Acrobat failed to connect to a DDE server

[debbiep97695404]

Why am I getting this message im now unable to open any PDF doc

Has been working fine until today

please can someone help in plain non-techy English how can I fix this ?

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi Debbiep,

As you have mentioned above you get error "Acrobat failed to connect to DDE server" when you try to open the PDF.

This error occurs when you have more than 1 process of Acrobat running

Please try the troubleshooting steps provided below:

1) make sure that the application is not open in the Task Manager.

• Go to the task manager by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del
• Go to the processes in Task Manager
• End all processes related to Acrobat
• Launch Acrobat again.

2) Repair the application. Open Acrobat and navigate to Help menu > Repair installation.

3) Check the file association on your system.

Check if this helps.

Let us know if you still experience the issue.

Regards,

Meenakshi

[Kshakti]

Hi Debbiep,

In addition to the above investigations, please also let us know the below:

1. Your machine configuration (OS and machine specification details)
2. Acrobat product your are facing issue with? (Is it Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader)
3. Exact version of the product . Goto Help -> About Adobe Acrobat/Reader and provide the version details.

[ClintonJackson]

I can confirm that Adobe has a fault with their software,

I have now seen this issue on well over 50 PCs for many of my clients, various operating systems.

The first PDF will open fine but when you close it the process will stay running and you won't be able to open another one until you manually kill the process, but then the cycle continues.

Repairing\reinstalling doesn't work

The only way to resolve it it to roll adobe back to an earlier version, or use a different software company's PDF viewer.

Please fix this software Adobe, you have caused me many hours of work with this issue already.

[Kshakti]

Hi clintonjackson,

Sorry for the trouble you are facing .

To better debug your issue, can you please send me  process monitor logs for the whole workflow.

Process monitor can be downloaded from

Process Monitor - Windows Sysinternals | Microsoft Docs

Mail ID is shared at as private message.

Thanks,

Shakti K

[AshuMittal]

Hi all,

Sorry for the inconvenience.

We are aware of this issue and the fix is currently undergoing internal validations. We will confirm once the patch is available for general public.

Thanks for your patience,

-ashu

[Babameswara]

Any update?

[AshuMittal · Accepted solution]

Hi all,

Adobe Acrobat and Reader official update containing the fix for this issue is now available. This update will be automatically pushed to all existing installations of Acrobat and Reader. If you want, you may also manually trigger the update by opening the application and going to Help > Check for Updates.

More information about this release is here: Acrobat Help | Release notes | Acrobat DC and Acrobat Reader DC | Update

Please try it out and let us know your feedback.

Thanks for your patience and support!

-ashu