Adobe Acrobat Preflight broken

Report · Nov 04, 2022

Hello,

I have installed the latest version of Acrobat from the CC. After i tried to run the Preflight, it says its installing preflight, so i waited. After some time i restarted the acrobat and it said, that it has finished installing Preflight.

So i ran it, but didnt load any presets into it. (not even the default ones) ... so i decided to import the kfp files into it manually - some did work, some didnt.

The one i desperately need is the "convert fonts to outlines" and i believe this one is in the Acro2015.kfp - but i cannot import it "Unable to import Preflight profile file Acro2015.kfp"...
I am using Windows 11 Pro. I tried reinstalling acrobat but the behaviour was the same. Installed also the Optional update 22.003.20263, didnt fix the problem.

Report · Apr 12, 2023

Hi there

Hope you are doing well.

The new version of Adobe Acrobat (23.01.20143), addressing this issue is now available. Please update the application from the Help menu > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

You may also download the patch manually from the link https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/ReleaseNotesDC/index.html

Let us know how it goes.

Regards

Amal

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Report · May 16, 2025

I was able to get an Adobe tech on the phone. Bottom line - flattener doesn't work. But he suggested a work-around that works for me generally - adding security to the Document Properties. You can set it so that, without the password, no one can copy, edit and even open or print your file. Edit > Protection > Security Properties > Security Tab > Security Method - change this from No Security to Password Security. It pulls up a new window for the Password Security Settings. I hate Kenny G but I hope this helps

View solution in original post

Report · Nov 04, 2022

If some weird behavior survives a re-install, I use the Acrobat Cleaner (https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/cleaner.html), which removes all traces of Acrobat from your system. I would try that and then re-install from a fresh download. If this still does not fix your problem, there may be something wrong with your system, and Acrobat may not find e.g. a library that it needs to do it's job, or it could be due to a corrupt font (I had a problem with that many years ago when dialogs kept coming up blank). In that case, I would assume that getting in touch with Adobe's customer support is advised. They know how to look for log files and more importantly, knowhow to interpret those.

Report · Nov 14, 2022

Thank you for the answer.

Report · Nov 16, 2022

Unfortunately it didn't help... i have no idea how to contact customer support, because their page always leads me here. They have no dedicated support for individuals, seems they support only corps and teams.

Report · Nov 16, 2022

You should be able to go to https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install.html you should see a "Contact Us - Start now" just before the page footer. Do you see that?

Report · Nov 16, 2022

I did... and it redirects me here: https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html

Report · Nov 16, 2022

I just checked, and it works for me (it starts the chat client). I don't work for Adobe, so I don't know what's going on behind the scenes when you click on that link/button, and how they filter regarding who gets to access the chat feature. Are you logged into your Adobe account?

Report · Nov 23, 2022

Oh, i had cookies disabled - currently with support. Thanks for letting me know so i could dive deeper into it.

Report · Jan 20, 2023

Hi @4ntonios

Our engineering team is still working on this issue.

Also, as a workaround, please try to Disable the sandbox feature in Acrobat (under Preferences > Security (Enhanced) > Enable Protected Mode at startup (Preview)). In the case of empty Profiles (or generally), it is advisable to remove the Preflight preferences (%APPDATA%\Adobe\Acrobat\Preflight Acrobat Continuous) to get fresh libraries/profiles after the sandbox is disabled.

Note: keep a backup of the folder before removing it from AppData, as any custom profiles might get lost during the removing/renaming of folders.

Regards

Amal

Report · Apr 12, 2023

Hi there

Hope you are doing well.

The new version of Adobe Acrobat (23.01.20143), addressing this issue is now available. Please update the application from the Help menu > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

You may also download the patch manually from the link https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/ReleaseNotesDC/index.html

Let us know how it goes.

Regards

Amal

Report · Apr 23, 2025

My colleagues and I used a Preflight fixup to flatten pdfs so that our signature can't be lifted, but we lost the entire Preflight library a few weeks ago. When we open preflight, we see only blank space. I spent 1.5 hours on with an Adobe tech this afternoon who got the library back somehow, but the fixup didn't actually flatten any more. Now, 2 hours later, the library's gone. Again. Attached screenshots: preflight window and Acrobat Pro version

Report · Apr 24, 2025

Hi @Pallastein,

Sorry for the trouble you experienced.

If the machine you are using is your personal machine, try creating a new user Profile and check if the issue is reproducible.

Judging from the description and issue understanding, this seems to be a permission issue on the machine.

If this is a work machine, check with your IT help to see if anything is getting flushed or if recent changes in permissions are being enforced on the user profile after some time.

~Tariq

Report · Apr 24, 2025

It is not a permissions issue. Our IT has tried to solve it and apparently submitted a ticket to Adobe but nothing's been resolved. I reached out myself out of frustration, and nothing's been resolved. There's a lot of "this will get fixed in the next update" and attempts to get me to buy your AI Assistant.

Anamaria R. Palla
[Personal info remoed by Adobe Moderator]

Report · Apr 25, 2025

I'm sorry. I understand how frustrating it can be. While our assistance team will help you with the case, could you let me know when it started to happen and how many users are affected?

Also, please share the log ID for Diagnostic logs: https://adobe.ly/4kabsFZ

Thank you for your patience and continued support.

~Tariq

Report · May 16, 2025

I am having the exact same problem. No permission issues, I am one guy on a machine not managed or permissioned by anyone else. Uninstalled and reinstalled, running PRODUCT VERSION 25.1.20467.0. For all that is good and holy I just want to flatten these stupid pdfs without losing image quality. How is this so hard in 2025? It is such a joke to me that these programs have become industry standard, have existed for decades, and cannot just function intuitevly at all. If I put as much effort into the saxaphone as I have freaking adobe and word I'd be Kenny G by now, but for all of the years of effort I have put in to try and be a knowledgable user of this freaking program I still feel like I cannot do anything or access any support or solutions. Again, its 2025! HOW is this still so bad!!!!????!!!!

Report · May 16, 2025

Tried to get chat support. I guess it was too hard for them. They pointed me to a place to try a reinstall and then just ghotsed me and left the chat. Thank you so much for the respect you show to your users adobe, you definetly deserve your position as the industry standard for pdf handling. such a happy user!

Report · May 16, 2025

I was able to get an Adobe tech on the phone. Bottom line - flattener doesn't work. But he suggested a work-around that works for me generally - adding security to the Document Properties. You can set it so that, without the password, no one can copy, edit and even open or print your file. Edit > Protection > Security Properties > Security Tab > Security Method - change this from No Security to Password Security. It pulls up a new window for the Password Security Settings. I hate Kenny G but I hope this helps