Adobe Acrobat Pro DC not recognizing Surface Pen

Report · Jul 10, 2022

I have recently just upgraded work computers from the Surface Laptop 2 to the Surface Book 3. I frequently have to open PDFs (engineering drawings) in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC and mark them up with comments. On my Surface Laptop 2, I was able to open a PDF (in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC) and grab my pen and start writing. The PDFs in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC on my Surface Book 3, however, do not recognize my Surface Pen. Both Whiteboard and OneNote, the other two places I use my pen both work perfectly fine, which isolates this to Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. When I touch the screen with the Surface Pen in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, it just grabs the PDF scrolls in whichever way I move the pen. I have gone through my settings in each computer side-by-side and verified that all settings are the same, including the "Auto detect pen hardware to enable markup." I have done all the elementary steps: unclicking that setting, closing app, reopening, reselcting, trying again/ simply restarting my computer/ uninstalling and reinstalling Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. I also made sure my pen driver (all drivers, really) was most up-to-date as well as Windows. I connected the Surface Pen to my Surface Book 3 via bluetooth, which I never even did with my Surface Laptop 2, and it still doesn't work. In fact, when connected to this Surface Book 3, it still writes on the PDFs on my old computer and my colleagues' computers. And of course, I tried rebooting my Surface Pen... to no avail. My troubeshooting thusfar has given me significant reason to believe this is an issue with Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, however I am stumped beyond that and would be enormously appreciative of some help.

Report · Nov 11, 2022

Adobe, can you please answer this? I have this problem intermittently. Sometimes the application will recognize the pen and allow me to mark up the file. Other times, it will stop working for weeks at a time. Extremely frustrating. The autodetect pen is selected on my settings too.

Report · Nov 16, 2022

Add my name to the list of frustrated users experiencing exactly the same issue.

Report · Mar 07, 2023

I have discovered Drawboard PDF, which has WAAAY better support for pen writing/drawing!

Report · Apr 08, 2023

Ended up downloading Drawboard PDF. Thank you for sharing! I hope adobe fixes this issue. I've wasted hours trying to fix it. Writing on adobe works on my PC but not on my surface anymore!

Report · Nov 29, 2022

Looking for an answer too. Adobe, are you there or have you been 'Out of Office' since July 2022?

Report · Jan 30, 2023

I have the same issue. I switched to XODO which recognizes the stylus perfectly. However, it is a shame that my university is paying for Acrobat and we cannot use it. Perhaps we will stop paying.

Report · Jul 28, 2024

Same! Did you ever receive any answers?

Report · Mar 09, 2023

Adobe, what gives? Any answers? I presume we're all paying customers, and we expect an answer. Thank you!

Report · Oct 05, 2023

I would certainly like to see an aswer to this.

Report · Jul 07, 2024

Try with MS Edge. I have the same problem and I opened a PDF with MS Edge for accident, then i Selected the pencil with the surface pen for curiosity and voilá, problem solved. I can draw with the surface pen, but still navigate and zoom with my fingers, even I can erase with the upper side and everything without change the tool. I uninstalled Adobe Acrobat inmediatly.