Acrobat starting a process that leads to it using 20GB (yes, GB) of memory

[Paul33965511fner]

Hi,

Every couple of weeks, Acrobat goes screwy.  I'm using Acrobat 64-bit, all current updates are installed - the IT team ar work uninstalled and reinstalled Acrobat last week and today it happened again.

When it happens it slows my laptop  down for 10-30 mins - laptop only intermittently responsive, no taskbar, black screen coming and going.  Generally the laptop seems very close to crashing and once it did crash/reboot.

I managed to open task manager and it showed that Acrobat was using 20GB of memory (yes, that's GB, not MB), even though I didn't even it open when the problem started.  If i'm quick enough I can use task manager to close the Acrobat process and the laptop recovers back to normal.

Maybe Acrobat was going through some sort of update process, but that shouldn’t have caused it to use 22GB of memory and the problems I experienced.

I think maybe it was the updater running in the background – but it shouldn’t be using such a ridiculous amount of memory.

Has anyone else experienced this?  Is there a known cause and a solution?

Thanks

[Amal.]

Hi there 

Hope you are doing well and thanks for reaching out. We are sorry for the trouble you are experiencing, this is not normal for Acrobat. It should never use that much memory, especially when you’re not even using it.

You can try these steps to fix or narrow down the problem:

1. Stop background processes you don’t need:

• Open Acrobat, go to Edit > Preferences > General, and turn off Show me messages when I launch Acrobat and any background sync options you don’t use.
• In Task Manager’s Startup tab, look for Adobe Acrobat Update Service or Adobe Collaboration Synchronizer and turn them off to test.
  
  

2. Check for memory leak issues

• Start Acrobat in Safe Mode (hold Shift while opening it) and see if it works normally.
  
  

3. Repair the program

• In Acrobat, go to Help > Repair Installation. This can fix damaged files even after reinstalling.
  
  

4. Update or control the updater

• Check for updates from Help > Check for updates.
  
  

If you think the updater is the cause, ask your IT team to set it to run manually instead of in the background.

If the problem keeps happening, please ask your IT team to record what’s running on the computer when it happens (using Process Monitor here https://adobe.ly/3Jc6Stk ). and share it with us via logging the ticket using the Admin console for further investigation.

~Amal

[Paul33965511fner]

Thanks for your reply - I have made the changes you suggest in your first point.

I double checked and last week what they did was an an update and repair rather than a reinstall - theyre going to try reinstall tomorrow.

This issue seems to happen about once a week now (not frequent, but calamatous if/when it happens if im not at my computer to kill the process) - it makes it difficult to recreate the problem!

Thanks

[Tariq Ahmad]

Thanks for the quick response, @Paul33965511fner!
When this issue happens again, launch Task Manager and capture a memory dump. The engineering team needs to review why this issue is happening.
And Acrobat diagnostic logs, if this issue happens all the time: 

To collect the logs:

1. Download and run the Diagnostics Utility from:  https://adobe.ly/41Cr7qm
2. Click on Start Diagnostics. Ensure advanced logging is checked.
3. Launch Acrobat, reproduce the issue with your file.
4. Once done, click Stop Monitoring.
5. Copy the Log ID and share it with us.

Best regards,
Tariq | Adobe Community Team

[Tariq Ahmad]

Hi @Paul33965511fner,

Sorry for the delayed response.

I'm following up to see if you are still experiencing this issue or if it is no longer reproducible on your machine. 

Please ensure your copy of Adobe Acrobat is updated. To check for any pending updates, launch Acrobat > Help > Check For Updates. Several updates have been released since, with some changes in this area. 

If the issue is still reproducible, kindly help us with diagnostic and crash logs:

Diagnostic logs:

Run the Adobe Diagnostic Utility

1. Download the utility from this link: https://adobe.ly/4nqkAbE
2. Open the tool and click Start Diagnostics.
3. Ensure Advanced Logging is enabled.
4. Launch Acrobat and reproduce the crash or freeze (open the “What’s New” window).
5. Once the issue occurs, return to the utility and click Stop Monitoring.
6. Copy the Log ID shown and share it with us here.

Crash logs:

Collect Crash Logs. If Acrobat is crashing (and not just freezing), we also need crash logs:

• Instructions: https://adobe.ly/44afCIz
• Once collected, upload the logs to any cloud drive (e.g., OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox) and share the link with us.

Both types of logs are required. 

Best regards,
Tariq | Adobe Community Team | Meet Acrobat Studio

[Paul33965511fner]

Hi Tariq,

I haven't experienced the problem as far as I know for a couple of weeks.  IT updated the software.

But... I say "as far as I know" because my laptop did blue-screen crash over the weekend, which is very unusual, and the issue I was having did make it crash if I failed to kill the process before everything froze completely.

It's also worth saying that it was an intermittent issue that might happen only once a month for a while and then happen every few days - so maybe it was cured by the update, but maybe it wasn't.
I'll let you know if it happens again.

Thanks,

Paul

[Tariq Ahmad · Accepted solution]

In addition to what @Amal. has suggested.


First of all, thanks for sharing the detailed description — that definitely isn’t normal Acrobat behavior. To help investigate and rule out known causes, could you please provide:

1. Exact Acrobat version

Go to Help → About Acrobat and share the full version number (e.g., “2025.001.20474 64-bit”).

2. Operating system name and version

For example, “Windows 11 Pro 23H2”

3. Diagnostic logs/memory dump

If possible, please capture a memory dump when Acrobat’s process spikes in RAM usage.

• On Windows: In Task Manager, right-click the Acrobat process → Create dump file.

4. Background process name

When this happens, please check if the process name in Task Manager is Acrobat.exe, AcroCEF.exe, or something else. This will help us identify if it’s the main app or a background updater.

5. Recent changes

Since IT reinstalled Acrobat last week, was any special configuration or plugin added afterward?

Once we have these details, we can check with engineering to see if there’s a known bug, especially related to background processes or the updater consuming abnormal amounts of memory.

Best regards,
Tariq | Adobe Community Team

[Paul33965511fner]

Thanks for your reply.

The Acrobat version is 2025.001.20577 64-bit

Windows is Windows 11 Enterprise 24H2

Sorry - no dump file - once it strikes, it's all I can do to open Task Manager and close the process. If i try to do more it crashes.

The background process that explodes memory use is definitely Acrobat.exe.  AcroCEF is also running, but it isn't using much memory.

I double checked and last week what they did was an an update and repair rather than a reinstall - theyre going to try reinstall tomorrow.  The first time (of many) that this happened was early March, so I'm not sure what (if any) update had most recently been applied.

Thanks

[loyal_curiosity4109]

Yes, that memory spike is abnormal. Cleaning background processes helped me, just like resetting Smart Philippines APN settings clears random network issues.