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A-Doh!-be
Participating Frequently
December 6, 2023
Answered

Where does Acrobat store the "last saved" folder path?

  • December 6, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 1841 views

I have some Adobe Acrobat DC (2020) (Win10) scanning stations with a device license (no logging into an Adobe account required) that are used by a lot of ever-changing workers who must save scans to a specific network path. If they scan somewhere else, there is a lot of wasted time and effort and frustrated patrons. These are student workers with limited job satisfaction/commitment and a lot of other things on their mind. This is a vital functional workflow for the library.  Thus, I need every user to have the default save location in Acrobat to be that specific path.

 

According to other discussions (e.g. this one and others), there is no setting for that default save location (despite many years of multiple users begging for the option). Also, the initial save location is the last location something was saved. While there is no "official" way to set that for all users, the last save location path must be stored somewhere. I am trying to find it with the hope (as an experienced sysadmin) of copying that setting it to the default user profile, but despite my expience, I am not having any luck.

 

Since it is a per-user value, I started a new Windows profile as an unprivileged user and had Acrobat create/save a PDF to a uniquely-named location.  Now, Acrobat "remembers" to start the open/save dialog there. When I search for that unique name, the path shows up in a number of registry keys for various reasons, but removing/changing the path no affect on the path in which Acrobat begins for the save dialog.

 

I've completely deleted everything Adobe-adjacent in HKCU and in the appdata tree (Roaming, Local and LocalLow), and the initial save location remains that unique path. This is a new profile, so there is very little "junk" to confuse what I am looking at. It's bad enough that Adobe (passively) refuses to add a default path setting for so many years, but also (actively) hiding/encoding the storage of this path where it can't easily be found... that is shameful!

 

Where else could the "last saved" path possibly be stored for an unprivileged user?

 

[Moderator moved the thread to the correct forum]

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    1 reply

    Abambo
    Community Expert
    AbamboCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    December 6, 2023

    Check here: https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Wizard/registry.html

    ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
      A
      A-Doh!-beAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      December 6, 2023

      @AbamboI wouldn't say this is now answered. 

      First, your response is basically RTFM and doesn't actually address the question. 

      Second, if the "last saved" path were pulled from the registry when saving is attempted, deleting the HKCU\Software\Adobe registry key should have caused Acrobat to drop back to the default ("Documents"), and it does not.

       

      If you are saying that some registry value is the primary source of the path and setting it will "do the trick", please specify which value.  I don't need a special tool to extract settings from the registry to have them applied at install.  I have two-decades of experience copying/altering the registry using other means.

       

      Thanks.

      Abambo
      Community Expert
      AbamboCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      December 6, 2023

      I'm saying nothing, I'm just pointing to were the information may be found. Whatever the solution is, if is either with roming in an xml file ore in the registry. I'm highly uninterested in making the work easier for students that are unwilling to follow instructions. But I understand, that you need to have the information where it should be. But I expect that you read the information you got and check if there is a solution to your problem. Do not expect me to solve all of your problems, and reading the documentation for you. (If I would getting paid for doing that I would do it). 

       

      This said, I also moved the thread to Acrobat, where you may find the specialists that may tell you what to do. 

      ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
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