Safari 5.1.x when used with Adobe reader or Acrobat 10.1.2 and OS X versions of 10.6.8 or higher has an incompatibility that prevents it from handling Adobe LiveCycle and Acrobat workflows where the pdf document renders in the browser.

One of the symptoms of the problem in Safari is that when the document opens in the browser the document appears to "vibrate" at high speed between the browser and the reader program. This renders the file totally unusable. It is even hard to force-quit Safari, which is what you have to do to restore the computer to sanity.

Many older versions of both Safari and Adobe reader work well together, so don't use this workaround unless you actually have the problem.

On a page at: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/908/cpsid_90885.html Adobe gives the following overview of the problem:

Overview
Adobe Reader plug-in and Acrobat plug-in are not compatible with the Safari 5.1 browser that shipped with Mac OS X 10.7 and for 10.6. The Adobe Reader and Acrobat standalone applications are unaffected and Safari 5.1 renders PDF documents natively. However, the Adobe Reader and Acrobat browser plug-ins will not function as expected in LiveCycle and Acrobat workflows that require either plug-in to render PDF documents in Safari 5.1.

Affected Customers
Any Adobe Reader, Acrobat, and LiveCycle customers who require the Adobe Reader or Acrobat plug-in to render PDF documents in a browser when only Safari 5.1 is present.

Workarounds
Options include the following:

• Continue to use Safari 5.0.x and Mac OS X 10.6.
• Download the Firefox plugin from LABs and use Firefox.
• Save the PDF file from Safari to the computer, and then open it directly in Adobe Reader or Acrobat. {This doesn't appear to work - RHB}
• Use desktop virtualization technology such as Citrix to allow applications to run in a controlled environment where the Safari browser will not be upgraded to version 5.1.

The solution we chose is to use Firefox instead of Safari. Unfortunately, it is not quite that simple. You have to install Firefox version of 8.0 or above, and Adobe Reader 10.1.2. Then you have to download a special workaround file and install it.

The entire procedure is as follows:

1. If you have not already done so, download Adobe Reader 10.1.2 (or presumably, later) from:
   http://get.adobe.com/reader/completion/?installer=Reader_10.1.2_English_for_Mac_Intel.
2. Double-click the file and run the installer.
3. If you have not already done so, download Firefox 9.0 or later from: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
4. Double-click the file and run the installer. Then follow directions.
5. Go to: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/acrobat_ittools/.
6. In the green "Download and Discuss" box in the upper right corner of the page click on the link titled Download the Enterprise it Tools for Acrobat and Reader
7. Click the acknowledgement button and click the link to "Download PDF Plug-in for Firefox on Macintosh".
8. Open the file "acrobat_ittools_ff_p1_011012". This will produce a pdf file and a .dmg file.
9. Open the .dmg file and save the "AdobePDFViewerFF.plugin" file.
10. The .pdf file contains some nonsense. You can't configure OS X to run Firefox as a 32-bit application. Ignore this stuff and perform the remaining items in this list.
11. Copy the plugin file to /Library/Internet Plug-Ins. (You may need to enter admin credentials.)
12. Firefox probably won't show the new file as a plugin, even though the pdf file says it will.
13. Restart Firefox and navigate to the pdf page that had the problem. Everything should work now.

Enjoy:

    - Bee-Man.