How to Install the Adobe Acrobat Reader Mozilla Plugin in Ubuntu

Adobe Acrobat Reader is Adobe’s PDF viewer. A version of the reader is available for all operating systems, including Linux. However, it is a proprietary application (that is, it has a copyright owner), so it is not available through the default Ubuntu software repositories. The Medibuntu software repository was created to hold any software that is available for Ubuntu but does not have a open source license. This includes the Adobe Acrobat Reader software and the plug-in for Mozilla Firefox. Once installed, Firefox will open any links to PDF files inside a web brower using the Acrobat Reader software.

  1. Open a terminal window. You will find it under the “Accessories” section of the main “Applications” menu.
  2. Step 2

    Type the command “sudo wget –output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/$(lsb_release -cs).list && sudo apt-get –quiet update && sudo apt-get –yes –quiet –allow-unauthenticated install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get –quiet update” to install the Medibuntu software repository.

  3. Step 3

    Type “Exit” to close the terminal window.

  4. Step 4

    Open the Synaptic Package Manager, found under the “Administration” section of the “System” menu.

  5. Step 5

    Right-click on each of the packages “acroread,” “mozilla-acroread” and “acroread-plugins” and choose “Mark for Installation.”

  6. Step 6

    Click the “Apply” button to download and install the software.