"There was an error while opening this document. The path does not exist."

That error usually shows up when Acrobat struggles to resolve file paths passed by Windows Explorer—especially if the path is too long, contains special characters, or uses odd formatting. Opening from within Acrobat works because it bypasses Explorer's path handoff.

To fix it:

1. Clear Acrobat’s recent file cache:
   Go to Edit → Preferences → Documents → Clear Recent File List. This removes any corrupted temp links.
2. Reassociate PDFs cleanly:
   In Windows Settings → Apps → Default apps, unassign then reassign Acrobat as the default PDF viewer.
3. Test locally:
   Move the PDF to a local path like C:\Users\YourName\Documents to check if deep folder nesting is the issue.
4. Run as Admin + Repair Again:
   Run Acrobat once as administrator, then use the repair function again to reset shell integration.
5. Use Long Path Tool:
   If the file is buried under a deep directory structure (often >260 characters), Explorer won’t pass the full path cleanly to Acrobat. Long Path Tool can help detect, move, or rename these files safely — resolving the issue without editing the registry or guessing where things break.

Still stuck? Use Process Monitor to trace how the path is being passed from Explorer to Acrobat. It often confirms if the root cause is path depth or encoding.

This topic is old but it will be useful for those who come across it via Google. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnKNR1qlX5s

I HAVE A SOLUTION

File can't be accessed or deleted because the name is too long

So all you need to do is change the file name

Only Adobe can't access it so just use another program to change the name to something shorter and you'll be able to access/delete it

I used the free WPS Office program and used "Batch rename" to change the file names and they all worked like normal after that

Just use longpath tool, it is helpful. 

Hi ,

I just resolved this for a user. This issue is caused by the 255bit limit placed by the windows file system. This needs to be adjusted in REGEDIT, to select the long option by changing a '0' to a '1'. Log into Regedit as an admin, Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem select LongPathsEnable, change the word value to '1', restart your computer and that should be it

The "answer" in unacceptable.  Cannot open or save any PDF's - pretty basic fuctions and renders acrobat useless if neither work.  Asking me to rename all of my files / download all pdfs on sharepoint to open them is not acceptable.  Also it's unable to save files on my desktop with spaces - truncates the name at the space and does not save in PDF format.  Was using acrobat cloud yesterday and it all worked just fine.  Now on the desktop version and nothing works.  Please help.

I have the same problems. Works in download folder, does not work in Dropbox folder. I can open the file in Chrome without problems. 

Acrobat Reader version is 2021.007.20099

Well windows 10 long path support is needed.