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Question

Acrobat keeps showing old version of file when overwritten

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Hi

I'm having a problem when I save a PDF from Illustrator to overwrite an existing PDF Acrobat displays the old version instead of the changes made?

Anyone had this problem?

General troubleshooting

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TFTS85

Participant

Does anyone have a decent workaround for this issue?
I have a client who opens a pdf from a sharepoint link in email, which opens the (new, correct) preview in edge, he then goes to open in app and it opens the (old, incorrect, cached{??!?}) version. Only work around is to download and open from a separate location, which is fine, except he then has to email the correct version to the owner of the sharepoint site as he is not a member. You can say 'make him a member' but these come from multiple people in multiple groups.

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TFTS85

Participant

Best work around we found was adding a v1.0/v2.0 to the file name to ensure that Adobe does not opened a cached version.

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San_sab

Participant

2025 and still having this problem 😞

If I save it with a different name, the file shows up as the latest version saved. Funny thing is if I rename the file back to the file name I was using before then the content goes back to the previous old version!
I had to move the file at another folder location with the old name as my task requires specific naming for the files.

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Maz_Anyday

Participant

I am having this same problem still, it happens on all PDF's - from illustrator and InDesign.

It also happens if i open the pdf directly from finder, but if i 'preview' in finder using spacebar or if i open the file in Apple's Preview app instead of Acrobat, I can see the correct up to date version.

Really frustrating this bug hasnt been resolved 4 years on!

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Souvik Sadhu

Legend

Hi @Maz_Anyday,

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for writing in!

We are already aware of the issue, and the team is working on the fix.

We request your kind understanding and patience while the team gets the fix live.

-Souvik

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Saini Law

Participant

Yep its doing it on mine too, 2 years after your original message. This is sooo annoying and could lead to clients getting incorrect paperwork. I spend the major part of my day now trying to type/save type/save on and on but wont print what is showing on the pdf.

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Test Screen Name

Legend

A bit late, but I wanted to add one thing. This isn't exactly the problem described, it's almost the exact opposite, but it's important to know about it.

1. Save a PDF from Illustrator, with Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities set.

2. Edit the PDF in Acrobat (or ANY OTHER APP except Illustrator). Save the edits (to a new file or the same file, it doesn't matter). Close it.

3. Open the edited PDF in Acrobat (or ANY OTHER APP except Illustrator). It shows the edits from step 2.

4. Open the edited PDF in Illustrator. It does NOT show the edits from step 2. It shows the original Illustrator file from step 1.

This is exactly what is supposed to happen and it is not a bug, but it can be very confusing. Sometimes people want to freely edit Illustrator PDF in Illustrator + something else, but this just does not work.

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Joel Geraci

Community Expert

It's not that that Acrobat is displaying the old version, the old version is not being overwritten because the file is in use (for some reason). This also happens from InDesign. Deleting the old file first seems to work... which shouldn't be possible... but it is.

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mevrouw vanmulken

Known Participant

Hello, I have the same problem as described above. Working with InDesign: exporting to PDF, acrobat overwrites the previous version but is opening and thus showing the older version. When I open the PDF directly from Finder it is showing the most recent version of the PDF. I suspect Acrobat is 'downloading' the old versie instead of the most recent one. I am working with paid version of Acrobat, updated to the latest version. I have been looking for clues in the Acrobat settings, but cannot find the solution. I don't know if it has anything to do with this problem but since I updated to the latest versiion of Acrobart, I get a pop up message everytime I open a PDF. Message saying: ' One moment please. The document is being prepared for reading'. I would be very thankful is anyone can help me since there is a big risk of sending old pdf's to customers.... thank you, Carolien

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jani kanervat40771276

Participant

I cannot save the corrected version of the pdf file over the old version.

My changes will not be saved. When I open a PDF file, the previous version of the save opens. The new version will only be saved if I name the document under by new name and therefore several versions are saved in the same file and this is quite annoying. Anyone know how to fix this?

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Amal.

Legend

Hi Komeetta

We are sorry for the trouble. As described, you are unable to save the corrected version of the pdf file over the old version.

Do you have Adobe Acrobat Reader (freeware) or Adobe Acrobat DC (Paid subscription) and what is the version? To check the version of the application please use the help article: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/identify-product-version.html
Make sure you have the latest version installed. Go to Help > Check for Updates. For more information please use the help article: https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/ReleaseNotesDC/index.html

What happens when you try to save the PDF file, are you getting any error message or code? Please share the screen recording of the issue you are experiencing for a better understanding.

We are here for help, Just need more information.

Thanks

Amal

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00rhodiad

Participating Frequently

It's an old, well-documented bug that Adobe doesn't seem concerned about. The file is saving correctly, it's not user error. Acrobat just stubbornly displays the old version of the file. (Preview correctly shows the new updated state of the file.)

Clearly, Acrobat is reading a cached version of the PDF. There are two work-arounds:

1. Use a different filename.

2. Quit/relaunch Acrobat.

No, this "shouldn't happen." Yes, it still does happen after 5+ years and dozens of Acrobat version updates (even just now in v. 20.12.20048.400142.)

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SJStacy

Participating Frequently

I'm also having this problem. But it's not just that it is displaying it as the old version, it's that it is not replacing the old version with the new version.

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