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TechByter
Inspiring
June 30, 2022
Answered

Acrobat DC extremely slow and often "not responding" for 30 seconds

  • June 30, 2022
  • 17 replies
  • 97392 views

For approximately the past two months, Acrobat DC reports "not responding" for about 20 to 30 seconds when I open it. This happens again when I open any PDF document (even one with just a single page). It happens again when I select any of the tools (Edit, Combine, Organize, etc). It also happens when I try to drag or rezize the application window.

 

Machine Resources:
Processor 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-11950H @ 2.60GHz 2.61 GHz
Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.7 GB usable)
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 21H2
OS build 22000.739
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22000.739.0

 

The post acrobat-dc-extreme-slow-on-windows-10/m-p/12118085 points to how-to-reset-acrobat-preference-settings-to-default/td-p/4792082 with instructions to clear %appdata%\Adobe\Acrobat\[version], so I presume this would be C:\Users\willi\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Acrobat\DC\ on my computer.

 

I renamed the directory and restarted Acrobat. Performance improved slightly. The "not responding" periods are now about 15 seconds. Still unacceptable.

 

The next step is then described here: cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html. 

  1. I ran the log collector tool. AdobeLogs_20220630_111841_237-win-GS.zxp in in a LogCollector directory on the Desktop.
  2. No files are pending upload.
  3. "Close Adobe Desktop Service and Core Sync in Task manager (Windows) or Activity Monitor (macOS)."
    Neither of these is listed on the Task Manager's Processes tab, nor are they on the Services tab. I cannot proceed with this step.

Being unable to perform step #3, I have not continued.

 

Is anybody else seeing this problem? Has anyone managed to resolve it? Thanks!

    Correct answer mshubert

    ANSWER UPDATE

     

    In my previous answer (from 2022), I said to uncheck "enable protected mode at startup." It appears this is not necessary—okay to leave that enabled. Rather, it appears that PROTECTED VIEW is the culprit. Set PROTECTED VIEW to Off. 

     

    Here is more information about that setting from Adobe: https://helpx.adobe.com/reader/using/protected-mode-windows.html

    17 replies

    Show previous replies
    boprcsoftware
    boprcsoftware
    Participating Frequently
    January 24, 2023

    Thanks for the suggestion, however Protected Mode was already disabled, so enabled this, restarted Acrobat and then disabled again, this seems to have fixed the slow startup issue. 

      M
      mshubert
      Participant
      October 21, 2022

      Whoever said "this is apparently a problem nobody else sees" is absolutely bonkers. When trying to find a fix, it is obvious this issue is EXTREMELY common!!! 

       

      Anyway, I tried all the solutions I could find (cleaner tool, repair, uninstall/reinstall, etc) and NOTHING worked. Every single PDF I opened took forever to open.

       

      I did finally find a solution that worked! Go to "Security (Enhanced)" in Preferences and uncheck the "Enable Protected Mode at startup" and set "Protected View" to "Off." 

        S
        SandiW
        Participant
        October 25, 2022

        I tried your solution and that fixed the problem! Such an easy fix but I would not have thought to go there. Thanks!

        S
        SandiW
        Participant
        October 21, 2022

        I am having the exact same issue - Acrobat DC very slow to respond when opening or closing. My IT department trouble-shooted by repairing and reinstalling the program. No change. I use this app all day long and it's really frustrating - I don't have any response issues with other programs, and up until a few weeks ago had zero issues with Acrobat DC. 

          G
          Gunnar25892958ne8k
          Participant
          August 31, 2022

          I'm having the same problem, just started a new job that has me working on PDF's all day, every day so you can imagine the amount of frustration I have. Got a brand new Thinkpad with i5 processor, 16 gb ram and Win 11 Pro. 

           

          So Adobe, How about bringing some suggestions !

           

            M
            Marco Emilio25895050u9q8
            Participant
            August 31, 2022

            Stesso problema

             

            A
            andrewb86002697
            Participant
            August 18, 2022

            I am having the same problem. Nothing seems to work. Does anyone know of a good substitute for Adobe Acrobat Pro DC?

             

              M
              mshubert
              Participant
              July 18, 2022

              Yes, I am seeing this problem And have been for a long time now. Drives me insane!

               

              Having to work with many PDFS this week, so went looking for any possible solutions that may have been posted since last I looked. It's NOT the preferences files. Uninstalled, rebooted, found and used the Adobe removal tool (just in case), rebooted again, reinstalled through the Creative Cloud app and got the same "progress is slower than usual" message mentioned below. 

               

              Opened the app and voila! Same old "unresponsive" and spinning wheel each and every time I open the app and each and every time I open any PDF doc. This includes those I create myself, created by others, and even downloaded bank statement PDFs. Doesn't matter.

               

              It's not the docs, it's the app!!!!! And the problem has been going on for YEARS!

              (You can probably detect a note of frustration in my typing. Aaaaarrrrrggghhhh to Adobe!)

                T
                TechByterAuthor
                Inspiring
                June 30, 2022

                AN UPDATE

                 

                Given the total lack of response, this is apparently a problem that nobody else sees, so I have uninstalled Acrobat DC using the standard procedure outlined here: uninstall-reinstall-acrobat.html.

                 

                I then restarted the computer and reinstalled Acrobat DC from the Creative Cloud Desktop app. During the installation, "Progress is slower than usual. Working on resolving issue ..." appeared. Task Manager reported the setup process was using an excessive amount of system resources.

                 

                Acrobat DC opens much faster. It still reports "not responding" in situations where I never saw this previously, but performance is now acceptable. Performance isn't what it should be on a computer with an i9 processor and 32GB of RAM, but at least it's now functional.

                  Dave__M
                  Community Expert
                  Dave__MCommunity Expert
                  Community Expert
                  June 30, 2022

                  Is Acrobat the only app that shows as not responding?  Every now and again, I find that Chrome is drinking up all sorts of resources for some reason, and it affects how other applications behave.  Can you open up your task manager/processes to see what is grabbing your resources?  

                  Dave

                  T
                  TechByterAuthor
                  Inspiring
                  June 30, 2022

                  Thanks, Dave. Only Acrobat was affected. Not Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, Dreamweaver, InDesign, Audition, Word, Excel, or Thunderbird. I use the Vivaldi browser, which is based on Chrome, but doesn't seem to have the memory hogging characteristics of Chrome. Most of the time CPU is under 25%.

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