Protected mode won't let us extract pages or save files to a network drive.

Question

I understand that Adobe is not in favor of working on file servers, but not everyone is working in a cloud-based workflow. We are running Acrobat Pro 2026 and macOS Tahoe. Since upgrading we can no longer save Acrobat files to our server and extract pages won’t work either. We have one computer running the same versions of Acrobat and the OS where protected mode is turned off and it works fine. Our other computers have protected mode on and we are unable to turn it off. We can select to turn it off and quit Acrobat, but when we restart Acrobat it comes up with a message that Acrobat quit unexpectedly  and protected mode is turned back on. While we can save the files to the desktop and copy them to the server, this is an inefficient way for our team to work. Any thoughts on how to get Acrobat out of protected mode? Thanks!

Amal Jaiswal · Answer

​Hi @Beth23082061er6k,Hope you are doing well, and thanks for reaching out. We are sorry for the trouble you are experiencing.A few things that'll help us narrow this down:What's the exact Acrobat Pro build on the affected machines (Acrobat > About Acrobat Pro)? Is it the same build as the one working computer, or did the working one just not get the same update?Have you run Help > Check for Updates on the affected machines yet, in case there's a newer build than what's installed?Is the crash-on-relaunch happening only when you try to disable Protected Mode, or at other times too?In the meantime, a couple of things worth trying:Make sure all affected machines are fully updated, Help > Check for Updates, then restart. This is the single most common fix for Protected Mode regressions after an OS or app update.Rather than turning Protected Mode off entirely, you can add your server path as a trusted location instead, which is meant for exactly this kind of workflow: Specify privileged locations in Acrobat (on Mac: Acrobat > Preferences > Security (Enhanced) > Privileged Locations > Add Folder Path). Note this affects Protected View more directly than Protected Mode itself, so it may help with opening/trusting files from the share even if it doesn't fully resolve the save/extract-pages restriction.For general background on what Protected Mode restricts and known conflicts, Adobe's official troubleshooting page is here: Protected Mode troubleshooting.You may also go through the correct answer marked in a similar discussion hereWhen the sandbox (Protected Mode Disabled) preference is enabled... Grant Access alert on Mac. and see if that helps.Additionally, please check the steps shared in the help pagehttps://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/error-acrobat-pro-dc-quit-unexpectedly-when-trying-to-open-acrobat-on-mac.htmlLet us know how it goes.~Amal

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