Skip to main content
billa23663364
Participating Frequently
July 28, 2026
Question

Acrobat only — Error 224 on launch (MacBook Air M4, Sequoia 15.7.7) — everything else in CC works fine

  • July 28, 2026
  • 31 replies
  • 292 views

Acrobat only — Error 224 on launch (MacBook Air M4, Sequoia 15.7.7) — everything else in CC works fine
System:
    •    MacBook Air, M4 chip, macOS Sequoia 15.7.7
    •    Active Creative Cloud subscription, account in good standing
    •    InDesign and Photoshop both open and run without any problem
    •    Acrobat — and only Acrobat — throws Error 224 immediately on launch
    •    I don't use Keychain
For comparison: I also have a late-2014 iMac on the same network, running macOS Big Sur 11.7.11, same Adobe account. On that machine, InDesign, Photoshop, and Acrobat all open fine — no error at all. So this appears to be specific to this MacBook Air / Sequoia combination, not my account or license.
What I've already tried (all unsuccessful):
    1    Fully uninstalled all Creative Cloud apps and the Creative Cloud desktop app itself, then reinstalled CC and Acrobat only — same Error 224 on first launch.
    2    Ran the official Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool, then reinstalled — same result.
    3    Manually located and deleted Acrobat's preference files (com.adobe.acrobat.pro.plist and related files in both ~/Library/Preferences and /Library/Preferences) before reinstalling — same result.
    4    Signed out/in of Creative Cloud, restarted the Mac fully, restarted just the Acrobat process — no change.
What I'm not looking for: a suggestion to create a brand-new macOS user account to "fix" this. I tried starting down that path and it just gives me a blank, unconfigured profile — that's avoiding the problem, not solving it. I'd like to find the actual cause on my existing account.
Question: Since InDesign and Photoshop both authenticate and launch fine under the same Adobe account on the same machine, and Acrobat itself works fine on another Mac with the same account, what is different about Acrobat's launch/activation process specifically that would cause it — and only it — to fail with Error 224 here? Has anyone traced this to a specific corrupted file, cache, or service unique to Acrobat (as opposed to the shared CC licensing framework)?
Any help tracing the actual root cause, rather than blanket reinstall/new-account suggestions, would be appreciated — I've already exhausted those.

    31 replies

    billa23663364
    Participating Frequently
    August 31, 2026

    The following file has been uploaded on Adobe LogCollector Portal:

    File: AdobeLogs_20260831_143551_320-mac-GS.zxp

    billa23663364
    Participating Frequently
    August 31, 2026

    Anand, i started trying this and it looks very risky. And it finally dumped me at a desktop with no access to anything, including my file of passwords. And this app, community.adobe.com/…  will not let me attach the .zxp file that was created. The other day both Rajesh and Mohit logged onto my computer and spent 45 minutes each trying, UNSUCCESSFULLY, to fix the problem. would you like to log on to my computer and try?

     

    billa23663364
    Participating Frequently
    August 31, 2026

    clicking on the get info displays this: with what do I Record a session? (Remember, I’ve deleted everything in Downloads folder associated with Acrobat/Adobe

    Anand Sri Bhattacharya
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    August 31, 2026

    Thanks for sharing the details.

    For testing purposes, can you please enable the root account, try downloading Acrobat, and then run the diagnostic tool? 

    Regards,

    Anand Sri.

    billa23663364
    Participating Frequently
    August 31, 2026

    please note that the acrobat diagnostics tool only works on a successfully installed Acrobat, I believe. I don’t have acrobat installed at the moment. 

    Anand Sri Bhattacharya
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    August 31, 2026

    @billa23663364 Trash/delete all the downloaded DMGs for Acrobat and the diagnostic tool, and empty the trash. Restart the machine and try downloading it from the direct link. 

    https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/desktop/get-started/access-the-app/install-acrobat-enterprise.html

     

    Then try running the diagnostic tool.

    Regards,

    Anand Sri.

    billa23663364
    Participating Frequently
    August 31, 2026

    I seen no ‘Extract’ 

    billa23663364
    Participating Frequently
    August 20, 2026

    It’s been 22 days since I reported this problem. I have a feeling it is not being worked on. And I don’t feel I should be paying Adobe for licensing their apps when one that I use, or try to use every day, does not work.

    Anand Sri Bhattacharya
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    August 20, 2026

    Hello ​@billa23663364 

     

    The product team is working on the root cause and on a fix. Once it is validated and ready for a public release, we will update you on this thread.

     

    Thanks for your cooperation and patience on this.

    Regards,

    Anand Sri.

    billa23663364
    Participating Frequently
    August 17, 2026

    This problem was reported 19 days ago. There seems to be no forward motion on solving it. Would you please escalate this issue. 

    Anand Sri Bhattacharya
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    August 17, 2026

    Hello @billa23663364


    I hope you are doing well, and thanks for reaching out. We're sorry for the trouble you had.


    The issue has been reported to the product team, and they are working on isolating the issue and developing the relevant fix. We'll update the thread as soon as we have any latest updates on it.

    Thanks for your time and cooperation on this.


    Regards,

    Anand Sri.

    billa23663364
    Participating Frequently
    August 10, 2026

    I have no keychain. Keychain Access is empty. See attachment. 

    Amal Jaiswal
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    August 10, 2026

    Hi ​@billa23663364 

    Thanks for shairng the update. We have passed it to our development team for further analysis. Will Keep you updated on the progress.

    Thanks for your cooperation so far.

    ~Amal

    billa23663364
    Participating Frequently
    August 3, 2026

    I have not heard from you in a while. This issue remains unresolved.

    Amal Jaiswal
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    August 3, 2026

    Hi there


    This issue is still under review. We haven't heard anything from the team yet. We will keep you posted as soon as we get more information from the team.


    Thanks for your understanding.

    ~Amal

    billa23663364
    Participating Frequently
    July 29, 2026

    Diagnostics executed; logs sent.

     

    Meenakshi0101
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    July 30, 2026

    Hi billa23663364,


    Thank you for the information and the screenshots.

    We will share them with the team for review. We will update you once we have more information.

    We appreciate your patience.


    Thanks,

    Meenakshi

    billa23663364
    Participating Frequently
    July 28, 2026

    I got a pong back from the activation server. Adobe’s limited access repair tool found nothing wrong. full disc access is On for Acrobat, Adobe Desktop Service, Adobe Update Helper and Creative Cloud. 

    Meenakshi0101
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    July 29, 2026

    Hi billa23663364,


    We’re sorry to hear that the previous suggestions didn't resolve your issue. Please try installing Adobe Acrobat using the link below instead of the Creative Cloud desktop application. Follow these steps to reinstall Acrobat:

    • Uninstall the application and run the cleaner tool from the following link: Acrobat Cleaner tool.

    • Reboot the machine. 

    • Install Adobe Acrobat from the following page: Install Acrobat.

    If the issue persists, please collect logs using the Adobe Acrobat Diagnostics tool. You can skip the initial steps that require launching Acrobat to make necessary settings changes.


    If you have any questions, feel free to ask.


    Thanks,

    Meenakshi