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Prevent Acrobat from installing Office add-ins?

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
September 24, 2023
3 replies
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I would like to permanently prevent Acrobat from installing add-ins for Microsoft 365 applications.

Acrobat installs add-ins for Excel, PowerPoint, and Word in ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content/Startup. It doesn't ask for permission to do this and there is no option to stop it from happening.

I can turn the add-ins off from within the Microsoft applications but they turn back on when I relaunch the applications. I can delete them from the Startup folder where Acrobat places them but Acrobat just replaces them. Has anyone figured out a way to permanently stop Acrobat from doing this?

PDF

Correct answer PhilCaskey

I use the Windows version, but suspect there's a similar fix for Mac. There is a file, AcroPro.msi, that is in a subfolder in C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Setup Files. Running it allows me to turn off all the Office add-ins in one shot.

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PhilCaskeyCorrect answer

New Participant

I use the Windows version, but suspect there's a similar fix for Mac. There is a file, AcroPro.msi, that is in a subfolder in C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Setup Files. Running it allows me to turn off all the Office add-ins in one shot.

M

mlake-flg

New Participant

@PhilCaskey Yes! Thank you!!!! My AcroPro.msi was in a different location ("C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\Setup Files\{AC76BA86-1033-FFFF-7760-BC15014EA700}\AcroPro.msi"), but that seems to have done the trick (at least for now... we'll see what happens when the next update rolls around).

For others who want to remove the PDFMaker Add-Ins, here are the steps I followed:

Find AcroPro.msi and run it.
Choose Modify.
Select Create Adobe PDF and choose This feature will not be available.
Select Acrobat Distiller > Additional PDFMakers and choose This feature will not be available.
Click Install.
Reboot when installer finishes.

3

32498522tsztAuthor

New Participant

If you're on a Mac the only solution I've found is to set up a Folder
Action to monitor one of the three folders where the add-on gets installed.
It's pretty straightforward and you can search online for instructions.
Basically, you use functionality that's built in to macOS to monitor a
folder and to give you a notification if anything gets added to that
folder. Every once in a while, Adobe will reinstall the add-ins, you'll get
a notification, and then you just go to the three folders where they get
added and manually delete them. It's not a permanent solution but it pretty
much just requires about 15-30 seconds of your time every few weeks when
the add-ins get reinstalled.

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Daniel Holt (he/him)
*Prep School History Teacher*
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www.cgps.org

Abambo

Community Expert

Until now, I haven't bothered. What is tge issue with those?

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

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waldronjwf

New Participant

The issue for me is that I like to customize the Word home ribbon with some extra icons at the right hand side that I use all the time. When the Adobe icons are there there isn't room in the ribbon for both and Adobe has made its tools take priority over any that I add, and furthermore made them impossible to remove using the Word customization tools, which is infuriating. They get in my way and I don't want them.

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SPM Adobe

New Participant

I have the same problem. I have tryed to fix it editing the regedid but the 3 unwanted buttons come back after a while. Very, very, annoying and a totally unwanted feature.

3

32498522tsztAuthor

New Participant

(I am, obviously, talking about Acrobat for Macintosh.)

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