I am trying to open a pdf embedded in excel, but I am getting an error stating " cannot start the source application for this object" Can anyone help please?

Report · Jun 16, 2015

any help would be appreciated. I already tried turning off protected mode, but that didn't fix it.

Report · Jun 16, 2015

Hi Scott,

Please let me know the version of Adobe Reader/Acrobat & MS office installed on your computer?

In the mean time try the below steps :-

In your Adobe Reader/Acrobat

Goto EDIT -> PREFERENCES...
On the GENERAL Category.
UNCHECK the 'Enable Protected Mode at startup'
* you will get warning telling you that you will have to manually restart Reader before it takes effect.
Then go into EXCEL & check if it works.

Regards,

Aadesh

Report · Jun 16, 2015

I am using Acrobat pro 10, and excel 10. I do not have the UNCHECK the 'Enable Protected Mode at startup' in general in pro x. I turned off the security in the security field. That didn't help either.

Report · Jun 16, 2015

I installed reader, and now I can view, but if I want to edit I now have to open acrobat, and search for the document. While I can do this, I would like to get it back to being able to do it all through acrobat. I greatly appreciate any help you can give.

Report · Jun 16, 2015

Hi Scott,

Try the below steps :-

Right click on any of the PDF file & select Open With -> Choose the Default program.
Default program window will pop up, then select Acrobat as the default program.
At the bottom you will see a check box "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" make sure it is checked.
Click OK to confirm the changes.

Now all your PDF files will open in Acrobat by default.

Regards,

Aadesh

Report · Sep 30, 2022

It was really helpful, thanks.

Report · Mar 22, 2018

I am having this issue. I notice that this post has over 3000 views, has anyone found a fix? I have 300 items embedded in an excel file and suddenly I can't view any of them. I am using Excel 2016 and Adobe Acrobat DC and Adobe Reader X.

Report · Apr 11, 2018

This option can be found at Preferences --> Security (enhanced)

Report · Mar 08, 2020

I have had this problem for a couple years now and I fixed it today 🙂

This is what finally worked for me:

I have acrobat installed and none of the fixes worked.

So, in addition to acrobat I installed adobe reader dc

Now in excel I can use the option - insert - object - adobe acrobat document

Reader pops up for a second and then does it's thing and now I have an embedded PDF with no errors.