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RickAstley
Participant
Oct 17, 2015 1:17 PM UTC
Answered

How much disk space does your Acrobat installation take?

I noticed this morning that my installation of Acrobat DC currently uses 3.03GB of disk space on my Surface Pro 3 with Windows 10 Pro. I think this is excessive - it is nearly 4 times as large as the entire Microsoft Office Suite (850MB). Is this a typical installation size for most people?

Unrelated: Surely I can't be the only one who noticed that the "Complete FAQ" link is dead (the green button) on the start page for this sub-forum. Come on Adobe, where's the QA/QC?

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    Test Screen NameCorrect answer
    Legend
    Mar 23, 2016 2:15 PM UTC

    Thanks for the quick replies.

    The 'inaccurate' reported sizes may be correct as I was looking in the add/remove programs section.

    The total files are a bit over the place, being in program, common and user data, so a bit harder to just sum up.

    I un-installed and re-installed, which is reporting back as 2.37 GB.


    By far the biggest consumer is the Windows Installer database, which keeps a complete copy of the installer so you can repair. A single version sounds about right at that figure, but each update will add a lot more. If you get a lot of updates, an uninstall then reinstall, and the one latest update, will reduce space.

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    16 replies

    Test Screen Name
    Legend
    Jan 29, 2018 11:47 AM UTC

    Yes and on Mac there is no installer database.

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    JR Boulay
    Community Expert
    JR BoulayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    Jan 29, 2018 11:46 AM UTC

    Acrobat Pro DC on MacOS 10.11, aka El Capitan : 1,2 Gb

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    Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
    Test Screen Name
    Legend
    Jan 29, 2018 9:10 AM UTC

    The size is not accurate, but it's important to realise that installing software uses space in a lot more places than the "Adobe folder". A key place is the Windows Installer Database on C.

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    nickf511205
    Participant
    Jan 10, 2018 4:13 PM UTC

    Hi, over 16gb here after installing updates.  Is there a way to reduce the file size without uninstalling and reinstalling?  I don't need all of the backups on backups for the original install and updates.  I'd rather have a clean hard drive.

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    laurensl47680794
    laurensl47680794
    Participant
    Jan 29, 2018 8:28 AM UTC

    The Windows uninstaller on my PC claims Acrobat DC takes up 15.9GB but the entire Adobe folder is less than 3 GB large. Maybe Windows simply makes a mistake by reporting a bloated installation. Did you check actual disk space usage?

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    humanoid57281032
    humanoid57281032
    Participant
    Aug 1, 2017 4:14 PM UTC

    My Acrobat DC is 15.2 GB (via the Windows Program list). It's one third larger then even my most bloated program. johnr65973011​ Did you unintall from Creative Cloud or via the Windows control panel? Thanks.

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    jrunions
    Participant
    Aug 1, 2017 4:31 PM UTC

    Hi Seth,

    I think I did both uninstall and reinstall using the Creative Cloud control panel. Certainly the reinstall was via CC.

    Good luck.

    PS - I just realised that this thread was started by Rick Astley. There's a real danger of getting rickrolled in this situation!

    Rickrolling - Wikipedia

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      Test Screen Name
      Legend
      Jun 27, 2017 4:10 PM UTC

      Yup, because each update is stored at least twice.

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      jrunions
      Participant
      Jun 27, 2017 3:52 PM UTC

      Yep, my Adobe Acrobat DC via Creative Cloud was sized at a whopping 13.8Gb this morning when looked at using the Windows 7 Uninstaller. Whaaat...

      I uninstalled and reinstalled and now it's down to 2.44 Gb. Still huge but more reasonable. The program seems to grow with every update.

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      AadeshSingh
      AadeshSingh
      Participating Frequently
      Oct 17, 2015 3:00 PM UTC

      Hi slavrenz,

      Acrobat DC is a bulky application with so many features, that's the reason it consumes so much space after installation.

      Mine has occupied 3.72GB.

      Acrobat DC FAQ link is active, please check FAQ | Adobe Acrobat DC

      Regards,
      Aadesh

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      b_d_graphics
      Participant
      Mar 22, 2016 11:21 PM UTC

      I couldn't see any help in the FAQ section to reduce the install size.

      My Adobe Acrobat DC install is now being reported as 7.4 GB on Windows 7 64 bit, quite an extreme size considering.

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        Dov Isaacs
        Dov Isaacs
        Legend
        Mar 23, 2016 5:53 AM UTC

        Something sounds very wrong if you have that much space being used. The installer not only installs the executables, but also a copy of the installer itself is maintained in the directory. If your Program Files (x86)=>Adobe=>Acrobat DC directory is 7.4GB, maybe you also have a copy of Reader installed as well? If so, dump Reader since Reader is simply a subset of Acrobat. That would reduce your disk space requirements.

                      - Dov

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        - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
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