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shirleym49699223
Participant
January 31, 2018
Answered

PDF file hangs when opening.

  • January 31, 2018
  • 5 replies
  • 58091 views

I've seen this problem in an older post, but mine is a bit different.  When opening a .pdf file in Adobe Reader, it hangs for about 2-5 minutes before letting me do anything like enlarging or going to another page. I'm using Microsoft Edge in Windows 10 on a laptop if that's important to know.  I've checked to make sure I have the updated version & it's up to date.

What's causing this? I've tried another PDF reader & it doesn't hang. 

Thanks for any help with this.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer AnandSri

Hello shirleym49699223

We apologize for the inconvenience caused, as per the description above, Adobe Reader DC hangs when you open a PDF file, Is that correct?

Please check for any pending updates of Adobe Reader from Help>Check for updates and reboot the machine after the installation of updates.

You can also repair the installation files of Adobe Reader from Help>Repair installation. Reboot the machine after the repair.

Try resetting the preferences of Adobe Reader, refer to How to reset Acrobat Preference settings to default.

Reboot the machine and see if this brings any difference.

You may also refer to Troubleshoot Windows system errors, freezes | Adobe software

If the issue still persists, please share the following details:

Let us know how it goes and your findings.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

5 replies

childrensclinic
childrensclinic
Participant
December 22, 2023

It is December 2023. This is an old thread but the problem persists.

 

Based on solutions I saw elsewhere, this seems to be the best: In Acrobat, go to Profile and Settings > Preferences > Documents > Open Settings > Documents in recently used list. The default value is 100. Change the value to 5, or whatver number suits your situation. I haven't had the 10-20 second hang after first opening since this change.

 

Prior to this change, I noticed that although the first PDF I opened caused the hang, it did not hang on opening subsequent files, as long as any other PDF was already open. So, the first thing I did each day was to open a random PDF and keep it open all day. The hang was avoided after that.

    A
    alan_curtis
    Participant
    March 24, 2024

    Spot on! Thanks, it may be a very old problem but it still seems to apply.  I suspect it has to do with the very slow response when Acrobat Reader is looking across my network to locate old files.  It's another topic, but I find having a home network with different flavours of Windows on it seems to result in very very flaky connection.

    FYI in mine the number of documents in the recently used list was already set to; but I have reduced it to one, which seems to have sorted it out.

    B
    benrich
    Participant
    August 5, 2023

    As Adobe is unfortunately not able to fix this issue after 5(!) years and now the use of Acrobat seems impossible (the entire application keeps hanging for several seconds), I have canceled my subscription.

    E
    elkhan_alishanov
    Participant
    January 31, 2019

    Hi,

    I have the same issue, and it comes from the list of recently opened documents.

    I use a laptop at work, and if the network that I open the documents from is not available, then Adobe Reader hangs for few minutes and then works normally. If you clear the list, Adobe Reader opens up right away.

    It seems like Adobe Reader is searching for location of the recently opened files, and it takes a long time for it to give up.

    I have Acrobat Pro at the same laptop, and it doesn't have this issue.

    Hope, that helps.

      32810659
      32810659
      Participant
      January 31, 2019

      @elkhan.alishanov Thank you!  The default was set to 100!  I set it to 5 and problem solved. 

      32810659
      32810659
      Participant
      January 30, 2019

      I have tried reinstalling ADOBe and that solves the problem for a little while and then it happens again.  This is a very frustrating problem

        AnandSri
        AnandSriCorrect answer
        Legend
        January 31, 2018

        Hello shirleym49699223

        We apologize for the inconvenience caused, as per the description above, Adobe Reader DC hangs when you open a PDF file, Is that correct?

        Please check for any pending updates of Adobe Reader from Help>Check for updates and reboot the machine after the installation of updates.

        You can also repair the installation files of Adobe Reader from Help>Repair installation. Reboot the machine after the repair.

        Try resetting the preferences of Adobe Reader, refer to How to reset Acrobat Preference settings to default.

        Reboot the machine and see if this brings any difference.

        You may also refer to Troubleshoot Windows system errors, freezes | Adobe software

        If the issue still persists, please share the following details:

        Let us know how it goes and your findings.

        Regards,

        Anand Sri.

          H
          Heile305447142ucn
          Participant
          June 16, 2023

          Who set this as "correct answer", when this clearly does not help and solve the problem??

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