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Participant
April 9, 2025
Answered

Disable Adobe Collaboration Synchronizer - Adobe Acrobat Pro 2020 & Windows 11

  • April 9, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 27662 views

Before I start downloading tools or editing resgistry keys, is there a simple way to keep Adobe Collarboration Syncrhonizer from firing up? It is diabled on startup. In Acrobat Pro 2020 Pereferences>Adobe Online Services I have unchecked "sync preferences across devices and document services."

 

I only use Pro 2020 and do not use any Adobe cloud services/sharing. Windows 11.

 

Thanks!

Correct answer atlantarta

I had high fan and the corresponding high CPU usage in task manager. I could see it was Adobe but the articles are confusing on this subject. As mentioned here I killed it over and over in task manager and that showed it was causing it. I then looked for a way to stop it. I have Adobe Acrobat Pro 2020 and it is up to date. I never use it online for anything I'm aware of at least. All my files are local and backed up on One Drive, I dont "collaborate". I simply renamed AdobeCollabSync.exe to AdobeCollabSync.exe.orig. That stopped it; and after a week, many reboots and uses of Adobe, I have no issues or errors thrown. I can't guarantee anything here but its easy to reverse with a rename. It worked so far but I have no idea if an update occurs, if that ever happens on a 2020 Adobe, if it will come back. Its not an original idea you'll see it in searches but until you try it who knows its the internet.

3 replies

Participant
March 15, 2026

Yes, there is: use AppControl to disable it. AppControl is useful for autokilling and preventing the launch of misbehaving executables and services, such as iCUE and of course Adobe.

atlantarta
atlantartaCorrect answer
Participant
April 12, 2025

I had high fan and the corresponding high CPU usage in task manager. I could see it was Adobe but the articles are confusing on this subject. As mentioned here I killed it over and over in task manager and that showed it was causing it. I then looked for a way to stop it. I have Adobe Acrobat Pro 2020 and it is up to date. I never use it online for anything I'm aware of at least. All my files are local and backed up on One Drive, I dont "collaborate". I simply renamed AdobeCollabSync.exe to AdobeCollabSync.exe.orig. That stopped it; and after a week, many reboots and uses of Adobe, I have no issues or errors thrown. I can't guarantee anything here but its easy to reverse with a rename. It worked so far but I have no idea if an update occurs, if that ever happens on a 2020 Adobe, if it will come back. Its not an original idea you'll see it in searches but until you try it who knows its the internet.

ryan_1826Author
Participant
April 14, 2025

I did this today. I'll report back in a week. Thanks for the suggestion!

creative explorer
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 10, 2025

@ryan_1826 
Go to Edit > Preferences > General. Look for any options related to "Automatically check for updates" or "Background Updates" and ensure those are also unchecked. Sometimes, background processes related to updates can trigger other Adobe services.|

 

If this doesn't resolve it, the next simplest level of intervention would involve using the Task Manager to manually end the "Adobe Collaboration Synchronizer" process each time it appears. While not a permanent solution, it's a quick way to stop it without making system-level changes.

m
Known Participant
June 18, 2025

FWIW, if you're on a Mac, it's located with Preferences > Internet > Allow speculative downloading in the background.

 

Nice one Adobe.

 

SlickRCBD
Participant
February 5, 2026

Except that I have that unchecked but the service still starts up on the Windows version of Acrobat Reader version 2025.001.21151 (64-bit).