Share files

See also

Check your interface! If the screen below matches your app interface, you’re on the classic version. See how to Share & review files on Classic experience. If no, continue reading.

Acrobat Reader allows you to share files for read-only or for a colloaborative review. You can use the advanced share features to track and manage your shared files. You can:

• Share view-only files or share files for review so that recipients can comment and markup files.

• Access Share features and functionalities that are similar across the desktop, web, and mobile devices.

• Get synchronized files across all connected devices.

• Create, participate in, and manage reviews.

• Get notifications for comments from reviewers along with a support for @mention tags.

• Use Pan, Zoom, or Scroll functionalities in commenting mode.

..note:: A icon indicates that the file is shared for commenting or view-only, whereas a PDF icon indicates that the file is not shared. You can view all your shared files from the Shared view by tapping . You can tap By You to view files shared by you and tap By Others to view files shared by others.

Compress a file before sending

With a premium subscription, you can compress files to reduce their size. Compressed files consume less bandwidth and are easier and faster to work with. Note that you cannot compress files that have been previously compressed.

To compress a PDF file:

1. Tap > Compress PDF.

2. In the compress dialog that opens, select a compression level and tap “Compress”. It displays a message saying the compression is in process.

3. Once your PDF is compressed, a confirmation message is displayed. To open the compressed file, tap Open.

The compressed file is named as ‘filename_compressed.pdf’ and is saved to Adobe cloud storage.

Password-protect PDFs

Subscribers to Adobe Acrobat Premium or Adobe Acrobat Pro DC can protect PDFs by setting a password. It can help you secure confidential information and restrict unauthorized access.

Note

Setting a password for a file creates a password-protected copy of the file. It doesn’t protect or change the original file.

To set a password for a PDF file:

1. Tap the > Set password.

   

2. In the dialog that opens, enter a password and then confirm it.

3. Tap Set password.

You see a message confirming that a password-protected copy is being created.

Once done, a confirmation message is displayed, as shown below. It creates a file copy named “<filename>_protected.pdf” and saves the file to Adobe cloud storage.

To open a password-protected PDF file:

1. From the confirmation message, tap Open.

2. Else, from the list of files, tap the password-protected filename to open it.

3. In the dialog that opens, enter the password and tap OK.

Note the following limitations in password-protected PDFs:

• You cannot edit, fill & sign, compress, or export password-protected PDFs.

• You can remove the password with desktop Acrobat if you know the original password.

• There is no separate password for edit. If a user can open a file, they can edit the file.

• Currently, Acrobat Reader mobile app does not support printing of password-protected PDFs.

Share a file

You can send a document to others by sharing the file link through 3rd party apps. Sharing a file via link allows you to send a shared file to more recipients. Sharing via link saves bandwidth and provides access to files stored in the cloud. To share a file:

1. From the list of files, tap next to the file.

2. Alternatively, open the file and tap from the top menu.

3. From the dialog that opens, take any of the following options:

   • From the list of available 3rd party apps, select any app and follow through the steps. The file link is automatically created and shared via the selected app.

   • Tap Get link and once the link is copied on your clipboard, paste and send it via email, message, or other supported apps.

Note

Recipients of links shared by owners are not added to the People list of shared documents. The link recipients also cannot access the shared document from the ‘Shared by others’ list in the Adobe cloud storage.

Export PDFs

With a subscription to Adobe Acrobat Premium or Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can export unshared PDF files to various different formats:

• Document formats: DOCX, DOC, RTF, XLSX, and PPTX

• Image formats: JPEG and PNG

When exporting PDFs to document formats, Acrobat supports optical character recognition (OCR) which can convert scanned text into actual text. Acrobat supports many export languages, but OCR recognition is not applicable to export to image formats.

To export a PDF file using Acrobat Reader for Android:

1. From the bottom menu, tap > Export PDF.

2. In the Export PDF page that opens, select Document or Image as the export option, as required.

3. To export the PDF to a document format:

   1. Select “Document” as the export option.

   2. From the list of document formats under the Document tab, select a desired file format.

   3. To change the language, tap the selected language and select a different language. By default, the export language is the same as your installed app. Acrobat app supports many export languages.

   4. Tap “Export”.

   5. Once the file is exported, a confirmation message is displayed. To open the exported file, tap “Open”. To dismiss the message, tap “X”.

   

4. To export the PDF to an image format:

   1. Select “Image” as the export option.

   2. From the page that opens, select one of the two image formats: JPEG or PNG.

   3. Tap the pages that you want to export as images. Or, tap Select all to select all the pages.

   4. To share the exported pages, select Share images from the bottom and complete the workflow.

   5. To save the exported pages to the device, select Save to Photos.

      It displays a permission dialog if Acrobat is accessing your Photos for the first time. From the dialog, select an appropriate option to continue.

   6. Once the images are exported and saved in the device Gallery, a confirmation message is displayed.

   

Share for review

You can share files and manage the share from your mobile device, desktop, and web. You receive push notifications when reviewers participate. To initiate a share:

1. Open a PDF and tap from the top menu bar.

2. Alternatively, for any file from the list of files, tap > Share.

3. In the Share with others dialog that opens, add 1 or more email addresses.

4. Optionally, tap the subject line and/or message text box to edit them.

5. To allow recipients to add comments and annotations, enable Allow comments. Files with disabled commenting are read-only.

6. To set a review deadline, tap > Set Deadline. Set your date and then tap < button.

7. Tap Send.

The file automatically uploads to Adobe cloud storage. Document recipients can access the file from the web as well as their desktop or phone.

Alternatively, you can share a link to the file by creating a link. To do so, follow the steps as listed under ‘Share a file’ topic.

Share via Airdrop

AirDrop enables you to wirelessly share files from one Apple device to another. To share a PDF via Airdrop:

1. Open the PDF that you want to share.

2. Tap > AirDrop.

3. Choose the receiving device. If you don’t see the required device, it’s likely not set up correctly.

4. When the dialog appears on the target device saying “AirDrop Open with…”, choose Acrobat.

Note

AirDrop requires that you set up the target and receiving devices as described in Apple’s instructions. Devices should be on, unlocked, AirDrop-enabled, wireless and Bluetooth should be on, and so on. By default, the receiving device limits shares to people in the contacts list.

Modify shared files

You cannot modify a file that has been shared for review. However, you can create a copy of any shared file and then modify it. To modify shared files:

1. From the list of shared files, tap on a file to open it.

2. From the bottom toolbar, tap > Edit PDF.

3. In the dialog that opens, tap Create a copy. It creates a copy of the file and opens it in tool mode.

Save a copy of shared files

You can save a copy of the shared files along with the review comments, if any. To do so:

• Open a shared file from the Adobe cloud storage.

• Tap from the top bar.

• Tap Save a copy.

• Choose a destination from the given options and tap Save.