Adobe Acrobat Pro Not Responding and constanly crashing (windows 11)

[Ryan_Joe]

I have 5 computers all with 12th gen i9 CPUs and EVGA 3080 Ti GPUs with each holding 64-128 GB of G. Skill RAM. Out of all 5 computers Adobe Acrobat is Not Responding and crashes. I have updated each computer, followed ALL of your troubleshooting methods on your website and in these forums. Accumilated 10-12 hours of my own time following Adobe guidelines to "fix" their program. Yet, the program is unusable. I even spent my own money to have two SEPERATE IT companies remote in on all FIVE of my computers to try and find the problem. $617 later they can't even find the problem to make Adobe not crash. I am paying to use your software and paid a 3rd party to try and find out why its crashing. Still, I am left with a non functioning software. How is this even possible? 

[Amal. · Accepted solution]

Hi there

Hope you are doing well and sorry to hear that.

Is this an issue started recently after you updated the application?

Please remove the application using the Acrobat cleaner tool https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/cleaner.html reboot the computer once and reinstall the application using the link https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/acrobat-dc-downloads.html and see if that works.

~Amal

[Linn26295150mrt4 · Accepted solution]

Check my solution above: 

1. Uninstall Acrobat pro

2. Install Reader 

3. Disable Protected mode in settings (security)

4. Install/upgrade to Acrobat pro

[Ioannis5C65 · Accepted solution]

Dear Amal,

Thank you for your reply, but I followed the second suggested solution (install reader first) and so far it works fine. If crashes start to occur again I will do as you advise in order to generate the needed logs.

Kind Regards
Yiannis N. Panagiotou

[P.I Removed by Moderator]

[Emmanuel28003675qkho · Accepted solution]

This is probably an edge case, and certainly a "DOH!" / facepalm / 1D10t issue on my part, but in case it helps someone:

Acrobat repeatedly "Not-Responding" was caused by a file with an invalid network path in the "Recent" list, in my case.

The "Recent" list is apparently re-read periodically throughout normal app usage, and for each entry an attempt is made to follow the path and interrogate the file in some fashion (I suspect for grabbing the first page as a thumbnail).

Using Acromon and Procmon helped reveal the issue, the pervasive re-parsing of the "Recent" list, and the timeout waiting for a network response.

Removing the offending invalid network file entry from the "Recent" list fixed the issue.

Other thoughts: The single invalid file path in the recent list always returned from unresponsive after about 20-30 seconds, not causing a crash.  Though too much impatient clicky-clicky would cause it to crash.  If there were more than one invalid network file path in the list, it would likely compound the wait times to the point that the app would certainly have been unusable.

[Jack157F · Accepted solution]

After navigating the Adobe website multiple times I finally found the correct place to download the app, and it now works. The URL is https://get.adobe.com/reader/download?os=Windows+10&name=Reader+2024.001.20615+English+Windows%2864B...

[Amal.]

Hi there

Hope you are doing well and sorry to hear that.

Would you mind sharing the version of the Adobe Acrobat DC you are using? Go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the application updated to the recent version 22.1.20085. Go to Help > check for updates and reboot the computer.

What is the workflow/steps you are doing that leads to application crash?

Please collect the crash logs as described here https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/collect-logs-crash-freeze.html and share them with us via the document cloud link as explained here https://helpx.adobe.com/document-cloud/help/sharing-pdfs.html for further investigation.

Regards

Amal

[Drew24863836jefl]

I'm have the same issue. I cannot even get Adobe to stay open long enough to navigate to Help. This is a huge problem! My Adobe DC is useless.

[Amal. · Accepted solution]

Hi there

Hope you are doing well and sorry to hear that.

Is this an issue started recently after you updated the application?

Please remove the application using the Acrobat cleaner tool https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/cleaner.html reboot the computer once and reinstall the application using the link https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/acrobat-dc-downloads.html and see if that works.

~Amal

[Drew24863836jefl]

It's an issue I began experiencing when I started using Windows 11. DC still works on my old Surface Pro that is running Windows 10. I noticed in the app properties that I cannot choose a Windows 10 compatibility mode on the Windows 11 machine, only modes for Win. 8, 7 and Vista. I will try your suggestion.

[Drew24863836jefl]

This seems to have done the trick! Thank you!

[excitethefire]

This did not fix my issue. Every time I click a new button or even scroll, I am met with a "Not Responding" program. What is going on with Adobe on Windows 11?

[Debra32470262rymy]

I know.  Mine had been MIA for a week now. I am trying to get all my files backed up and need to open them to make sure I want to save them.  This is crazy!

[defaulta6r6ghzpyc9i]

It sound like my computer is having the same issue. I am using lenovo yoga 16inch running windows 11 23H2 and a AMD Ryzen 5 7535U with Radeon Graphics and 8gb of ram. II have deleted and reinstalled Acrobat multiple times to no avail.  I don't really do anything too demanding on Acrobat mainly just combine 3-5 pdfs into one file and usally I have edge open with only 3-4 tabs open. I've told Acrobat to send diagnostic info so hopeful it gets fixed soon  

[Amal.]

Hi there,

Is this an issue with a particular PDF file or with all the PDFs? Please try with a different PDF file and check. If the file is stored on a shared network/drive please download it to your computer locally and then try again.

What is the version of the Acrobat DC you are using? To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the recent version 23.06.20380 installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

Also try to repair the installation from the help menu (Win Only) and see if that works.

Please try to reset the Acrobat preferences as described here https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/how-to-reset-acrobat-preference-settings-to-defau...

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

Let us know how it goes

~Amal

[defaulta6r6ghzpyc9i]

All the files that I am using in acrobat is using are in my downloads
folder on my computer and i am running the most recent version 23.06.20380.
I am also a full admin user. I will try to use the repair install but I've
deleted and reinstalled it multiple times.

[Amal.]

Sure, please try to repair the installation and reboot the computer once.  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.

~Amal

[jonbjork]

I am having the same problem with all of my PDFs that I open in Adobe Acrobat Pro Version 23.8.20458.0. I work with as many as 15 different PDFs per day. I can try to print or just hit a down arrow to try to move to the next page and it hangs with the not responding message. It always recovers and becomes usable after about 20 seconds, but it is EXTREMELY ANNOYING and definitely below the otherwise excellent performance of all my other Creative Suite applications. It almost feels like the app is trying to log on over the internet to check the status of my subscription before proceeding. I have updated to the latest version and even did a complete uninstall/reinstall but none of that fixed the problem. Please help! - Jon Bjork

[christopher_6903]

Have you found a solution? We are having the same issue.

[craig_1608]

Good morning Amal,

I have done what was listed above and my Acrobat Pro version 2024 003.20112/64-bit. becomes unresponsive then shuts down. its been happening for the last few months. However, it is getting worse. I use this program for marking up plans amungst other uses and it is very frustrating when I cant do my job. 

Please can the program be sorted soon. Im over it!!!

[Ken_Cousins]

I have a Lenovo P1 ThinkPad with i7 processors and 64 GB of RAM, running fully patched Windows 11. Over the past two weeks, Acrobat DC has become increasingly unstable.

First were error popups that would only go away after closing the program via Task Manager. I made sure the software was updated, but the behavior persisted. I then ran repair installation within the software itself.

Now it crashes as the application is starting. I followed the steps outlined by Amal below, with the same non-effect. I'm struggling to understand why we're paying for software that does not work.

[Amal.]

Hi there

We are sorry to hear that.

Please confirm the version of the application you are using. To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat. Also, please collect the Adobe CC logs https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-log-collector.html , procmon logs https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/acromonitor.html and share them via document cloud as described here https://helpx.adobe.com/document-cloud/help/sharing-pdfs.html for more investigation.

Regards

Amal

[Ken_Cousins]

Amal, CC Desktop says I'm running Version 22.0 (the app crashes when loading). I believe I've followed the other steps you've laid out, but the software is a bit light on explanation.

[Ken_Cousins]

CC logs appear to have uploaded themselves as "AdobeLogs_20220815_024236_897-win-GS.zxp"

[Amal.]

Hi Ken

Sorry to keep you waiting. This issue is reported to our engineering team and they are working on it for the fix.

We will share the update as soon as we get any news from them.

Regards

Amal

[Bella25312017o2fn]

I am also having this problem. An adobe tech remote worked on my system for over an hour this evening to try and resolve it- nothing. It works in my administrator account, but not on my user account, which has admin priviledges. If this is an ongoing microsoft/ adobe compatability issue then something needs to be done- I still have no way of editing images in paint when I edit pdfs. 

[Ken_Cousins]

Hi Amal. It's been nearly a month, and no word. Also, no Acrobat DC - the app crashes within two seconds of trying to open a file.

Any word on an actual solution?

[Amal.]

Hi @Ken_Cousins 

We are sorry to hear that. Please update the application to the recent version 22.2.20212 from the help menu > check for updates and reboot the computer once.

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

~Amal

[Ken_Cousins]

Thanks, Amal. It appears to work under the test profile. How do I get it to work under my own profile?

[Amal.]

Hi @Ken_Cousins 

It looks like to be an issue with the user profile. Please try to repair the affected user profile and see if that works for you.

~Amal