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matteo_8608
Participant
July 24, 2025
Question

Acraobat Reader does not save preferences and pop-up "unexpected closure" appears.

  • July 24, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 463 views

I'm having the following problem with my reader: every time I open a PDF, I get a pop-up message saying "abnormal closing." I don't see the program closing unexpectedly, but I always close it normally. I also can't set preferences, like the dark theme. It doesn't save my preferences every time I start it.

 

I've already tried updating my software, but initially it gave me error 100700. By following the forum and manually accepting the EULA, I solved the problem. But this other problem persists.

I also tried reinstalling it after running the cleanup tool but nothing

 

What solutions are there? Thanks.

 

1 reply

creative explorer
Community Expert
creative explorerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 24, 2025

@matteo_8608 wow, still even after a clean install. I would take it one extra step. Given the combination of "abnormal closing" and preference not saving, the most likely culprit is permission issues or corrupted preference files that aren't being fully removed by a standard uninstall/reinstall.  I would manually remove the Acrobat Preferences. Close Acrobat and delete aka purge them. For some weird reason, my preferences ballooned to 17 gigs and I was told to delete to delete them.  

Restart your computer. It should create entirely new preference files and registry entries. Try setting your dark theme and other preferences, then close and reopen a PDF to see if the "abnormal closing" message appears and if the preferences are saved.

When I did my computer, I took it to the extreme and cleared everything in the preferences not just Acrobat. Itw ent from 17 gigs to 384 kbs! KB not gigs! It works great now...knock on wood! 

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    M
    matteo_8608Author
    Participant
    July 24, 2025

    Thanks, I'll try that right away. Where can I find the preferences?

    Amal.
    Community Manager
    Amal.Community Manager
    Community Manager
    July 24, 2025

    Hi there,

    I hope you are doing well. Thanks for sharing the issue; I’m really sorry you’re going through this.

     

    If something’s wrong with the app’s saved preferences, you may receive the "abnormal closing" message and not be able to save your settings (like the dark theme).

    As you've already tried some troubleshooting steps like: trying updates, fixing the EULA error, and using the cleanup tool, here are a few more things you can try:

    Please try to reset the Acrobat preferences as described here https://adobe.ly/3TVHPwR and reboot the application once and check.

    You may also try to create a new test user profile with full admin rights in Win or enable the root account in MAC and try using the application there and see if that works.

     

    Let us know how it goes

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