Open a PDF with Open Parameters Using C# / VB.NET

Question

The accepted answer to this question regarding how to open a PDF to a specific page using C# is, in summary:

Process myProcess = new Process();    
myProcess.StartInfo.FileName = "acroRd32.exe"; //not the full application path
myProcess.StartInfo.Arguments = "/A \"page=2=OpenActions\" C:\\example.pdf";
myProcess.Start();

However, this answer appears to be incomplete. It works great if Adobe Reader (acroRd32.exe) is not already running, but if Reader is running, this code won't do anything (at least on my Windows 8.1 PC). So, how can you open in PDF to a specified page using C# (or VB.NET) regardless of whether Adobe Reader is already running?

What happens if you just pass the process the document name, and don't designate Acrobat as the reader? — ChicagoMike, Jan 05 '16 at 04:19
Then you cannot pass the arguments to have the PDF open to a specific page. — OfficeAddinDev, Jan 05 '16 at 11:33

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 05 '16 at 12:24

Turns out the trick is to add the "/n" switch to the arguments string just before the PDF path as follows:

myProcess.StartInfo.Arguments = String.Format("/A ""zoom={0}&page={1}=OpenActions"" /n ""{2}", strZoom, strPage, strPath)

According to the Acrobat developer FAQ, the /n switch "Launches a separate instance of Acrobat or Adobe Reader, even if one is currently open." I cannot imagine a case where you wouldn't want to use this switch (when opening a PDF as described in the OP), so it is surprising that there is little mention of this switch in the dozens of proposed solutions on this topic.

Open a PDF with Open Parameters Using C# / VB.NET

1 Answers1