Acrobat: PDF Preview pane in File explorer doesn't work on Windows ARM (snapdragon) systems

[OTTO5CCC]

Hello,

On Windows devices equipped with Snapdragon processors (ARM-based), the PDF preview in File Explorer does not function when Adobe Acrobat is set as the default application for PDF files.

By modifying the Preview Handler in the Windows Registry (RegEdit) and assigning it to another application that supports ARM, it is possible to enable PDF previews in File Explorer while still keeping Adobe Acrobat as the default application. However, many users would prefer that this functionality work natively without relying on other applications. For larger organizations with many Snapdragon-based computers, this manual workaround is also time-consuming.

I hope this post brings attention to the issue. Currently, end users have no way (that I am aware of) to enable the preview pane with Adobe Acrobat, since the application lacks full ARM support and because it runs through x64 emulation, which does not support Adobe’s shell extension for file preview.

Otherwise Acrobat works fine on ARM-devices but this function would be much appreciated!

[Meenakshi Negi · Accepted solution]

Hi OTTO5CCC,

Thank you for reaching out.

As mentioned, you are using the ARM-based devices. The PDF thumbnail preview for Windows Explorer is unavailable with Acrobat running on ARM processor-based Windows Machines. For more information, refer to the help article at: https://adobe.ly/4p3shVX.

You may share your suggestion with the product team via the following page: https://adobe.ly/44lnG8Y. 

Thanks,

Meenakshi