Summary of Adobe Connect Versions 9.7 and Beyond

by William Altenloh

April 24, 2018

At CoSo Cloud, prior to endorsing and standardizing to a version of Adobe Connect we monitor its performance and work to ensure it’s a proper fit for our respective clients. That being said, I’ve had some inquiries about what exactly is being offered and what we plan to see with existing and future versions.

Adobe has made great strides toward producing Connect versions that are more secure, more customizable, and more feature rich than ever before. Some of these versions have been more focused on feature enhancements, while some were more to apply fixes for bugs and existing issues.

Over the last six months (roughly since November 10th, 2017) Adobe has rolled out a few new iterations of Connect between 9.7.0 and 9.8. Below briefly describes what to expect with the primary version of 9.7, as well as a few changes/adjustments with 9.7.5 – 9.8.

Updates within version 9.7

In version 9.7 we’ve found a different overall look and feel to the interface – with major changes being: removing of browser dependencies, adding HTML support, and resolving several known bugs.

The new Adobe Application for Desktop (for both Windows and Apple) with 9.7:

With 9.7, Adobe introduced a new “application” that replaces the current add-in.  This is a stand-alone app that allows you to more easily access and manage meetings from your desktop without needing Flash player installed or enabled in the browser! (Those who have Flash enabled can still attend sessions in their browser.)

***Tip: For admins, 9.7 includes an MSI installer for wide-scale distribution of the application with SCCM.

New diagnostics:

9.7 offers new pre-meeting tests to check if the users’ system meets the necessary requirements to join an Adobe Connect session without using Flash in their browser. (If the user does not have Flash they will be prompted to install the new application in advance.)  And for those using Voice over IP, they will have an option to test all microphones and speakers prior to the meeting!

9.7 Adobe Connect Central home page in HTML5:

The Adobe Connect Central home page has been redesigned using HTML5. Users can go directly to the home page to find their own (or shared) recordings.  They can also manage meetings, recordings, training catalogs, etc. without enabling the Flash Player.

 

Improvements in 9.7.5

While Connect version 9.7 has proven to be a stable and successful release, Adobe has continued make improvements. Within the desktop application, there have been notable adjustments such as:

• Optional Start menu and desktop shortcuts.
• Users can select audio output devices from the Meeting room (Windows only).
• Option to remember user session on the application so users don’t have to re-enter login credentials.
• Shortcuts such as hotkey access to Meetings, as well as a ‘Recents and Favorites’ list.
• PPT content support –  users can load PPT content directly from the Adobe Connect. application home screen by entering the content URL.

Within 9.7.5 Connect Central:

• Audio Profiles page has been redesigned in HTML5.
• Through the Central Home Page, users will find: recording detail access, newly added Start date column and Meetings filter.  

 

What’s to come with Adobe Connect 9.8:  

While it hasn’t quite been released yet (scheduled for late April to late May) we’ve seen a couple of sneak peaks at improvements such as:

• Select Speaker option in the Audio Setup Wizard.

• User can choose to enable/disable audio when beginning to record a Meeting.

  

We’ll be sure to provide more information on the 9.8 release as we begin to test and monitor it prior to offering it to customers.

I hope this general overview of the latest iterations of Connect has been a helpful glimpse. Please stay tuned for further information on the latest Connect releases, and updates about plans for CoSo standardization to these latest versions after performing adequate monitoring and testing. In the meantime, if you have any questions or require any further specifics about these versions or wish to schedule an upgrade, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your Customer Success Manager!