Annoying pop-up quit error message when opening files

[jaynixx]

What's causing me to constantly get an error message when opening files that "Acrobat quit unexpectedly"? It hasn't stopped me from working or adversely affected any files but if you miss and/or don't close the message you end up with multiple windows open in the background with the same message.

[michaeld98621948]

Update - this didn't work.

[daveporterau]

I finally solved it. The problem is the PDF thumbnail previewer is the culprit. I turned that off in the -> prefences -> "Enable PDF Thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer". Unfortunately this turns them off in Explorer, however solves the problem. 

To view them again in Explorer i used MS Powertools to view the PDF thumbnails, and which renders them much faster, and with a clear background.  To do this select -> File Explorer add-ons in PowerToys, and then select the -> Preview Pane to 'on' and under "Thumbnail Icon Preview" to 'on'.  It worked straight away for me without a reboot.  So now, now errors with Adobe Acrobat and also no explorer crashing, and it works faster. 

Hoipe this helps. 

[michaeld98621948]

THANK YOU!!!!  Finally a workable solution that allows thumbnails to still show.  I appreciate it!

[Techmeister2233]

Thanks for the insight, solved the popup issue, and viewing is much more responsive.

[Gautier24573244j1p2]

You sir, just restaured my pdf and faith in humanity. 

[michaeld98621948]

UPDATE - The only thing that worked for me was as dave said - remove PDF thumbnails from Acrobat settings under Preferences>General and turn on PDF thumbnails in Windows PowerToys (you can install powertoys from the MS Store if you don't have it already.

[Chrissy33163166b5mh]

After scoring the web for the solution to this problem, I just stumbled across an easy fix. Open Adobe, select Edit then preferences, go to the Security (Enhanced). By default Enable protected mode at startup is selected and grayed out, where I work that has to be on so can not be changed. It also had another box beside it checked. I left that alone but under priviledged locations I checked the box Automatically trust documents with valid certification. The box below it was already checked. I hit ok, closed reopened a pdf and no more annoying error message popping up! Hope that helps you too.

[JLW-Rose]

I am still getting this annoying pop-up -- note, my Acrobat has never crashed, but every PDF I open creates this pop-up saying "Acrobat quit unexpectedly" -- and have tried some of the fixes, including the "correct" one below changing the "protected mode," and also the "touch mode" one , but neither worked.  I use thumbnail previews a lot so I'm not disabling that, and I am not going back to 32-bit, and I'm not messing with my registry.  What is the actual fix for this Adobe??   I'm using Adobe Acrobat Pro v. 2023.006.20360.

P.S. You also need a way to disable/remove the new "+Create" button along the top of the window -- I will NEVER need to create a PDF that way, and it's very hard to move the window when many tabs are open without triggering that stupid button.

[daveporterau]

I have the same problem as you. What I did was turn off the thumbnail option and then use MS Powertoys to preview the thumbnails instead. No more issue. You could also install another program to do the thumbnails, that would likely work as well. 

[FuzzyJohn]

I am still getting this annoying pop-up -- note, my Acrobat has never crashed, but every PDF I open creates this pop-up saying "Acrobat quit unexpectedly" -- and have tried some of the fixes, including the "correct" one below changing the "protected mode," and also the "touch mode" one , but neither worked.  I use thumbnail previews a lot so I'm not disabling that, and I am not going back to 32-bit, and I'm not messing with my registry.  What is the actual fix for this Adobe??   I'm using Adobe Acrobat Pro v. 2023.006.20360.

P.S. You also need a way to disable/remove the new "+Create" button along the top of the window -- I will NEVER need to create a PDF that way, and it's very hard to move the window when many tabs are open without triggering that stupid button.

By @JLW-Rose

As of now there is now actual fix for this problem. Once Adobe solves this issue they will included in the following program update. Until that time you either live with the problem or use one of the workarounds detailed here, like disabling Explorer Previews, Registry Edit or Powertoys.

As for the +Create, I doubt they will remove it. Adobe Reader is free software and they are trying to steer you towards some paid service or full software. Personally I'd rather have that +Create button somewhere out of the way on the screen than having ads.

[JLW-Rose]

Hoping not to jinx it but I ran the internal "Repair Installation" earlier and the issue has stopped -- for now.  It'll probably come back, I hope they have a real fix soon.

As for the +Create button, I hear what you're saying for why they want to have it in Reader, but I'm paying for Acrobat Pro, it shouldn't be in this version.

[dazzling_brilliance4168]

Issue still exists. Disabling Protected View as Jaynixx posted does fix the issue, but it's a bummer since running pdf's in a sandbox is genius. If I re-enable it, the issue comes back. Issue is exactly as described in the OP's post. Win11 23h2 and Adobe Acrobat Pro | Continous Release | Version 2023.0008.20533 | 64-bit.

[daveporterau]

The issue seems to be resolved for me in Win 10 and Win 11 with the latest version: 20555. Windows had a problem itself with PDF previews in the details pane, though not sure if the two problems were related.