I am trying to detect the Adobe Reader plugin for IE11, but for some reason it always returns null. I am lead to believe it is because IE11 doesn't use the same plugin name as older versions of Internet Explorer, but I am not sure.

I got my code directly from this site (a user from this website!): http://thecodeabode.blogspot.com/2011/01/detect-adobe-reader-plugin.html

The code works brilliantly until IE11 on Windows 7, where it returns null in getAcrobatVersion.

Here is the full code so it's easier for you all:

var getAcrobatInfo = function() {



      var getBrowserName = function() {

        return this.name = this.name || function() {

          var userAgent = navigator ? navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase() : other;



          if(userAgent.indexOf(chrome) > -1)        return chrome;

          else if(userAgent.indexOf(safari) > -1)   return safari;

          else if(userAgent.indexOf(msie) > -1)     return ie;

          else if(userAgent.indexOf(firefox) > -1)  return firefox;

          return userAgent;

        }();

      };



      var getActiveXObject = function(name) {

        try { return new ActiveXObject(name); } catch(e) {}

      };



      var getNavigatorPlugin = function(name) {

        for(key in navigator.plugins) {

          var plugin = navigator.plugins[key];

          if(plugin.name == name) return plugin;

        }

      };



      var getPDFPlugin = function() {

        return this.plugin = this.plugin || function() {

          if(getBrowserName() == 'ie') {

            //

            // load the activeX control

            // AcroPDF.PDF is used by version 7 and later

            // PDF.PdfCtrl is used by version 6 and earlier

            return getActiveXObject('AcroPDF.PDF') || getActiveXObject('PDF.PdfCtrl');

          }

          else {

            return getNavigatorPlugin('Adobe Acrobat') || getNavigatorPlugin('Chrome PDF Viewer') || getNavigatorPlugin('WebKit built-in PDF');

          }

        }();

      };



      var isAcrobatInstalled = function() {

        return !!getPDFPlugin();

      };



      var getAcrobatVersion = function() {

        try {

          var plugin = getPDFPlugin();



          if(getBrowserName() == 'ie') {

            var versions = plugin.GetVersions().split(',');

            var latest   = versions[0].split('=');

            return parseFloat(latest[1]);

          }



          if(plugin.version) return parseInt(plugin.version);

          return plugin.name



        }

        catch(e) {

          return null;

        }

      }

      // The returned object

      return {

        browser:        getBrowserName(),

        acrobat:        isAcrobatInstalled() ? 'installed' : false,

        acrobatVersion: getAcrobatVersion()

      };

    };



    var info = getAcrobatInfo();

    if(info.acrobat){

        //IE11 will return false even if you have adobe reader because it's a terrible browser.

        document.write('<img src=img/sysChkErr.gif alt= border=0>');

        document.write('<span style=color: ' + errCol + '><strong>Not Installed</strong></span>');

        document.write('<br /><br />Some of our applications require Adobe Reader. You can download Adobe Reader ');

        document.write('<a href=http://get.adobe.com/reader/ target=_blank>here</a>.');

    }else{

        document.write('<img src=img/sysChkPas.gif alt= border=0>');

        document.write('<span style=color: ' + pasCol + '><strong>Installed</strong></span>');

        document.write('<br /><br />Version ' + info.acrobatVersion + ' is installed.');

    }