How to Stop Acrobat Pro DC from saving to Cloud?

[longstreath]

I have a subscrioption for Acrobat Pro DC Continuous Release version 2022

I have files on my computer that I want to edit, ie add highlights or comments to. I want to save them after editing without them going to the cloud.

I have looked through the preferences and cannot find an option to turn off saving to the cloud.

I have tried removing the save button, but there is no save as button, so now every time I want to save a file that I have edited or made comments on, I have to go to File > Save As > then choose the location > then overwrite the file.

This is crazy! I just want to save the file with the edits to the original location.

How can this be done now without so much effort?

[JR Boulay · Accepted solution]

[AnandSri · Accepted solution]

Hello @matt_2190

I hope you are doing well, and we are sorry for the delayed response and the trouble.

We have verified your Adobe ID (email), which you have used to log in to the community. You currently have an active subscription to Adobe Acrobat PDF Pack. This subscription includes a bundle of Adobe Acrobat online services, allowing you to create, combine, organize, sign, and send PDF files online. You can use the services with the free Acrobat Reader app. However, if you try to use the services with Acrobat Pro, you will see a message prompting you to subscribe or a trial message in Acrobat.

If local editing is important to you, the only way to fully restore that experience is to upgrade back to Acrobat Pro. To do this, you must contact the support team. 

I hope this information helps, and feel free to reach out if you need further assistance.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

[Bernd Alheit]

What does you see at the preferences?

[Abambo]

First:

• Save is Ctrl/Command+s
• Save As is Ctrl/Command+Shift+s

Acrobat, by using save, saves the document to the same place where the PDF file has been opened from, overwriting the previous version.

The Save As command saves by default into the same folder as it has been opened from (preselected).

1. recent folders, select the one you need
2. Choose a different folder, not in the “recent” list.
3. Save somewhere else on preconfigured cloud accounts.

This is for a Windows PC Computer.

(BTW: When posting here, only select the relevant topics. People are specifically following topics of their competence.)

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi Longstreath,

Thank you for reaching out.

If you are working on the files saved locally and save them after making changes, they will not get saved on Acrobat Cloud Storage automatically. It needs to be done manually, and there is no automatic process.

As you add a comment and make changes to the file, you get the Save icon under the Home tab on the Menu bar. If the file is saved locally, it will save the changes to the same file. Or you can use the File > Save option.

You may disable the "Show online storage when saving files" under Edit Menu >  Preferences > General if you wish.

Let us know if you are referring to something else.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

[Jennifer2648879270f6]

Hello, it is February 2024 and actually, Adobe Acrobat IS IN FACT automatically saving my PDFs to the Cloud by default - which is incredibly annoying. Is there now a solution to change that feature?

[JR Boulay · Accepted solution]

[Jennifer2648879270f6]

Thank you so much!!!

[Sauro Baietta]

I have already unchecked the two options but Acrobat still goes on consuming a useful parte of may screen to suggest me to save file on cloud!!! See the picture!!! What a boring thing!!!

[AnandSri · Accepted solution]

Hello @Sauro Baietta

I hope you are doing well. Thanks for reaching out, and we're sorry for the trouble you had.

Could you please share more details about the issue? Is it happening with the Acrobat or the freeware Acrobat Reader app? Are you on a Windows or a Mac machine, and what is the version? If you are using the desktop app, please ensure you have the latest version of Acrobat installed on the machine: 25.001.20630 Planned update, Aug 18, 2025. Check for any pending updates from the Menu > help > check for updates, install the updates, restart the app and the machine, and try again. 

Reboot the machine once, reset the app preferences, and try again. After resetting the preferences, check the Preferences options and uncheck them again.

If the issue continues, please provide the following information: the current version of the operating system on your device, a quick screen recording, and the logs from the affected machine. To collect the logs, download and run the Log Collector tool. Make sure to select all log options and attempt to reproduce the issue. After that, close the Log Collector tool; it will generate the logs along with a log ID. Please share this log ID with us for further investigation.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

[matt_2190]

Hi,

I'm having a slightly different issue but internet searches bring this up as the closest to the issue that I'm having. I recently changed from a monthly subscription to Acrobat Pro to an annual subscription to regular Acrobat (I would have stayed with Pro if the option were presented to pay for it annually). Now I find that I can't edit a pdf (extract/replace) without Acrobabt opening a web page and saving everything to the cloud. Is this a default that I can change or do I need Pro to edit my files locally?

Thanks!

[matt_2190]

Part of why I'm asking is that I'm finding the cloud method to be more time consuming and unreliable, but I'd really prefer not to keep any files in the cloud if that can be avoided. Thanks in advance for any help.

[AnandSri · Accepted solution]

Hello @matt_2190

I hope you are doing well, and we are sorry for the delayed response and the trouble.

We have verified your Adobe ID (email), which you have used to log in to the community. You currently have an active subscription to Adobe Acrobat PDF Pack. This subscription includes a bundle of Adobe Acrobat online services, allowing you to create, combine, organize, sign, and send PDF files online. You can use the services with the free Acrobat Reader app. However, if you try to use the services with Acrobat Pro, you will see a message prompting you to subscribe or a trial message in Acrobat.

If local editing is important to you, the only way to fully restore that experience is to upgrade back to Acrobat Pro. To do this, you must contact the support team. 

I hope this information helps, and feel free to reach out if you need further assistance.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

[Energy_Guy]

I have a similar question wherein whenever I attach pdf files to an email, Adobe Acrobat Pro copies the file to the cloud and create links to the files. This was a novelty at first but is no a major concern due to: 1) I don't want to have confidential company documents in Adobe's cloud (versus my company's intranet) due to cyber security concerns 2) on a recent attachment yesterday, Adobe failed to convert the files leaving me with no option for sharing the files since every attempt to attach the files to an email resulted in Adobe Acrobat trying to invest and save the files to the cloud only to fail. I finally created a SharePoint folder and shared the link to the shared files but this was far more work than just attaching the (less than 1 MB files) in an email.  Please advise.