I've been using Acrobat for years and have never had an issue where the external editor will not open. I've tried:Changing to a different editorChanging to the Acrobat editor and back to an external editorModifying the JavaScript settings (unchecked everything using several scenarios) Any suggestions? I see that Tuesday, October 12, 2021 there was an update... Could the new update caused a bug? The only other things I can think to do is try to repair the installation or try to reinstall the previous version...

MADink_Designs27

Inspiring

Question

External JS Editor Won't Open

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
October 14, 2021
6 replies
4974 views

I've been using Acrobat for years and have never had an issue where the external editor will not open.

I've tried:

Changing to a different editor
Changing to the Acrobat editor and back to an external editor
Modifying the JavaScript settings (unchecked everything using several scenarios)

Any suggestions? I see that Tuesday, October 12, 2021 there was an update... Could the new update caused a bug?

The only other things I can think to do is try to repair the installation or try to reinstall the previous version...

JR Boulay

Community Expert

The trick is not to use the “External Editor” function.
To avoid bugs and nasty surprises, I use Notepad++ (or BBEdit on the Mac) and copy-paste into Acrobat's editor.

Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe

M

mcmahom

Participant

Considering some javascript code is too long for Acronbat's editor to even open, that's not a very useful trick. Right now I have the same problem and since Acrobat will not allow the external editor to launch, it's impossible for me to edit the code.

M

mcmahom

Participant

To fix this, go into Edit / Preferences / Security (Enhanced) and uncheck "Enable Protected Mode at Startup" under Sandbox Protections. When you restart Acrobat, external editors should work.

G

gary_6283

Participant

I discovered Microsoft Defender antivirus/threat protection was blocking Notepad++.
Block Rule: "Block Adobe from "creating child processes"

G

GGN

Inspiring

I have a similar problem. My favorite Editor, EditPad Pro, did work fine as an external JS-Editor for years - until 3 days ago! No Error-message, nothing, The Editor simpy don't start working. Now strange:

1. Windows Notepad works well

2. Notepad+++ works well

3. And when I sign up as Admin even EditPad Pro works well!?!

But as normal User ...

Since MADink_Designs27 issue wasn't solved really, I hope someone from Adobe jumps in 🙂

G

GGN

Inspiring

Guess I better open a new thread, seems, that noone cares for the old ones?

MADink_Designs27Author

Inspiring

Did you ever find a solution to this?

J

JFRaf653

Participant

How was this rectified? I'm having the same problem

MADink_Designs27Author

Inspiring

No, but I'm no longer working on JS forms. The last time I was using them, it was not working. I had to copy and paste script from my editor into notepad.

Bernd Alheit

Community Expert

Try the editor notepad++

MADink_Designs27Author

Inspiring

Thank you for your reccomendation. I'm familiar with Sublime Text and would prefer to stick with that. VS Code doesn't work either. This has now been tested on three different machines under different accounts.

Why would some editors work and others aren't but previously were?

I have already submitted to Adobe Uservoice.

MADink_Designs27Author

Inspiring

Is there a way to revert back to a previous build of Acrobat?

Other CC applications have a way to install previous. It doesn't seem to be the case with Acrobat...

MADink_Designs27Author

Inspiring

I tried repairing the installation without success.

I also opened a form on another computer with a different Adobe license, and it does not open the editor either. I'm beginning to think this is a bug with the latest version, but the CC app doesn't seem to have a place to download the previous version...

F

Firefly Integrations

Participant

Upon further testing, notepad is the only external editor I've been able to get to work thus far.

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