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pifath67
pifath67
Participating Frequently
March 12, 2025
Question

Why so bad?

  • March 12, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 902 views

Does anyone know why Acrobat is such an incredibly bad program?
Is it because it's so sloppily programmed, or simply because it's completely overloaded with questionable "features" that nobody needs and that don't work properly?
It's slow, crashes during standard tasks, and is incredibly cumbersome to use.
I've rarely seen such junk...

2 replies

C
creative_creation5EC5
Participant
April 10, 2025

Adobe is just a piece of garbage company that is too lazy actually to make user-friendly free programming

pifath67
pifath67Author
Participating Frequently
October 9, 2025

Another "wonderful" experience with Acrobat today:
I made some changes and re-saved the PDF file. Then, when I reopened it, Acrobat showed me the old file without the changes. So I deleted the PDF and rewritten it. Result: Acrobat still shows the old, unchanged file.
Only after restarting Acrobat did the current file with the changes appear.
What was programmed here???
Apparently, this PDF viewer can't display PDFs properly. (I've gotten used to the fact that PDFs often only display fully after turning the overprint preview off and on again.)
I think if the people who produced this had written the software for a space shuttle, the space shuttle would have exploded on the launch pad—if the engines had even fired...

creative explorer
Community Expert
creative explorerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 13, 2025

@pifath67 I hear you, Acrobat can definitely be frustrating when it's not performing as expected. It's understandable to feel like it's 'junk' when you're dealing with crashes and slowdowns. While it might seem like 'junk' at times, I'd like to offer a different perspective. You mentioned it being overloaded with features, and while that can sometimes lead to complexity, many of those features are essential for professional workflows and document security. Adobe has been the industry standard for PDFs for a long time, and a lot of that is due to its robust feature set and security.

 

I've personally used Adobe products for nearly 30 years and haven't experienced the same level of instability you describe. I regularly work with large PDFs, often over 100MB, without major issues. My system has 16GB of RAM and an i9 processor, which might be a factor. It's possible that your specific system configuration or the nature of your PDFs are contributing to the problems. 

 

m
pifath67
pifath67Author
Participating Frequently
March 13, 2025

I've been working in prepress with Adobe products for about 30 years too, and I have to say that Acrobat only got this bad with the DC version.
And I'm not so concerned about the many features, which are undoubtedly necessary, but rather with the fact that the usability of certain functions is completely overlooked.
Even small PDF files are often not displayed in full immediately—which is what you would expect from a standard PDF program—but only after you've turned overprinting off and on again in the output preview, for example. And this is just one example. There are numerous other places where the usability is a disaster.

I also work with 16GB of RAM, but opening PDFs correctly isn't rocket science.

    T
    Tariq Dar
    Legend
    March 13, 2025

    Hi @pifath67, 

     

    Sorry to hear about your experience with Acrobat, and I appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback. We understand that performance, usability, and reliability are critical for your workflow, and we take concerns like yours seriously.

     

    If you’re experiencing slow performance or crashes, I recommend ensuring Acrobat is up to date. We regularly release improvements and bug fixes. You can check for updates via Help > Check for Updates. Additionally, optimizing the application’s settings, such as disabling enhanced security features or repairing the installation, may help improve performance.

     

    Regarding UI changes, we know adjustments can take time to get used to. Your feedback is valuable, and I’d encourage you to share specific concerns with our product team via Acrobat User Voice. This ensures your input is considered for future updates.

     

    If you’re encountering specific technical issues, I’d be happy to assist you further. Could you share more details about the problems you’re facing, including your OS, Acrobat version, and any error messages?

     

    We also require Crash logs. Here is the link that guides you through collecting crash logs: https://adobe.ly/3RcU0nr.
    For all other functional issues, we need specific logs via the option "Troubleshoot Acrobat" Option under the "Help" menu. 

    If you don't see the "Troubleshoot Acrobat" option, select the Acrobat menu/Edit > Preferences... and then select the Enable troubleshooting option from the General tab. Once the option is checked, you need to navigate to Acrobat > Help > Troubleshoot Acrobat.

    This tool helps you upload logs to our servers from your machine and share the log ID with us so we can track them. 

     

    Thank you for your patience and support.

     


    ~Tariq

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