcut for each version of the program but after one was launched that version took control and it became impossible to launch the other.

When we squeezed the SVS development team for details, we found that this behavior is by design. After all, it would get particularly annoying if each time you opened a new PDF document, another instance of the application launched. There are cases (especially when using SVS) that one might want to override this default behavior. You might, for example, want to explore a beta version of a product at the same time you're running a production version of the same application.

Here's How

To change the default launch behavior, you need to add what the developers call an "n-switch" to your application settings so a "new" instance of the application will open each time it is called.

Make sure the virtual application(s) you are attempting to modify have been activated. In this case, we're modifying Acrobat 5 and Acrobat 6. We've checked that they're active and have conveniently placed a shortcut for each on our desktop.

We'll show you how to modify Acrobat 5. You'll also need to loop back to this point and repeat the steps for Acrobat 6.

First, right-click on the application shortcut and click the "Properties" menu option.

In the window that opens, go to the "Target:" text box and add "/n" (without the quotes) to the end of the startup string. Click "Apply" and "OK".

Now perform the same steps for Acrobat 6.

That's it! You should now be able to click on the Acrobat 5 shortcut and open an Acrobat 5 window. After that (or before) you can click the Acrobat 6 shortcut and open an Acrobat 6 window.