Skip to main content
J
Jonas236836142dqn
Participant
March 21, 2022
Question

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC crashes immediately when opening electronically signed documents

  • March 21, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 3862 views

Hi all,

 

Lately, my Adobe Acrobat DC is crashing every time I try to open a pdf document that has been signed electronically (externally, using QES/Pades certificates). This happens both using documents I signed myself as well as documents signed by "other people", so it does not appear to be a certificate issue.

 

Following scenarios:

- Opening a signed pdf with "double click" leads to short open and immediate crash, without info.

- Openen Adobe Pro first and then loading a file leads to the program going into Zombie mode (first, I get the little Adobe Clock that means "I am doing something", then the program becomes non-responsive).

- Opening normal files without signature works.

 

What I tried: I already uninstalled and re-installed Acrobat Pro, the issue remains unchanged.

 

My current assumption is that this has to do with the verification of the certificate when opening the file, but as I get no feedback from the software, this is just an assumption. I furthermore assume heavily that this is an adobe-side bug, as it started after the installation of the latest updates.

 

The basics: I am using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Continuous Release | Version 2022.001.20085 on Windows 10 Pro, 21H2.

 

Does anybody have an idea what this could be and how to solve it? Or any location, where this program delivers helpful logfiles, to find the reason for the crash? Anything is greatly appreciated.

 

Jonas

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Amal.
Community Manager
Amal.Community Manager
Community Manager
March 21, 2022

Hi Jonas

 

Hope you are doing well and sorry to hear that.

 

Is this an issue with all the signed PDFs or with the ones signed externally, using QES/Pades certificates? Please try to sign the PDF using Adobe Acrobat  and  check

 

As you have already tried removing and reinstalling the application with no luck, please try to repair the installation from the help menu (Win Only) and reboot the computer.

 

Also, try to reset the Acrobat preferences as described here https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/how-to-reset-acrobat-preference-settings-to-default/td-p/4792082

 

You may also try to create a new test user profile with full admin rights in Win and try using the application there and check.

 

If it still doesn't; work please collect the crash logs https://helpx.adobe.com/lu_en/acrobat/kb/collect-logs-crash-freeze.html and Procmon logs https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/acromonitor.html and share them via the Document cloud link as describe here https://helpx.adobe.com/document-cloud/help/sharing-pdfs.html for further investigation. 

 

Regards

Amal

J
Jonas236836142dqnAuthor
Participant
March 21, 2022

Dear Amal,

 

first of all, thank you for your response.

 

Going through your items:

 

1. I tried some cases, it happens more-or-less with all types of signed document I have:

- QES/Pades (whereas these are usually signed with 3rd party programms, due to Adobe's weak support here),

- Documents signed with Adobe Sign

- Documents signed with self-created certificates from within Adobe

 

2. I tried removing the preferences. Please note that the link you provided is outdated. There is even an updated entry on this: Re: How to reset Acrobat Preference settings to de... - Adobe Support Community - 11874036 Also, the description here is ambiguous as it does not state if the complete folder is to be emptied or deleted, it neither states as it only refers to the preferences folder (which exists) or all of them contained there. Anyways, nothing has any impact.

 

3. I tried it out with another account on my computer, and indeed, I could open the documents in Adobe Acrobat DC there. Due to login etc. I couldn't try to much, but the opening worked. Anyways, this does not really help, as it doesn't provide any direction of what could be the problem. Very very interesting though: To fully reproduce, I signed off my adobe cloud account, and re-opened the documents. Surprise: All of the sudden Acrobat DC can open the file and display it correctly, of course only behind the login screen. 

 

Most interestingly: After logging-out and in again, I could open some of the documents I couldn't open before, until the issue re-appeared. Also interesting: During that time the signatures were validated as "invalid", whereas other tools validate them as valid.

 

Overall, I am heavily confused by the behaviour and will have to think about the next steps. I might consider sending the dump files, but openly, I miss the balance between having a log file available that actually provides information on the behaviour of Adobe Acrobat and providing dumps over which I have no control what information I am actually sharing, and from whose readible parts I can see that they contain quite a lot information on my actual system.

 

Also a side note: Everything works just fine when I use the Adobe Reader instead, even though it certainly misses the Pro features. Maybe I will just wait for the next update, don't know yet.

mikeb_79
mikeb_79
Participant
May 12, 2023

any outcome on this. it happens when i see it digitally signed it think with an adobe dig signature, only on certain documents. my work around to open it is using edge or chrome to view so can print. iS this something adobe is working on to resolve. i;m pretty sure its signature related. only happening with particalur signatures signed pdf documents.

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices