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J
James_Rowley
Participant
June 20, 2022
Answered

Cannot Install/Use Preflight Tool

  • June 20, 2022
  • 16 replies
  • 33483 views

Clicking the "Preflight" button in Print Production mode just produces a message saying:

"Preflight is getting installed. Please wait to use this tool."

The first time I did this a little icon showed up next to feedback, help etc. indicating that something was happening. Eventually this said there was an error and Acrobat installation would be retried.

Now, no such thing shows up. Seemingly nothing happens at all other than showing that message. It's been 30 minutes so I really doubt it's a matter of impatience.

I have tried repairing Acrobat installation, and uninstalling/reinstalling through the Creative Cloud app to no avail. Any ideas on how to install/launch the Preflight tool?

    Correct answer PVM Reklame

    Step-by-Step Instructions:

    1. pen Windows Settings:

      • Press Windows Key + I to open Settings.

      • Go to Apps → Installed Apps (or Apps & Features, depending on Windows version).

    2. Find Adobe Acrobat:

      • Scroll down or search for "Adobe Acrobat" (look for Adobe Acrobat Pro, not just Reader).

    3. Click the three dots (…) or the app name → Select "Modify":

      • If you only see "Uninstall," click that and it might then give you an option to "Modify" (don’t worry, it won’t uninstall right away).

    4. Adobe Installer Opens:

      • You'll see the Acrobat Installer popup.

    5. Look for "Optional Features":

      • There will be a section or button like "Optional Features".

      • Find Preflight (it might be shown with a red cross ❌, which means it's disabled).

    6. Enable Preflight:

      • Click the red cross or checkbox to enable/install it.

    7. Continue Installation:

      • Proceed through the installer to finish enabling the feature.

    16 replies

    N
    notre studio.39121598
    Participant
    September 4, 2025

    Same problem... 

    J
    Jroberts
    Participating Frequently
    September 1, 2025

    Same problem.  "Manual install required".  Nothing I found online resolved the issue.  Tried installing, running Creative Cloud, reinstalling.  Revo uninstall.  Everything I found. I've had countless other problems before with other issues; none have been really resolved. I bought Foxit as a go-around for most of them, even though I have an Adobe subscription.  But  I need preflight for heavy editing, since Foxit won't do.  ILet's see if this one gets resolved.  Not optimistic though.   I suspect they took that feature away from my all-aps subscription as yet another greed play.   As if $840/month isn't enough from me.

    Not surprised  Adobe stock is down 20% YTD when the market is up 10%.  That's what happens when you treat your customers as a nuisance.

    J
    Jroberts
    Participating Frequently
    September 1, 2025

    Interesting, the last suggestion of modifying (as opposed to uninstalling), worked!  However, I had to do it twice.  The first time, nothing seemed to happen.  I got so pissed off that I posted a bit too early.  I tried it a second time, then something happened.  I rebooted, and now I have preflight!  Can't convert colors to output intent, but that's a fight for another day 🙂

    PVM Reklame
    PVM ReklameCorrect answer
    Participant
    August 27, 2025

    Step-by-Step Instructions:

    1. pen Windows Settings:

      • Press Windows Key + I to open Settings.

      • Go to Apps → Installed Apps (or Apps & Features, depending on Windows version).

    2. Find Adobe Acrobat:

      • Scroll down or search for "Adobe Acrobat" (look for Adobe Acrobat Pro, not just Reader).

    3. Click the three dots (…) or the app name → Select "Modify":

      • If you only see "Uninstall," click that and it might then give you an option to "Modify" (don’t worry, it won’t uninstall right away).

    4. Adobe Installer Opens:

      • You'll see the Acrobat Installer popup.

    5. Look for "Optional Features":

      • There will be a section or button like "Optional Features".

      • Find Preflight (it might be shown with a red cross ❌, which means it's disabled).

    6. Enable Preflight:

      • Click the red cross or checkbox to enable/install it.

    7. Continue Installation:

      • Proceed through the installer to finish enabling the feature.

      T
      tedk36962915
      Participant
      August 27, 2025

      This worked!!

        M
        Marcus366154773rtx
        Participant
        August 15, 2025

        Ok, I found a solution that worked for me. 


        1. Uninstall Adobe

        2. Uninstall Adobe Cloud

        3. Download and Run the Acrobat Cleaner Tool (Link)

        4. Reboot your PC

        5. Download the Acrobat Pro installer (Link) 

        6. Extract the folder

        7. Inside the Adobe Acrobat folder, execute "setup.exe"

        8. ATTENTION: On the first window, please click on "Customise".

        9. Now click on "Optional Features" and select "This feature, and all subfeatures, will be installed on local hard drive."

        Under "Optional Features", we have the "Preflight" option. So, Adobe will install the Preflight without a network installation. 

         

        10. After it, you can click on "Install". 

         

        This process worked for me on different PCs (Win10 and Win11 - both 64-bit). 

         

        Good luck to everyone! 

        Marcus Barros. 

          J
          janh17075035
          Participant
          August 19, 2025

          That worked for me, thx a lot...

          D
          default8a85v0t78g7n
          Participant
          July 18, 2025

          Amazing that Adobe is hellbent on wasting all their money on adding AI features that have literally no use due to how bad they are, but can't fix a bug that prevents us from using the most useful part of Acrobat.

            P
            PDFuser_hmm
            Participant
            January 16, 2024

            Same problem. Was able to use the preflight tool by switching back to the old UI. 

              solution4
              solution4
              Inspiring
              October 17, 2023

              Same problem - is this the service of Adobe for the future? We paying your jobs, you not answering and not doing anything anymore, just waiting until those annoying customers are gone or run out of patience? We have to work with your tools, it's not that we entertain ourselves with your software.

              It's getting unbelievable at this point.

                P
                paulb66556498
                Participating Frequently
                October 17, 2023

                I had an Adobe live chat session to fix my issue. They/I had no idea why pre-flight wouldn't launch in Acrobat 64bit for Windows so they suggested I uninstalled and reinstalled the 32bit version instead. They did all the work via screen share and this fixed the issue although I guess it was more of a workaround. Anyway, no problems with pre-flight since the downgrade to 32bit. Hope this helps.

                  solution4
                  solution4
                  Inspiring
                  October 17, 2023

                  Hi Paul,

                  thanks, gonna try that.
                  Cheers!

                  S
                  Sorontar
                  Inspiring
                  January 26, 2023

                  Latest versions of Adobe software are early access beta versions that should not be available to public. My preflight is broken now. Also Acrobat is only sofware that has no other versions available. 

                  Solution: https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/acrobat-downloads.html

                  Install Acrobat 2020 Pro and everything works.
                  And turn off automatic updates of all Adobe software.

                    N
                    Nichalogica
                    Participant
                    December 24, 2022

                    Same here, I need convert to outline all character. But didn't work without prefilght features.

                      M
                      Mcnally5E8E
                      Participant
                      November 29, 2022

                      The solution (for me):

                      Click "Optimize PDF > Pre-Flight"

                      You'll see the "Preflight is installing" message

                      Click "Print Production" 

                      You'll see a message "you need to restart this app to use the newly installed features" (paraphrased)

                      F
                      feliper9252641
                      Participant
                      December 2, 2022

                      It didn't work that solution.

                        M
                        Mark25045282vuw1
                        Participating Frequently
                        December 19, 2022

                        Not sure if this helps, but found the panel had minimised, to a thin strip at the edge of the screen. So, it was working, but hidden from view. Managed to click on it and it appeared. 

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