To read PDF files from within a Dired buffer
I use ! on the name of the file and the following
settings in my. emacs

...
  (add-hook 'dired-load-hook
          (function (lambda ()
                      (load "dired-x"))))

  (setq dired-guess-shell-alist-user
      (list
       (list "\\.pdf$"    "acrord32.exe")
       (list "\\.PDF$"    "acrord32.exe")
       ))
...

(The path of acrord32.exe is in my environment variable PATH)

Emacs, however, remains locked until I close Adobe Reader!
How do I run acrord32.exe in the background
while maintaining control of Emacs?

THANKS!

Hi!

,----[ C-h f dired-do-shell-command RET ]
| dired-do-shell-command is an interactive autoloaded compiled Lisp function in
| `dired-aux.el'.
|
| [...]
|
| If COMMAND ends in `&', `;', or `;&', it is executed in the
| background asynchronously, and the output appears in the buffer
| `*Async Shell Command*'.  When operating on multiple files and COMMAND
| ends in `&', the shell command is executed on each file in parallel.
| However, when COMMAND ends in `;' or `;&' then commands are executed
| in the background on each file sequentially waiting for each command
| to terminate before running the next command.  You can also use
| `dired-do-async-shell-command' that automatically adds `&'.
|
| [...]
`----

Bye,
Tassilo

I use "dired-w32-browser, which is an interactive autoloaded Lisp
function in `w32-browser.el'".

Martin