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Radiant_care9847
Participant
April 30, 2025
Question

PDF just disappeared after Acrobat crashed

  • April 30, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 1103 views

I'm using Windows 11, Acrobat version 2025.001.20474.

I'm working on a comment, Acrobat freezes, crashes, then I reopen and the PDF is just gone.

Where in the world did my PDF go?!

No trace, nothing in the AppData folder.

It was saved in the Documents folder, not a shared folder or network drive, etc. 

This is very concerning, how am I supposed to work on documents and not know if they will just disappear?!?!?!??!

2 replies

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Nikki26923351ukqc
Participant
September 12, 2025

This happened to me also. I was working on a comment within a PDF and used "@" to assign a task. The document crashed and disappeared from my laptop. Nothing was found in temp or recent files, recycle bin or autosave. It just went poof into the air. Are we not to use "@" in Adobe files because that is the "crash" key? 

AnandSri
AnandSri
Legend
September 15, 2025

Hello @Nikki26923351ukqc

 

I hope you are doing well, and thank you for reaching out. 

 

Could you please share more details about the issue? Is it happening with one specific PDF or with all the PDFs where you are adding '@' in comments? Are you on a Mac or Windows machine, and what is the version?

Please ensure you have the latest version of Acrobat installed on the machine: Win: 25.001.20693 Planned update, Sept 09, 2025. Check for any pending updates from the Menu > help > check for updates, install the updates, restart the app and the machine, and try again.

 

In Acrobat, confirm that autosave is enabled: Menu > Preferences > Documents > “Save As optimizes for Fast Web View” should be unchecked, and “Automatically save document changes to temporary file every X minutes” should be enabled.

 

Is it happening to files saved on network drives or local files? Save the files locally and then try adding the '@' in the comments. 

 

If the issue repeats even after updating and saving locally, please provide your Acrobat version and OS details, a sample PDF file through which you are able to reproduce the issue, and a quick screen recording, so that we can investigate further.

 

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

T
Tariq Dar
Legend
April 30, 2025

Hi @Radiant_care9847,

 

 

We are really sorry to hear about your experience. Having a file disappear after a crash is understandably concerning, especially if it involved important work. Let’s try a few steps to investigate what might have happened and see if recovery is possible.

 

1. Check for Auto-Saved or Temporary Files

Acrobat may store a temporary version of the file in certain directories. Please try the following:

  • Navigate to:

    C:\Users\[Your Username]\AppData\Local\Temp\

    or

    C:\Users\[Your Username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Acrobat\DC\AutoSave\

  • Sort the files by “Date Modified” and check for any recently created or modified files that may be associated with your missing PDF.

 

2. Check Recent Files in Acrobat

Open Acrobat and go to Home > Recent to see if the file still appears there. Sometimes, Acrobat retains the metadata of recent files even after a crash.

 

3. Collect Crash and Diagnostic Logs

To help our engineering team investigate the crash and the disappearance of the file, could you please:

  • Share the crash logs from your system. You can find these by: https://adobe.ly/44QRvzl;

     

    • Go to Help > Adobe Acrobat Diagnostics, and ensure to check advanced logging.

    • Run the report and save the output to share here, or share the Log ID

      Also, collect diagnostic logs from Acrobat:

       

 

A few quick questions to better understand the situation:

  • Was the file being edited or saved at the time of the crash?

  • Was it opened from a local drive, network location, or cloud service like Adobe Cloud, OneDrive, or Google Drive?

  • Have there been any prior issues with Acrobat crashing or freezing?

 

We truly want to help you recover the file if possible and also ensure this doesn’t happen again. Let us know what you find, and feel free to reach out with any additional details.

 

 


~Tariq

R
Radiant_care9847Author
Participant
April 30, 2025

It is not in those temporary file directories.

The crash log URL you linked is 404 not found.

I don't see the Help > Adobe Acrobat Diagnostics in my version of Acrobat.

Your questions:

  • Was the file being edited or saved at the time of the crash?

    • No

  • Was it opened from a local drive, network location, or cloud service like Adobe Cloud, OneDrive, or Google Drive?

    • As I wrote in the original question, it was in the local Documents folder.

  • Have there been any prior issues with Acrobat crashing or freezing?

    • Time to time, but not frequently.
AnandSri
AnandSri
Legend
June 11, 2025

Hello @Radiant_care9847!

 

I hope you are doing well, and we are sorry for the delayed response and trouble.

 

Please install the latest build of Acrobat 25.001.20531 (Win), planned update June 10, 2025. Check for any pending updates from the Menu > help > check for updates, install the updates, restart the app and the machine, and try again.

 

If the issue still continues with the latest version, please collect the logs and share them with us for further investigation. Download and run the Log Collector tool. Make sure to select all log options and attempt to reproduce the issue. After that, close the Log Collector tool; it will generate the logs along with a log ID. Please share this log ID with us.

 

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

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