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joe_6084
Participant
June 22, 2025
Question

"What's New" window causing Adobe to crash 100% of the time

  • June 22, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 203 views

I'm trying to use Adobe to edit a PDF (specifically to cut it in half so it'll fit in an email).  

 

Whenever I open Adobe, I get a message asking if I want to make it my default PDF viewer.  There's a toggle to remember my choice, but it doesn't do anything.  

 

Once I get rid of this window, I get a popup ad for the new features, "What's New".  I can't interact with this window in any way.  When I click the X, the window reappears again immediately.  When I try to scroll, or right-click in the What's New window, same thing.  About 20 seconds later, I get an error message reading "Acrobat has encountered a problem.  Some features may not work as expected."  

 

Does anyone have a good alternative program?  I just want to split this PDF in half, nothing fancy.  

    2 replies

    T
    Tariq Dar
    Legend
    July 4, 2025

     Hi @joe_6084,

     

    Sorry to hear about the crash you’re encountering, especially when it happens consistently with the “What’s New” window. That definitely shouldn’t be happening, and we’d like to investigate this further to help resolve it.

     

    We'll need some logs from your system to assist our engineering team in diagnosing the root cause (particularly if it’s related to AcroCEF.exe, which powers embedded browser components in Acrobat).

     

     

    Please follow the steps below to collect diagnostic information:

    Step 1: Run the Adobe Diagnostic Utility

    1. Download the utility from this link: https://adobe.ly/4nqkAbE
    2. Open the tool and click Start Diagnostics.
    3. Ensure Advanced Logging is enabled.
    4. Launch Acrobat and reproduce the crash or freeze (open the “What’s New” window).
    5. Once the issue occurs, return to the utility and click Stop Monitoring.
    6. Copy the Log ID shown and share it with us here.

     

    Step 2: Collect Crash Logs (if applicable)

    If Acrobat is crashing (and not just freezing), we also need crash logs:

    • Instructions: https://adobe.ly/44afCIz

    • Once collected, upload the logs to any cloud drive (e.g., OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox) and share the link with us.

     

    Once we have this information, we can escalate the issue appropriately and work toward a resolution. Thanks so much for your patience and cooperation — we’re here to help.

     

     

    Best regards,
    Tariq | Adobe Community Team  | Meet Acrobat Studio

    J
    joe_6084Author
    Participant
    June 22, 2025

    Some more information:

     

    After the error message pops up, Acrobat becomes completely unresponsive.  I can't even close it via the taskbar, I need to kill the process in the task manager.  Also, I believe (but can't prove) that the What's New popup is a process called "Adobe AcroCEF".  Seven identical copies of this process appear whenever I open the program, and I when I terminate them, I get the same instant-reload effect of the What's New ad in Adobe.  

    kglad
    Community Expert
    kgladCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 22, 2025

    in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

    p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post (like this one has already been moved) if it helps you get responses.



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