The great software Easter egg hunt - Day 7: Acrobat

We all use it on a regular basis, but how many of us know about the hidden Easter eggs in Adobe Acrobat Reader? Well, I do. That’s because it’s the software that I’m unravelling today as part of my Easter quest to find hidden features in the world’s most popular programs.

For instance, did you know that Adobe’s PDF reading app can make animal noises? No? Well, it can. Start the program and go to ‘Help’, ‘About plug-ins’, ‘Acrobat Forms’. Now hold Ctrl+Shift+Alt and click on the ‘Credits’ button. Acrobat Reader will now bark like a dog! Fancy something more tranquil? Access whale noises by choosing ‘Help’, ‘About plug-ins’, ‘Acrobat Annotaions’. Hold down the Ctrl key and click ‘Credits’. The button even changes to a harpoon for you to spear the whale that appears on the plug-in logo.

Did you also know that there’s a speech engine lurking inside Acrobat Reader? Well, there is. Hit Ctrl+Shift+b and the entire document you’re viewing will be spoken to you. Ctrl+Shift+v will read a single page, Crl+Shift+e stops the speech, and Ctrl+Shift+c resumes. Perfect if you want a bedtime eBook story read to you!

Continue with the Easter egg hunt here.