Adobe freezes while scrolling in a newly opened PDF

I have the scrolling issue on one computer with Adobe Acrobat Reader v 2026.001.21789 64bit and I was able to narrow it down to the PDDom.api plugin as I didn’t have the issue with Adobe starting in safe mode. I found that if you go to Preferences/Accessibility and you disable “Enable assistive technology support” the hanging at the beginning while scrolling no longer happens. It is not specific to the size of the PDF.

Great, no I mean another machine running Acrobat 2023 (same version as this machine) but I had not any trouble from the beginning. It is still running properly

I will get in contact as soon as I return home. Now I will be off for about 10 days

Hi @Tonicuea,

Thank you for reaching out, and we're sorry for the trouble. We understand how disruptive it is when Acrobat becomes unresponsive the moment you start scrolling through a document, especially when the same file works fine on another machine.

From what you've described, when you open a larger PDF (around 30MB) in Acrobat Pro on Windows 11, the application freezes on your first attempt to scroll and then recovers after a short delay. To help narrow this down, we'd like to suggest a couple of steps.

1. Try adjusting the Screen Reader setting. Acrobat includes a Content Preparation Progress step that runs when a PDF is opened to prepare the document for screen reader accessibility. Changing this setting is worth trying:

1. Select the hamburger menu (top-left in Windows) and choose Preferences.

2. In the Categories list, select Reading.

3. Under Screen Reader Options, select Only read the currently visible pages.

4. Click OK and restart Acrobat.

Reference: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/message-content-preparation-progress-opening.html

2. Update Acrobat to the latest version. The version you mentioned, Acrobat Pro 2023.001.20064, is significantly behind the current release. On the Continuous track, the latest available update is 26.001.21789 (August 11, 2026). Before further troubleshooting, we'd recommend updating and retesting:

• Open Acrobat, then go to Menu > Help > Check for updates and install any available updates.

Reference: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/release-note/release-notes-acrobat-reader.html

You also mentioned "Acrobat 2005," showing the same issue on another install. If this was a typo for Acrobat 2015, 2017, or 2020, please note that all three perpetual versions have reached End of Support (Acrobat 2020 reached End of Support on November 30, 2025), which means they no longer receive updates, security patches, or technical support. If any of these are in use, we'd recommend transitioning to a currently supported Acrobat product. More details: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/faq-acrobat-2020.html

If the issue persists after updating and adjusting the setting above, please share:

• The exact Acrobat version after updating (Menu > Help > About Adobe Acrobat).

• Whether the freeze applies to all PDFs of that size or only specific ones.

Regarding your second question on disabling access to the web account, please clarify what you'd like to achieve. For example:

1. Do you think you're looking to prevent Acrobat from signing you in to your Adobe account when the application launches?

2. Or are you looking to turn off Adobe's online services (cloud storage, document services) within Acrobat itself?

Once we know which of these you're after, we'll be able to point you to the right steps.

Please let us know how it goes. We're happy to assist further.

Thanks,
^BS

Well. Any help ?

No, it doesn’t. I understood it occures when a big pdf (<30MB) opens.

After little time, first time you mpove into it to scrool it stops and adobe generally freeze: no incrementing  resources used from resources monitor … it seems it is linked to login part of the sotware

Well, Acrobat Pro 2023.001.2006464bit on W11

Same issue with Acrobat 2005. Same sw fork properly in another machine. It seems chllear there is something bad when opening and scrolling a newly opened PDF

Does it stay frozen? Or is it just an interruption before you can work with the file?

Long ago, it used to take forever for Acrobat to open. Then, Acrobat started to open quickly, but stall any further effort until the program was fully ready. I laughingly figured the developers were paid handsomely to do something — anything — to speed up Acrobat’s startup on users’ systems. I asserted this subterfuge was their half-hearted, insincere effort to claim that performance bonus, then called for Adobe to claw that bonus back for this bonus effort.

So I guess my answer to you is that 1) If Acrobat stays frozen, please let us know you’re having that issue and we can try to help if you provide us more information like:

• What version of Acrobat you’re using, and what flavor/type (Acrobat Standard? Pro? Studio? Adobe Reader?) are you using?
• On what system — Mac, Windows PC, mobile device(s), online? And what version of operating system(s) is/are those device(s) using?

But if 2) you are questioning the repeated, interminable lag between Acrobat opening your file and when you can actually work on it, I’d rather cheekily suggest that what you’re dealing with isn’t a bug but a feature.

Randy