Acrobat Pro, Windows 10: Can’t start Preflight tool

[Klаus]

[Version 2024.003.20054 | 64-Bit]

When klicking on Preflight, a window pops up saying something like
»Preflight is about to be installed. Please wait for completion, in order to use the tool«

but nothing like that seems to happen.

Can’t use preflight. Why is that???

[S. S]

Hi @Klаus,

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for writing in!

Apart from the basic features of Acrobat, every additional tool will require a one-time download, so you can use it from the next time onwards. This is to save you storage on your device if you do not require the tools.

Once all the tools are ready for use, you should see a small toast notification to the top-right of Acrobat notifying you of the successful completion of the tools.

The completion time depends on the band of your internet connection.

Once done, the plugins folder of Acrobat should look like this (screenshot attached below), with all the tools successfully installed.

Hope this clarifies your question.

-Souvik

[Klаus]

Thanks for your input, Souvik!

I have two plug_ins folders on my computer:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat\plug_ins
D:\Program Files\ADOBE\Adobe Acrobat 2020\Acrobat\plug_ins

The first one contains a PreFlight.DEU, the second one a PreFlight.DEU and a Preflight.api

Well, the problem persists ...

[Bob23799394f79s]

Indeed, I have the same problem.  Clicking Preflight states that it needs to be downloaded then minutes later it fails with an error about not being able to install it and from then on, the left hand menu pane is devoid of all tools and needs a reboot to fix. Grrrrrrr.....

I suspect it's something to do with admin rights (which I don't have) and that the Acrobat installation doesn't handle failure properly, so just goes into some indeterminate state and stops the software working properly.

In 2024, why is is so difficult to just add Preflight to the Creative Cloud apps and be done with it?!?  If I have the rights to install any CC app, why does Acrobat block a plugin?

[S. S]

@Klаus Thanks for writing in!

The first folder should contain the PreFlight.api file and a folder containing files, as shown in the screenshot.

If you do not see these, try moving the PreFlight files out of the plugins folder and then try using the tool from Acrobat again.

This should force Acrobat to re-download the tool.

@Bob23799394f79s, Sorry for the trouble. Do you see the error on a company-provided device? If yes, I suggest contacting your organization's IT team to get the application configured per your needs.

-Souvik

[Bob23799394f79s]

Souvik, yes it is a company-provided device.

My point was that contacting my organization's IT team to get the application configured per my needs is a workaround and an unnecesary waste of time doing something that should work out of the box when Acrobat itself was installed.

Please fix. It shouldn't be this difficult.

[S. S]

@Bob23799394f79s Completely understand your concern. 

If you do not wish to go to your IT team for configuration, getting write permissions for the Adobe folders should do the work, too.

Acrobat installation, by default, only comes with the basic tools, and others, such as Preflight, are installed on the first instance you click on the tool.

That being said, please feel free to add your feedback here: https://acrobat.uservoice.com/

Thanks,

Souvik