Acrobat DC opens, then immediately closes

[Katherine233504661e41]

Hi,

I have windows 10 and Acrobat DC. It opens and then immedeatyely closes.

I think I have tried every single repair option I can find.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled Acrobat DC

I have uninstalled and reinstalled the entire suite.

I have restarted my computer

I have gone in and removed the preference folder from C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Acrobat\DC

I have done that, uninstalled, restarted my computer, then reinstalled

I am frustrated and more than a little peeved. Gold star to anyone who can help.

[Katherine233504661e41 · Accepted solution]

So I have finally managed to fix this for myself.

I uninstalled the whole suite, then I went into the C: drive and deleted all folders associated with adobe that were created after I installed it. Thankfully, I only had the suite for a day before it stopped working so this is a narrow time frame.

I then went back and re-installed the whole lot from the adobe site.

So far it seems to have be working, but we'll see. 

Please note that prior to this I had gone through the robot chat trouble shooting thing (the chat with the AI), and tried to open acrobat with my computer in safe mode. So this was a last ditch effort.

[ls_rbls]

When you say "Acrobat DC opens then immediately closes", are you trying to open one particular PDF document when you double-click on it  from its saved location, OR,  does this happens just as soon as you open the actual program of Adobe Acrobat Pro?

In which version of Adobe Acrobat Pro is this occuring?

[Katherine233504661e41]

It isn't a particular file. The error happens even when I am trying to launch the app directly from creative cloud.

It's Acrobat DC version 21.0

[Katherine233504661e41 · Accepted solution]

So I have finally managed to fix this for myself.

I uninstalled the whole suite, then I went into the C: drive and deleted all folders associated with adobe that were created after I installed it. Thankfully, I only had the suite for a day before it stopped working so this is a narrow time frame.

I then went back and re-installed the whole lot from the adobe site.

So far it seems to have be working, but we'll see. 

Please note that prior to this I had gone through the robot chat trouble shooting thing (the chat with the AI), and tried to open acrobat with my computer in safe mode. So this was a last ditch effort.

[ls_rbls]

Thank you very much for sharing that solution.

[Kathy23478203pwlu]

I am having same issue... just started in last week... using desktop windows 10 latest update.  Adobe has been working fine since approx feb 2022 with little issue.   I have read different fixes on here about renaming files and registry fix plus i have uninstalled Creative cloud and Adobe DC... and it is still open the program and it loads and closes.  I am past frustrated and I need assistance with this issue... Using Adobe DC for mainly requesting signatures and yes I can do that on the cloud but is much easier to have the program available to use especially when I have a paid subscription. 

Please help... 

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi Kathy,

Thank you for reaching out, and sorry about the trouble.

As you are experiencing an issue with Acrobat, try the troubleshooting steps suggested in the following help document: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/acrobat-dc-crashes-on-windows-os.html.

If the above steps don't help, remove the current version installed on the machine and run the cleaner tool from here: https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/cleaner.html. 

Reboot the machine and download the installer from the following page: https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/acrobat-downloads.html.  

Let us know if the issue persists.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

[JL7446]

Hi Kathy,

Thank you for reaching out, and sorry about the trouble.

As you are experiencing an issue with Acrobat, try the troubleshooting steps suggested in the following help document: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/acrobat-dc-crashes-on-windows-os.html.

If the above steps don't help, remove the current version installed on the machine and run the cleaner tool from here: https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/cleaner.html. 

Reboot the machine and download the installer from the following page: https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/acrobat-downloads.html.  

Let us know if the issue persists.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

By Meenakshi Negi

I've had the same issue and followed these instructions - and a number of variations thereupon - without any success. It has been about 4 weeks now and I have not been able to repair it. It is so bizarre as the problem arose while I was using the application pretty heavily for a particular purpose. I don't recall any kind of update happening of the application or of drivers on my laptop at the time. I was actively using the application when it first had a fit.

Simply deleting all my associated folders seems a bit drastic as I have been using multiple apps via creative cloud for a couple of years now. Perhaps I can take a backup. Although I wouldn't be confident about doing something like this manually.

Is there a link that an Adobe expert could direct me to for downloading an appropriate cleaner tool for the entire suite??????? - So that I can use this to clean up files (instead of going through and manually trying to delete all the right things), before reinstalling CC again from scratch?

Is/are there also cleaner tools for 32 bit as well as 64 bit installs so that I can check that I didn't restore any backed-up 32 bit associated files last time I transitioned to a new personal machine and/or OS? (Don't know if that might be part of the problem too...)

[fayeg92579990]

omg I have just started having this issue and have tried multiple things and nothing is working.... THIS IS A MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR BUG and Adobe needs to fix it IMMEDIATELY.  It is somehow associated with the latest Windows update.  Obviously if I cannot use Adobe Acrobat, I will stop paying for it.  Quality control, anyone???

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi JL,

Sorry for the delay in response.

Please refer to the steps suggested to use the Creative Cloud cleaner tool on the following page: https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html.

Before that, I would request you to update the application to the latest version and check if you still experience similar behavior.

In the application, go to Help > Check for updates. For more information on the latest updates, refer to the following page: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/release-note/release-notes-acrobat-reader.html. 

If the issue persists, we may need logs to investigate further.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

[Michael25041308q8at]

I'm having the same problem.

I've checked that I have the latest versions, uninstalled and reloaded several times, used the cleaner tool as per the above guidelines - but the problem persists.

I am now at the limit of my IT capabilities so need some support please Adobe.

I'd appreciate a swift response as I've already lost a days work to this problem.

Thanks.

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi Michael,

Thank you for reaching out, and sorry about the trouble.

Could you please confirm the machine's Acrobat Pro DC and OS version?

Have you started experiencing this issue recently?

Please try creating an alternate user profile on the machine and installing Acrobat.

Check if you experience the same behavior.

If the issue still occurs, we may require logs for further investigation.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

[Michael25041308q8at]

Hi Meenakshi,

thanks for getting back to me.

I was losing so much work time with Acrobat Pro DC not working that I undertook a complete reset of my PC this weekend and reloaded all programs & apps. This appears to have solved the problem, but I shouldn't have to do this as it's so time consuming; particularly considering the annual charge I pay to Adobe. Looking at one or two forum entries it's clear that this issue is a common one for Adobe and has been going on for some time, at considerable frustration for users. Please feed this back to Adobe and request a fix be found as I would prefer not to have to go through the last few days again.

Lastly, this is the first time I have needed technical support from Adobe. I spent quite a lot of time looking through the website, but could not find any method of making contact with a human (only robots) and instead had to make use of the forum, hoping that someone would see my problem and respond - which I thank you for - however, it's not very satisfactory is it. Surely Adobe could do better than this considering how much they charge?

Thanks for listening.

[cjackson78]

I am having this same issue, however, my problem is happening on a fresh install of Windows 10 Pro (21H2) OS build 19044.2075. Oddly, my husband is also a user on this particular PC and the install works fine. I've done the cleaner tool and reinstalled twice and all the other recommendations, except for JL7746 suggestion above, which is what I am about to do. Adobe software is the most expensive (by far) of any standard software and to have these kinds of issues is simply UNSAT.

[mattp89600770]

I am experiencing this issue with Adobe Substance Modeler. All other apps I have installed work fine. I have uninstalled Modeler and reinstalled, restarted, shut down, etc. 

I'll try the CC cleaner and update.

[ls_rbls]

Hi,

Before you try the CC cleaner tool backup all your important work.

And after your backup is good to go, check for any clutter of old temporary files that should usually be hiding somewhere in the cache folder(s); specifically where both of the the Adobe Substance Modeler and Adobe Acrobat save this data to.

For example, if you are on Microsoft Windows 10, most of the user's Acrobat preferences are cached in the AppData hidden folder.

Conversely, -- [and just for troubleshooting purposes] -- I've seen suggestions in the Apple Support forums to copy the user's Acrobat Preferences file(s) and move them to another location temporarily with a different file name (i.e. "mycacheFile.old"  changing the file extension to avoid an unintended execution).

Upon hard-booting the machine the Adobe program will recreate the cache preferences settings back to its default status; which may address the observed issue that some of you are experiencing.

If that doesn't resolve anything, you can then uninstall and run both the Acrobat clenup tool followed by the the CC Cleanup tool.

Then restore your Acrobat Pro preferences backup file back into the original folder cache folder where you moved it from,  and see if the problem persists after a fresh installation of the software but using the old preferences.

[mattp89600770]

The CC Cleaner did not work. I did a full uninstall and removed anything related to adobe from the registry, etc.

The only thing that worked, TEMPORARILY, was to actually create a new local account on Windows. When I did that, I was able to open the program from the new account only. However, after openining and closing the program, logging out and back in, the problem now happens on both accounts. This is SERIOUSLY bad and requires official support.

[ls_rbls]

In that case,

The below is what I think is happening:

• https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/acrobat-freezes-when-attempting-to-enter-informat...

That is a recent discussion a few days ago.

Hopefully this will give you additional insights.

[Radu30879414ld4e]

I've ran into this problem where Adobe Acrobat would open, then immediately close. I've managed to fix it so I'm sharing my fix on threads relating to this problem hoping it'll help others.

My issues was this:

I opened the app from CC (or from opening a PDF). The app would open but close after about 3-5 seconds. I did this for a few times and saw that in the bar at the top of the window, there was a "Sign In" button, right where the account usually is in my other CC apps. Before closing, a small window appeared to pop up in the middle of the screen, but it just disappeared in an instant. Then the app would close, even if it managed to open any PDF I wanted.

What I tried:

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling. 

I tried this fix: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/acrobat-dc-closes-after-launch.html but it did nothing. Plus it's a weird fix for Adobe to suggest, but anyway.

Then I came upon this thread: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/acrobat-dc-crashes-on-windows-os.html

Here, Solution 4 guided me to try opening "acrodist". When opening it, the same small window popped up in the middle of the screen, this time staying opened and indicating an error with my account, and an error code 205, with a prompt to contact support.

When searching for a fix for error code 205, I found this thread: https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/fix-licensing-error-205.html

Another seemingly weird fix, but I tried it anyway. And this worked for me. If you do try it, here are the steps:

1. Press WIN-R and type in CMD

2. Type in the text below:

for /F "tokens=1,* delims= " %G in ('cmdkey /list ^| findstr /c:"Adobe App "') do cmdkey /delete %H

3. Hit Enter/Return

4. Wait for all the text prompts to stop. Then try launching Acrobat. This worked for me. 

I find it wild that 1. this is a problem that has been persisting for so many years, 2. That Adobe doesn't implement an automatic fix for a seemingly basic "just clear the auth tokens when you install/reinstall" feature that breaks a core app on their suite we pay a literal ton for. 3. That none of the support here on the community forum correctly identified and pointed to this absolutely basic fix, instead recommending wild things like deleting app preferences or running "tools" that don't seem to work in most cases. 

[Gerry33369257fmn1]

Thank you!  That worked for me also. 

I agree completely, it's very frustrating that such a basic fix has been unavailable for so long.

[jim_4191]

thanks you soooo much! this worked for me:

1. Press WIN-R and type in CMD

2. Type in the text below:

for /F "tokens=1,* delims= " %G in ('cmdkey /list ^| findstr /c:"Adobe App "') do cmdkey /delete %H

3. Hit Enter/Return

4. Wait for all the text prompts to stop. Then try launching Acrobat. This worked for me. 

cant believe this problem stille xists in 2024. Get witht eh "program" adobe!

[Justin325789447uhj]

Thank you so freakin' much for this. The command worked perfectly. Acrobat worked fine on my laptop but would immediately close on my PC with no indication as to why.

Get your sh*t together, Adobe. You made $18,000,000,000 in 2024 and you can't keep your most basic software working properly? Shameful. 

[Radivoj0D4C]

Uninstall previous version of reader. Download the recent install file. But: BEFORE RUNNING IT,  RIGHT CLICK TO OPEN PROPERTIES, THEN IN TAB "GENERAL"  click on UNBLOCK (right corner on the bottom) , then APPLY.

After you can run the EXE install file (I always run it as Administrator).  After this, the program will take several minutes to download from Adobe Internet site, and after end of download, and TERMINATE, Adobe Acrobat will appear on the list of programs. Clisk on it will result in about 1-2 minutes wat until it loads, and then it will stay on ready to be used!

[Flightcrew]

Just had this issue also,

Final cause i think for me, was that Acrobat thought my device limit was reached, and would close, but it would not display the device limit options,

Opened Photoshop, and it correctly displayed the devices currently enabled, i saw my current device was not active, so activated it,

now when opening acrobat, it worked and no longer insta closed

[daniels7228616]

Right on. Everyone I suggest trying what flight crew suggests here. Open in Photoshop. You will likely see you have reach your limit. Sign out on another device. The go back and open adobe. It started working for me right away. The issue is for whatever reason it doesnt stay open long enough in adobe acrobat to let you sign out of the other devices. Instead it just closes out almost imedatly. Try this 1st as its the easiest fix sugested here.