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Participant
February 26, 2023
Answered

Adobe Reader Lagging, Slow and Unusable macOS Ventura 13.2.1

  • February 26, 2023
  • 11 replies
  • 13493 views

Adobe Reader is Lagging and Slow. To the point where it has become unusable on my 16" Macbook Pro 2019.

 

It becomes most unusable when scrolling through large PDFs with multiple pages. The application laggs far worse than stock macOS 'Preview' app which runs smoothly. Have I got a setting wrong? I am using default settings from a fresh install.

 

Adobe Reader: 2022.003.20314

 

Adobe Install Info:

Architecture: x86_64

Processor: Intel

Build: 22.3.20314.0

AGM: 7.0.2

CoolType: 8.1.1

JP2K: 4.0.0.52132

 

Please help. Any suggestions?

Correct answer FilSweMac

Same problem for me since 2023. Our IT technician says it may be linked to MacBooks containing "Apple M1 [Pro]" chips.  The only working solution I found is to disable "new Acrobat":

For macOS:

  • [View] >> [Disable new Acrobat]

11 replies

Participant
August 31, 2025

Sheesh. I made the mistake of replacing AcrobatPro (long since canceled) by Acrobat Reader to avoid the endless requests to pay for the pro version. Big mistake. Most of the time I go to change preferences, it hangs. When I start it, it often hangs. If I open a document, it hangs. It usually eventually responds, but this take many minutes. I turned off the AI toolbar. No help. Tried shutting off 'Downloading speculative content', no help (what the heck would this be, and why would anyone want it?). Try to save preferences. Hangs often. Sheesh.

Participant
August 31, 2025

Hmm... I checked for updates. There was an update (despite my having _just_ downloaded Adobe Reader). Now things are working better. Could've been the update. Could've been turning off AI. Could have been Speculative Content. Again: Sheesh.

FilSweMacCorrect answer
Participant
February 19, 2025

Same problem for me since 2023. Our IT technician says it may be linked to MacBooks containing "Apple M1 [Pro]" chips.  The only working solution I found is to disable "new Acrobat":

For macOS:

  • [View] >> [Disable new Acrobat]
FilSweMac
Participant
March 21, 2025

Thankyou for providing the solution. This fixed the problem for me!

S_S
Community Manager
Community Manager
May 18, 2025

Hi @Alexander237881064u5a,

 

Hope you are doing well. 

 

Thanks for writing what worked for you.

Marking this as a correct answer for future users to use as a reference.


Regards,
Souvik.

Participant
January 23, 2025

Hi,

I'm having the same issue as the user's below. This is on a brand new iMac 2023. I was excited to get this program and finally graduate from using 'Preview' to create fairly basic wifi design drawing.  I'm currently working on a single page pdf with almost no advanced feature (just drawing colored circles around wifi access points) and there is a one second lag for every action that I perfom: move a circtly, draw a circle, resize a circle.  We paid money for this program.  It's really annoying. 

Participant
September 20, 2024

Same issues here, new Macbook... latest and greatest version of Acrobat and it's more glithcy and slow than any other versions i've used and has progressively gotten worse and worse over the past couple of years.  Similar to other users, i've tried all the recommended fixes and issue still persists. rediculous and unsustainable - issues like this is how competitors angle in with a better product and take the market share, i'm pulling for them as Adobe doesn't seem concerned at all about resolving this problem. 

Participant
June 14, 2024

I've got M1 Promax and it sucks on it too. I started using Macs in 2018 and Acrobat has been glitchy at best to down right unusable at any time since. Spending all the money on AI, forgot where you came from. 

Participant
June 4, 2024

Completely unuseable. What are we paying for here? There is no fix. The security steps do nothing.

 

CAN ANYONE HELP?

Participant
April 18, 2024

I also came here to upvote-and then Adobe forced me to login to that I could be a part of the conversation. Other than acrobat constantly crashing, that kinda pisses me off, too. Why do I have to log in to comment? Can't you just fix whatever ths issue is? 

Participant
March 8, 2024

I have a 2016 Mac Book Pro and I have the same issue. Acrobat is unusable for anything but small, simple documents. Documents that display perfectly well on a windows machine or on OSX preview are laggy and have constant display errors on Acrobat. Attempting to edit or comment on PDFs often results in freezing and crashes.

I've had numerous support calls with Adobe, and each time we go through the process of updating, purging, reinstalling and submitting error logs, and each time its the same. They can't fix the problem, it is a bug, and I'll have to wait for the next update. Then the next update comes and it's no different.

There is an intrinsic issue with Acrobat on Mac. Adobe need to admit it, make it clear to everyone, and stop wasting peoples time with arduous instructions through support.

I work with PDFs a lot. I currently have to remote into a separate windows work station. It's ridiculous. Please sort it out.

Participant
January 24, 2024

Adobe Acrobat has become EXTREMELY slow and glitchy for all documents. It is so frustrating to view any documents on this software - this is the case for our entire office who uses this software daily. Hopefully Bluebeam comes out with a Mac friendly version eventually! 

Participant
January 8, 2024

Adobe Acrobat Pro is becoming worse and worse it seems to me. I've been using it almost daily for serveral years and it's getting slower and slower. What am I paying 1'000 $ for every year if Adobe Creative Cloud doesn't work? Since December I've been unable to scroll or zoom, as it takes several minutes and it is simply impossible to work with it. Even with tiny plans of 1 MB it lags. Please find a solution, I need software that works efficiently. I work on Apple OS Monterey Version 12.6.2. Could that be part of the problem?

Participant
April 8, 2024

Just came here looking for this. Totally agree. Adobe acrobat pro is becoming unisable on my mac. It used to be so easy and simple to use. Now it is glitchy and slow.