Acrobat DC freezing or "not responding"

Report · Apr 21, 2015

I recently installed Acrobat DC. I previously used Foxit Phantom. Now when I am in "My Computer" and I either mouse-over or try to open a PDF file, it freezes for about 10 seconds and says "not responding" at the top. It always works again after the 7-10 seconds. Very annoying. This never happened when using Foxit. Has anyone else had this problem? How do I fix it?

Report · Nov 17, 2015

Hello. I'm having the same issue. Acrobat DC is not responding constantly. I use Windows 7 Professional.

I uninstalled it already 2 times, using the cleaner tool you mentioned, but nothing helps.

Report · Oct 21, 2015

Our Team is having the same issue.. We process 100's of PDF's a day and as you can imagine this is driving us crazy. Acrobat DC keeps "Not Responding" and IE (Versions 10 & 11) crashing constantly when viewing PDF's online.

OS Windows 7 SP1 (64 Bit)

Have tried all the suggestions above... Have used the cleaner and reinstalled it 4 times now and still its crashing

Report · Oct 22, 2015

Hi all,

Acrobat team is aware of this issue and working towards a resolution soon. Meanwhile, please use the workaround below to resolve the issue:

Workaround

1. Try pressing Esc key when blank screen is in focus

2. If #1 doesn’t work, then detach second monitor and re-launch Acrobat

Thanks,

-ashu

Report · Oct 31, 2015

Same problem here.....New computer.....Windows 10......one monitor or two no difference.....ran fine for a month or two......now pausing an "not responding" whenever I try to do anything.....what's going on Adobe??....first post on here was in April and y'all still can't solve???....6 months???....do something!!!....give me a stand alone copy of Pro that will work until you figure it out.....do y'all have any idea how much productivity is being lost to this??....Come on!!

Report · Dec 14, 2015

Open up Reader's preferences, then go to "Security (Enhanced)" and deselect Protected Mode. Then re-start Reader

Report · Mar 21, 2016

Thanks. This is working. Guys, use this solution and the problem is solved:

Open up Reader's preferences, then go to "Security (Enhanced)" and deselect Protected Mode. Then re-start Reader. Done.

Report · Mar 21, 2016

Protected Mode has been turned off on my PC for a while now. Did not and does not fix the problem in my case. I still have the issues with Adobe Reader DC.

Report · Mar 21, 2016

Strange. I had the same problem on my NB (Win 7 Pro, 64-bit) and it helped. I've sent the same advice to my friend and he has no problem anymore now. Again, he has Win 7 Pro and 64-bit. No problem on my desktop with Win 10 Pro.

Report · Mar 21, 2016

I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop and Windows 10. I've tried every recommendation in this forum with no success. Not sure everyone is experiencing the same problems. Mine seem to go away if I wait 2 or so minutes after opening a PDF file before I try to do anything, e.g., read, scroll, print. If I try to do anything before the 2 minutes, the document locks up, and if I continue to try and click/scroll, I get the Not Responding message.

Very frustrating, but now I simply open a file or files and do something else for 2 minutes.

Report · Mar 21, 2016

I had the same problem as you just described. It was extremely frustrating and I wanted to uninstall Reader. But before doing that, I decided to try the advice found on this website. Fortunately my problem is fixed. I've tested Reader last few hours opening a lot of PDF files together + scrolling, zooming, printing and it is ok. Hopefully, developers follow this forum – they definitely should check that protection mode.

Report · May 08, 2016

I found krabit_CZ's suggestion of deselect Protected Mode has work for me today.

I had the issue that If I minimized the Adobe window, it would freeze in (not responding) mode when I tried to use it again.

Am using version 15.010.20060 on a Window 7 32bit machine.

Report · May 09, 2016

I've got a better solution: GET RID OF ADOBE! There are many pdf

alternatives that are easier to use, just as versatile and cost less - even

free. I tried many forum suggestions to avoid computer freezes. None worked

across the board. This has gone on quite a while and Adobe has not thought

it important to react with an upgrade or patch. To hell with them!

On Mon, May 9, 2016 at 6:31 AM, lancetheold <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

Report · May 10, 2016

I totally agree.

I have already switched to another PDF reader that works fine every time without

annoying freezes.

BR

On 10 May 2016 at 04:42 frankc35873186 <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

Report · May 10, 2016

Hi all,

Based on the crash dumps submitted via this forum thread, we have fixed the crash/hang issues in an update released yesterday.

Please open the application and visit Help > Check for Updates to apply this latest patch and let us know if the problem still persists. More information about the release is available here:

15.016.20039 Planned update, May 10, 2016 — Acrobat and Adobe Reader Release Notes

Regards,

-ashu

Report · Dec 17, 2015

I have a similar, but not identical, problem. I can (for the time being, at least) view documents in Acrobat DC (version 2015.009.20079) on my Win 8.1 PC. However, printing is suddenly out of the question. When I try to print, whether from the File menu, the print icon or with Ctrl-P, the process initiates but my entire computer freezes as soon as the progress bar appears and I have to press the power button to shut down. I have tried waiting (15 minutes - really???), printing one page at a time, printing different PDF documents, resetting the preferences, reinstalling - nothing solves the problem. This has just begun happening for me, within the last month in fact, but I see from this forum that it is a problem that has been occurring for others for 8 months now with no solution. When can we expect a correction?

One month after my first post: Acrobat Reader DC is now freezing my entire computer after only a few minutes. To be specific, I'm only reading *one* pdf file, not changing files, nothing out of the ordinary. I've now uninstalled it completely from my PC and when I have time, I'll try a fresh install. In the meantime, I'm trying to function using a different program. :S

Report · Jan 06, 2016

Hi everyone,

Have any of you found the solution to this problem?

I am using Adobe Reader DC (15.009.20079) on Windows 10. I usually open multiple pdf files at once, which I think shouldn't be the problem. After a while, Reader DC will freeze and become unresponsive. I encounter this so frequently that it has become really annoying.

Can someone advise me on how to fix this?

Report · Jan 14, 2016

Hi Amelia,

Can you please install the latest Acrobat DC build(# 2015.010.20056) and see if the problem still persists?

Thanks,

Varun

Report · Jan 15, 2016

We installed the 2015.010.20056 and it appears to have fixed the issue for us.

Report · Jan 12, 2016

I work with an MSP and Cloudhost. So you can bet I have a wide range of users and environments.

I've found that I can cause freezes when switching PDFs almost on demand.
I can also switch PDFs as much as I like without freezing.

The Key is the tabbed file interface introduced in Adobe Reader DC.
It seems regardless of the environment. Local, remote, Server 08, Server 12, Windows 10 etc.
If I use the Adobe DC tabs to switch between my open PDFs, I have no issues.

BUT! If I use the windows task-bar to switch views, I might switch twice before it freezes.

Report · Jan 14, 2016

I would say you are on to something with the tabbed interface. Now that you mention that, it seems every time I have had Acrobat stop responding, it has been when I attempted to switch files using the Windows task bar. I just disabled tabs so we shall see if that fixes the issue.

Report · Jan 15, 2016

I blasted this in e-mail out to my co-workers.
One of them tried it same day (disabling the tabs) And that seems to have worked for him.

Which makes sense, because (what I didn't mention here.) I have been able to use the taskbar as long as I had dragged them out of tabs for side-by-side view.

Report · Jan 18, 2016

Hi,

Can you please install the latest Acrobat DC build(# 2015.010.20056) and see if the problem still persists?

Thanks,

Varun

Report · Jan 18, 2016

I've updated to the newest using the Help > Check for Updates menu.
I still freeze when switching between tabs from Taskbar.

I will try a full uninstall/reinstall of reader program next.

Report · Jan 19, 2016

The problem still exists for the the latest Acrobat DC build(# 2015.010.20056). (win7 pro SP1 64bit）

Report · Jan 19, 2016

...same here on Win 8.1. 64bit new install works for a couple of days and than the pain returns. Only Windows Defender updates in between

Disabling the DC Tabs seems to work (thanks for that). I'll give it a try.

However, after installing Foxit Reader to get the Explorer Icons back, I consider to finally remove Acrobat DC.

Cheers