Apple - How to clean uninstall Adobe Acrobat Reader DC?
I didn't find any professionnal answer on the Adobe server. Hence I had to make it.
Here is the shell script I wrote with the help of another tool: Find all files modified around a known one and which I fully tested after an unwanted install (on Yosemite 10.10.4).
Of course, this shell has to be run as root
. This is why I
added the set -ex
to check exactly which command is executed and to exit in the case of any error.
#!/bin/sh
# shell script to clean all files created or modified
# during the install of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
# exit on error and echo commands
set -ex
# check if a directory is empty
is_empty() { [ -z `find $1/. ! -name . -print -prune | head -1` ] ; }
# rm left empty dir
rm_ifempty() {
if is_empty $1 ; then
rm -rf $1
else
echo $1 not empty
fi ;
}
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# stop and remove daemons
cd /Library/LaunchDaemons
launchctl unload com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist
rm -f com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist
launchctl unload com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist
rm -f com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist
cd /Library/LaunchAgents
launchctl unload com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.*.plist
rm -f com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.*.plist
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# remove the application
cd /Applications
rm -rf Adobe\ Acrobat\ Reader\ DC.app
# remove system wide preferences
cd /Library/Preferences
rm -f com.adobe.reader.DC.WebResource.plist
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# remove all Application dependant ressources
cd /Library/Application\ Support/Adobe
rm -rf ARMDC
rm -rf ARMNext
rm -rf HelpCfg
rm -rf Reader/DC
# Reader/11.0 should be kept
# if Reader directory is empty remove it
rm_ifempty Reader
cd /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/
rm -rf AdobePDFViewer.plugin
rm -rf AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin
cd /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools
rm -f com.adobe.ARMDC.*
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# remove HOME dependant ressources
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/Adobe
rm -rf AcroCef
rm -rf Acrobat/DC
# Acrobat/other_versions shoud be kept
# if Acrobat directory is empty remove it
rm_ifempty Acrobat
rm -rf Linguistics
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support
rm -rf CEF
# crash dumps
cd ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports
rm -rf AdobeReader_*.crash
cd ~/Library/Preferences
rm com.adobe.AdobeRdrCEF.plist
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# remove receipts files
cd /private/var/db/receipts
rm com.adobe.RdrServicesUpdater.*
rm com.adobe.acrobat.DC.*
rm com.adobe.armdc.*
There is a much easier way to Uninstall applications. Macworld.com had written about a product from FreeSoftMac called App Cleaner that does exactly this type of uninstall.
You can also have a look at this similar question: How to Uninstall Qt in El Capitan?
I don't have Adobe installed on my Mac at this time, but I do have software that installed Launch Daemons - Disk Drill - which I am going to uninstall because I am finished with my drive recovery. Below is a screen capture of what it finds and will remove from the system; the arrow points to the Launch Daemon associated with Disk Drill.