Acrobat will not Open Illustrator or Photoshop for Editing

[SS000]

Ever since I upgraded to the 2026 versions, Acrobat will not hand off vector objects to Illustrator or bitmap objects to Photoshop for editing. I get the following message:

Adobe Acrobat cannot start the object editing application you've specified. Verify the object editing application location on the Content Editing panel in Preferences.

I have checked, and both those places in Preferences point to the correct applications in their respective 2026 directories.

Please help.

Thanks.

[Amal.]

Hi there 

Hope you are doing well and sorry for the trouble. 

Have you started experiencing this issue recently or was this issue there earlier as well? What is the version of the Acrobat Application and the OS you are using? Go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure its updated to the latest version 25.01.20813. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

You may also try these steps and see if that works:

1. Reset the file paths in Acrobat:

• Open Acrobat > Edit > Preferences > Content Editing.
• Under Image Editor and Object Editor, click Browse and manually reselect the correct .exe (Windows) or .app (Mac) files for Photoshop and Illustrator 2026.
• Click OK to save the changes.
  
  

2. Run Acrobat as Administrator (Windows):

• Right-click the Acrobat shortcut and choose Run as administrator.
• Then try editing the object again.
  
  

3.  Check for updates:

• Make sure Acrobat, Illustrator, and Photoshop are all fully updated to the latest 2026 builds.
• Sometimes compatibility issues appear right after a major version release and get fixed with updates.

4. Repair Acrobat installation:

• Go to Help > Repair Installation.
• Restart your computer afterward.

If it still doesn't work, please share a small video recording of the steps you are taking and the issue as it occurs for more clarity.

Let us know how it goes.

~Amal

[bat35192265qt7v]

I have tried all these and it is not fixed. Now I cannot even use photoshop 2025 - I tried to repoint the image editor back to that and not working.

I am now unable to work. This is not good.

[Amal.]

Hi there 

Hope you are doing well. 

Please try to update the application to the Acrobats latest version 25.01.2084X from the help menu > check for updates and reboot the computer once. 

If it still doesn't work please share a small video recording of the steps you are taking and the issue as it occurs for further investigation.

~Amal

[Urban5E0C]

I have been having the same issue for about 2 weeks now. I run an old PC on windows 10 so i have been using that pc for the past couple weeks to work around the issue but now it is having a different unrelated issue so that is no longer an option. Could this be something to do with WINDOWS 11?

The only difference for me is that the image will open in photoshop or illustrator but no changes can be saved. I still get the same error message as the OP.

I have done all of the suggested fixes with no luck

[SS000]

In my original post, I forgot to mention that in my case, those apps will open but, like you, any changes made are noit saved.

[Urban5E0C · Accepted solution]

I have solved the issue on my system! See the attached image. Under Edit> Preferences> Security (Enhanced). Then remove the check from Enable Protected Mode at Startup. (attached image has this option highlighted in yellow)

This fixed the issue for me. I really hope it works for you guys! 🙂

[SS000]

THIS WORKED! Thank you so much.

[Gord@APL]

No joy for me, unfortunately - that option was already disabled.

I'll keep an eye on this thread, though... there's bound to be other settings to fiddle with.

[tibor_3994]

Hi!
I had the same problem. I made this suggested change, restarted Adobe, and now I can use Illustrator and Photoshop to modify objects..

[Gord@APL]

I'm using version 2025.001.20841 on MacOS Sequoia 15.6.1 (can't update the OS till my IT department give the go-ahead).

Went through the steps for assigning editing rights to Illustrator and Photoshop as specified, but when I try to edit an image in a PDF, the default option results in a bitmap image being uploaded to Adobe Cloud for editing.

However, there's also an 'Edit image using > Open with' option... through which I have to specify the application (eg. Photoshop) each and every time I select an image for editing... This doesn't strike me as expected behaviour, since the default option is completely ignoring the setting under Preferences and the 'Open with' option doesn't keep track of what I want to use.

[SS000]

Urban5E0C solved it for me. 

Thanks so much.

[Arthur24943076got3]

I am having the same exact issue.  paint (or classic Paint) will open, but i cannot save the image to Adobe, but only a default jpg or png file, instead of saving back into the image with Adobe.

[Arthur24943076got3]

...and I followed all the stpes listed below.

[bat35192265qt7v]

Same here. My update is also borked. Same issue you are experiencing.