Edited Document Could not be Saved without Renaming - Caused by Windows Explorer Preview Pane

[brad_4413]

First off, Adobe needs to FIX THIS because it is a problem many users have experienced for YEARS.

If you have Windows Preview Pane turned on in Explorer, you likely get the following Acrobat error after opening a PDF and making any kind of edit to it:

    "The document could not be saved.  The file may be read-only, or another user may have it open. 

      Please save the document with a different name or in a different folder."

Adobe is seeing the preview of the image as a 'lock' on the file, not allowing it to be saved with the same name.  This doesn't happen with ANY OTHER DOCUMENT TYPE that I have come across in the Windows world, so there is something specific with Adobe's handling of the preview pane trigger.

Turn off Preview Pane and you can save edits with no issue...But many users prefer to have the Preview Pane function, so it creates unnecessary problems because of Adobe's 

[Tariq Ahmad]

Hi @brad_4413, 

Thanks for reaching out with your question, and sorry for the troubled experience: 

You may also know it this is a technical limitation:

When the Preview Pane in Windows File Explorer is turned on, and a PDF file is selected, Windows loads a preview of that file using a handler (usually the Adobe PDF preview handler or a system-provided one). This preview action causes Windows Explorer to open and lock the file, even if it’s just passively selected.

Now, if you’re editing that same file in Adobe Acrobat and try to save it:

• Acrobat attempts to overwrite the original file.

• However, the file is still locked by Windows Explorer due to the preview handler.

• Acrobat can’t save over the locked file, so it prompts you to save a new copy instead (with a different name).

You may try:

Turn off the Preview Pane in File Explorer:

• Open any File Explorer window.
• Go to the “View” tab.
• Uncheck the “Preview pane.”

Let us know if you have further questions.

~Tariq

[brad_4413]

It may be a technical limitation, but it can be overcome. Nitro Pro PDF did not experience this LOCK issue, as well as most any other 3rd part and/or Microsoft app. Thus the conclusion is that there is another way for Adobe to interpret this psuedo-lock and treat it like virtually all other previewed file types by allowing SAVE to happen without a rename.


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Brad Burks
[removed personal information from the reply: Adobe moderator]

[AnandSri]

Hello Brad!

I hope you are doing well.

When Preview Pane is enabled, Windows Explorer opens a handle to the file for rendering the preview. Acrobat interprets this handle as a lock, assuming the file is in use by another process, and thus blocks saving directly to the original file. This behavior is specific to Acrobat and how it interacts with Windows shell extensions. Other PDF tools like Nitro or MS Word don’t trigger the same lock because they manage file handles differently. 

As suggested in the previous response by our Adobe employee, you can Turn off Preview Pane in File Explorer: Open any folder > Click View > Disable Preview Pane (or press Alt + P). You should now be able to open, edit, and save PDFs in Acrobat without the error.

If you would like, you can use the Wish form to express your concerns directly to the product team about a new feature or enhancements to an existing one.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

[brad_4413]

Thanks for the reply, but …

1. Yes, this is unique way (and in many people’s opinion, an INCORRECT WAY) that Adobe interprets the handler
1. It really is something that can and should be addressed from that perspective.
2. I’ve already added my comments to the Wish List – but this same issue and Wish has been out there since 2018, so I have no expectation of Adobe addressing this long-standing wish.
2. Suggesting an entire corporate community stop using a commonly-used, useful, friendly and justifiable Windows feature (Preview) isn’t a solution, it’s basically telling users  to “Break the way you normally work to adjust to our non-standard logic” that breaks the normal operational flow of various user groups. This approach is met with a firm “NO” because the benefits of Preview are too great.
1. What if every time you opened an Excel file (or any other file) for updates it asked you to change the name of it?  You would end up with tons of dead ‘versions’ of the spreadsheet, or have users spend unnecessary time messing with file management…this was starting to happen with Acrobat and the number of tickets of this issue/annoyance is telling.
3. In order to address this issue with Acrobat, I have resorted to the ‘Registry hack’ to make PDFs open with the Microsoft PDF Preview Handler so Adobe cannot even see the Preview is associated with the program.  Acrobat really is THE ONLY PROGRAM we use that treats a Preview as a Lock.  This is not standard for Windows programs, so again it’s something that Adobe should address on their approach.
1. Nitro and Foxit both treat previews ‘normally.
2. The excitement for the user community here of moving to Acrobat has waned, and I’ve already got requests for some to go back to Nitro since workflows were streamlined.

1.        I don’t like resorting to registry edits to fix programs, but for now that is what I’m doing for selected users.