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Question

Unable to open multiple PDFs at a time

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
July 25, 2023
3 replies
19716 views

I am working with a user using Adobe Acrobat Pro 64bit unable to to open multiple PDFs at a time recently. I have verified that Adobe, Windows, and their laptop firmware are up to date. I have disabled protected mode and that did not resolve the issue either. Restarting the laptop has not helped resolve this issue either. Are there any other steps I can try to help resolve the issue? This has been ongoing for a few days, before then, the user could access w/o any issue.

General troubleshooting

B

Bigh_H77

New Participant

Want to add that the issue still remains with version 2025.001.20756 (Pro - Enterprise). The issue reared it's head again when we added an Azure VM to our environment; what is more odd is only certain folders on the network drives hosted there cause the issue while others doesn't... permissions are the same for each folder also.

Disabling Protection is the only way to resolve it, but re-enabling it brings the issue back also.

For the amount of money Adobe charges for Acrobat, dealing with stuff like this is asinine.

AnandSri

Community Manager

Hello @Bigh_H77

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

Please check if you still experience the issue with the latest build of Acrobat and Acrobat Reader: 25.001.20844 for Windows and 25.001.20841 for Mac, November 3, 2025? If the issue persists, I will request that you initiate a session with Enterprise support so that they can assign a dedicated support team to your custom Enterprise environment, and help in resolving the issue.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

G

GusA

Participating Frequently

I am having the same issue - unable to open more than one file, be it in tabs or separate mode - no error messages, no warnings, no nothing. I must close one file to open another. I checked for updates and there were none. What's the problem?

AnandSri

Community Manager

Hello!

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

Please ensure you have the latest version of Acrobat installed on the machine: 25.001.20458 Planned update, Apr 15, 2025. Check for any pending updates from the Menu > help > check for updates, install the updates, restart the app and the machine, and check. For more information, see this: https://adobe.ly/3GgUl6C

For testing purposes, Disable Protected Mode (Windows only): Protected Mode can sometimes interfere with opening multiple PDFs: Open Acrobat. Go to Menu > Preferences > Security (Enhanced). Uncheck the following options: Enable Protected Mode at startup, Enable Enhanced Security. Click OK and restart Acrobat. Only do this for testing purposes and re-enable them afterwards.

Navigate to the Preferences > General > check/uncheck the option of Open documents as new tabs in the same window. Click OK, and restart the app.

If the issue still persists, please use the Acrobat Cleaner tool to remove the app, restart the machine, and install Acrobat.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

G

GusA

Participating Frequently

Thanks for your reply Anand.

I have the latest version as specified. I unistalled the app and reinstalled and applied the latest version to no avail. I then used the Cleaner tool which ran continuously for over 16 hours at which point I terminated the program.

I then had to go my web account to unistall and reinstall as it no longer appeared in Programs and Features. I again applied the latest version and disabled Protected mode and Enhanced security which soloved the problem. When I reinstated Protected mode and Enhanced sucurity, the problem returned. I also tried disabling Protected mode alone which solved the problem.

Finally I reanbled Protected mode and continue to have the problem. Any further thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks again.

AkanchhaS8194121

Brainiac

Hi @mainu2300574

When you say that you are unable to open multiple pdfs at a time, could you please elaborate on this statement a little more/

While opening a pdf file, is there any error message you receive? Does it open the first pdf file and then not open the other files after opening the one/

Also, from where are you opening the files? Is it through the Windows file explorer or Document Cloud?

Close the application from the task manager once. And then restart the computer.
After that, launch Acrobat, and try opening the file. If that doesn't work, then.
Navigate to Acrobat>Edit>Preferences>Security (Enhanced)>disable "Protected Mode at Start-up", "Protected View," and "Enhanced Security">OK>close and reopen Acrobat.

Note: these changes are only for testing purposes. Once tested, please change it back to the previous setting.

Try opening the file again.

Let us know the result.

Thanks,

Akanchha

mainu2300574Author

New Participant

Hello,

We are able to open the first PDF file. If we attempt to open a second file, we do not receive any error message or popup. The file will not open in Adobe.
I am opening files thru file explorer. The user normally accesses files off a network, but we are having this issue on both network drives and locally saved files.

I have edited the protected mode to disable, but that did not help in this case unfortuantely.

Regards, J

mikej78789394

New Participant

i am having the same issue. I have found if I contuously click on the document it will eventually open but it could take 10 or more clicks before it does. very frustrating.

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