Document Cloud Product Tracks

Continuous or Classic track?

The Acrobat product family provides two tracks for both Acrobat and Reader:

The Continuous track provides service-based tools as well as new features, security and platform enhancements, and bug fixes as part of frequent (and most often) silent updates. Over time, the Continuous track’s update cadence will be more frequent than the Classic track. Classic license program customers do not have access to this track for Acrobat.
The Classic track is similar to the 11.x model and provides few (if any) new features in updates. Like previous releases, a quarterly update cadence delivers security and platform enhancements as well as bug fixes. Acrobat Classic is now available as an FRL and NUL package that you can create in the Admin console and deploy on your machines. When using the NUL package for Acrobat Classic, only the Adobe cloud storage is available. Other services, such as Share, and Send for review are disabled. As is standard with FRL licensing, there is no access to services or storage. For more information, see Feature restricted licensing.

Note

For up-to-date details about what features exist in each track, see https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/whats-new.html.

Example release schedules:

Which track should I use?

Continuous track

Choose this track if you:

Use named-user deployments; that is, you want to manage entitlements through enterprise IDs. In service-centric environments, it’s beneficial to have a single identity of the user across the desktop, mobile & cloud. products support federated and enterprise IDs for identity-based licensing.
Want new features delivered in updates as soon as they become available.
Use Acrobat web services.
Would like to take advantage of frequent updates for security and functionality reasons (you can leverage the silent and automatic update mode, but it is not required).
Can automatically update or push controlled updates on a 60 day schedule. Since web and desktop updates are released in tandem, keeping the desktop updated ensures features and functionality remain synchronized with Document Cloud services.
For the Continuous track, only the latest base release and last update will be available for download.

Classic track

Choose this track if you:

Manage a locked environment and need to control the frequency and nature of updates. All updates remain available for download.
You don’t need identity-based licensing and deployment is machine based, and the ability to manage users via the Admin Console.
Want to limit the feature set to those included in major releases.
Do not want to use services.
Want to manage updates like previous 11.x releases.

License types

Licenses are associated with a particular track. A Continuous track license cannot be used with a Classic installer and vice versa.

License programs

License programs and bundle/track associations
License program	Plan names	Tracks
ETLA	Adobe Acrobat for enterprise: Premium 1, Premium 2, Pro w/ services, Std w/ services	Continuous, Classic
ETLA	Adobe Acrobat for enterprise: Pro or Std	Continuous, Classic
ELA, CLP, TLP	Adobe Acrobat Pro and Acrobat Standard	Classic
VIP	Adobe Acrobat Pro and Acrobat Standard	Continuous

Can I switch tracks?

With the right license, yes. Installing a different track requires uninstalling the existing product first.

Acrobat Professional vs. Standard

Acrobat Professional and Standard are delivered as a single installer. Product behavior and features become enabled based on the entitlements granted by the licensing methodology (a user ID or serial number) Licensing (provisioning) products support named users deployments in addition to traditional, serialized deployments. Named user deployments provide the following advantages:

Management of usage rights for users and groups via the Admin Console.
Streamlined license management and compliance.
Provisioning mobile devices for Document Cloud services.
Leveraging existing systems so that users can fully participate in more efficient e-sign workflows.

A comparison of named user and serialized deployments
Item	Named user deployment	Serialized deployment
License access	Admin Console	Licensing website (LWS)
License association	Assigned users and groups	Specific machines
License programs	ETLA, VIP	ELA, CLP, TLP
Entitlement granted to	each user	each machine
Entitlement management	Admin Console	Pre-deployment configuration
Internet connection	Required: Users must log in and signing out deactivates product. `*`	Only required pre-deployment for activation
Activation	Occurs on user log-in	Admin pre-activates for all users
Services ID	Federated ID, Enterprise ID, Adobe ID	Adobe ID
Integrated mobile provisioning	Yes	No
Services access	Yes (optional)	Yes (optional)
Virtualization support	App-V (Jan 2017: Citrix, VMWare) (Nov 2017: WTS)	Citrix, WTS, App-V
SCCM, AIP/GPO, ARD	Yes	Yes
Track support	Classic, Continuous	Classic only after Dec. 2018

* For the VIP program, the product performs an online activation check every 24 hours. Users can be offline for 30 days on the monthly plan and 99 days on an annual plan.

Installer bit locations

The requisite installers are available from the following locations:

Acrobat download locations
Location	Continuous	Classic
What’s available?	Base installer and last update	Base installer and all updates
Admin Console	Base installer	None
Licensing Website	Base installer	Base installer

Acrobat Reader download locations
Location	Continuous	Classic
What’s available?	Base installer and last update	Base installer and all updates
Admin Console	None	None
get.adobe.com	Latest full installer	None

Continuous vs. Classic comparison

Acrobat product tracks

Acrobat track comparison
Feature	Continuous	Classic
Updates	Frequent	Planned quarterlies
Update order	Base + last update	Base + last update
Update UI	Auto or off	Auto or off
Update registry controls	Auto or off	Win: Same as 11.x
Services integration	All tools enabled `*`	Free tools only `*`
Upsell enabled?	Standard only	N/A
Languages	MUI only: licenses are language specific	MUI only: licenses are language specific
File and preference paths	Versionless: always under `DC`	Versioned: Under major version, 2015\|2017\|2020, etc.
Windows installer	`Acrobat_DC_Web_WWMUI.exe`	`Acrobat_2015\|2017\|2020_Web_WWMUI.exe`
Windows install paths	`C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat\`	`C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 2015\|2017\|2020`
Registry paths	`HKCU\Software\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\`	`HKCU\Software\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\2015\|2017\|2020`
Application data path	`%Appdata%\Roaming\Adobe\Acrobat\DC\`	`%Appdata%\Roaming\Adobe\Acrobat\2015\|2017\|2020`

* What services are visible in the user interface varies by the purchased track and license type. Use the Customization Wizard or registry/plist configuration to remove unwanted items from the user interface.

For the Continuous track, all services are visible and functional. Note that some features, such as Create PDF and Export PDF, are part of the desktop offering and don’t use a Document Cloud service.

For the Classic track, paid for service-based tools are unavailable. Features such as Export PDF are part of the desktop product and don’t require a service to function. Free services which don’t duplicate existing functionality are on by default.

Acrobat Reader tracks

Acrobat Reader track comparison
Feature	Continuous	Classic
Updates	frequent; often silent	Planned quarterlies
Update order	Base + last update	Base + last update
Update UI	None (no UI but registry settings can still be used)	Auto or off
Update registry controls	Auto or off	Auto or off
Services integration	All tools visible `*`	Free tools visible `*`
Upsell enabled?	On by default	On by default
Spelling pack	Add on	Bundled
Font pack	Add on	Bundled
Languages	Win: single language or MUI	MUI only
File and preference paths	Versionless: always under `DC`	Versioned: Under major version, 2015\|2017\|2020, etc.
Windows installer	`AcroRdrDC<version>_<lang ID>.exe`	`AcroRdr2015\|2017\|2020_MUI.exe`
Windows install paths	`C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\`	`C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat Reader 2015\|2017\|2020`
Registry/plist paths	`HKCU\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\`	`HKCU\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\2015\|2017\|2020`
Application data path	`%Appdata%\Roaming\Adobe\Acrobat\DC\`	`%Appdata%\Roaming\Adobe\Acrobat\2015\|2017\|2020`

* What services are visible in the user interface varies by the purchased track and license type. Use the Customization Wizard or registry/plist configuration to remove unwanted items from the user interface.

For the Continuous track, all services are visible. Free services are functional by default, and paid-for services require an upgrade or purchase to access.

For the Classic track, most service-based tools are hidden. Basic, paid-for services such as Create PDF and Export PDF are visible but must be enabled with a purchase.

Product versioning

Track release schedules and their respective versions will be different, but both the Continuous and Classic tracks share an identical methodology. The new strategy is designed to provide better granularity, support more frequent releases, and aid in troubleshooting by providing build information. In it’s generic form, the version number will appear as major.minor.minor_minor.

Versioning
Key	Description	Details
A	Release year	The year the version was released.*
B	Internal build number	A unique identifier for the internal build.
C	Track ID	The first digit represents the track name. ‘2’ indicates the Continuous track, and ‘3’ indicates the Classic track.
D	Internal build number	Another unique identifier for the internal build. Only visible if user clicks on the version number in the About box.

* The year-based version number is not the same as the Classic track name. While the Classic track versioning contains a year-number (2015|2017|2020), the track name only changes at each major release–not every year. The version number increments every year.