No option to prevent Adobe for auto-opening downloaded files

I had been pestered by the same auto-opening problem for a few months and finally asked Claude about it. For some obscure reason, someone at Adobe decided that we must all open all downloaded documents immediately, which is a major nuisance, as the document may need to be moved to another folder, combined with another document, renamed or simply kept for reference.

This is malware behaviour.

I do have an auto-opening option in my Preferences, but if I untick it, Adobe ticks it again. 

Claude provided an effective solution:
Open the Registry Editor (WinKey+R, type “Regedit” and click Enter).

Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\AutoDocOpen

Nuke all the auto-open values by setting them to 0. This stops Adobe’s disruptive behaviour.

My computer does not belong to Adobe, which has no place trying to take control of it and decide for me what to do when.

​@ned_5513 - You wouldn’t happen to have the “new” adobe disabled, do you?  I discovered that the Preferences screen shows different options when using the “old” interface.  When I re-enabled the “new” interface, I got the option to disable those “always open” settings.

I’m having the same issue.  I also noticed that if I go to my Preferences tab, I get different options each time.  Sometimes I get the option to disable all of those settings, sometime I get some options but not others, and sometimes I don’t get any options to disable those settings.  Adobe version remains the same each time. 2026.001.21563 (64-Bit)

Hi ​@ned_5513 ,

Thanks for reaching out, and sorry for the troubled experience.

Please ensure your copy of Acrobat is up to date. To check for pending updates, launch Acrobat, then select Help > Check For Updates.
And then check for preference again. If you are still unable to find the preferences, help us with the following:

• Acrobat version.

• Operating system name and version.

• New screenshot of the preferences.

Will be waiting for your response.

~Tariq