No shared review access offsite

[charlescs]

Hi Everyone,

I use shared review at work very frequently, and it functions exactly as expected.

However, when I leave the site and work from home via a vpn I am no longer able to set up a shared review, check for new comments on a shared review, or publish comments on a shared review.

I get the error message:

Could not get new comments. Adobe Acrobat cannot access the network. Please verify your computer's network connection and try again.

I have Adobe Acrobat DC (17.012.20098) installed.

The review server: unallocated.barefruit.co.uk

System is Windows 7.

All my other programs and software work fine, and I have full connectivity to the internet.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to resolve this?

Thanks for any and all help.

All the best,

Charlie

[Tariq Dar]

HI Charlie,

Sorry for the delay in response.

Are you still experiencing this issue? Have you tried contacting Adobe Support for this issue?

Where are the files hosted? Shared Network Drive or SharePoint or WebDev server?

Did you check with your IT if that source is accessible outside your network? 

If you have already found a resolution/workaround to this query, please reply to third with your findings that will help.

-Tariq Dar

[Document Geek]

Have you tried Send for Comments by Email? It's a bit of a different workflow. The Shared Review system that is built into Acrobat only works on Windows servers, and only when you are connected to the network on which it was set up.

Send for Comments by Email doesn't have the live comment-importing functionality that Shared Commenting does, but it will work when you are away from the office.

You can also try a very reliable (but old school) method of sharing comments: FDF files. Basically, you can export your comments as an XML file, email them to someone, and they will import in the PDF document on their end for review. Again, it's not automatic or live, but it's super reliable. And by emailing the very small FDF file, you can rest assured it will never get stuck in your email for being too large.

Read more about that here: https://creativepro.com/working-with-fdfs-forms-data-files/

[Karl Heinz Kremer]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Document+Geek  wrote

[ ... ]The Shared Review system that is built into Acrobat only works on Windows servers, and only when you are connected to the network on which it was set up. [ ... ]

This is actually not correct, there is one other option: You can use a WebDAV server to host and distribute comments in a shared review. Such a server can be set up internally, but you can also subscribe to WebDAV services from a number of providers online. This is the one that I am using: SqueakSoft.com - Home​

If you change your shared review server to a WebDAV server that is available not just within your firewall, then  you should be able to access it regardless of where you are or how you are logged into the internet.

However, you are saying that you are using a VPN. As long as you can access shared disks via your VPN, you should be OK. The problem in this case may be how the shared drive is accessed locally vs. remotely. If the path changes, then Acrobat would of course not know how to access the share via the new path. You need to talk to your IT department to find out if the share's name is different when you access it remotely vs. what it is when you are on site. If there is a difference, discuss with them a way to have just one path that is valid in both environments.

[Document Geek]

That is great! I did not know that webDav servers were available as a cloud option. Great to know! Thanks for sharing.

[Document Geek]

Another method I use is placing the file in dropbox and sharing that folder with my colleagues. Each person can open the file in Acrobat, comment on it, save, and close. It works great. You just have to be sure that only one person opens the file at a time. Whatever you do, don't confuse this with Dropbox commenting via the web interface, which is COMPLETELY different. You can read about the difference here: Document Geek: Beware of Dropbox Commenting