Acrobat Reader DC runs extremely slow when using Comments and Sticky Notes

Report · Feb 18, 2019

Reading, writing, and editing Comments and Sticky Notes is extremely frustrating. When I receive PDFs with Comments from other people, I can barely navigate the file because Acrobat runs so slow. The Comments do not display when I hover over them, I am forced to use the Comments bar and even then the delay to move from one to another is terrible.

Similarly, when I add Sticky Notes to a PDF I have to wait a long time before the text I typed appears. The delay is quite bad. I typed the following in a Sticky Note and waited 12 seconds for it to appear: "You ask me if I love you and I s a"

I'm running Windows 10.

I have the latest version of Acrobat Reader DC: 19.010.20091, February 12, 2019

I tried Repair Installation 3 times today.

I cleared the Enable Protected Mode at startup, and Enhanced Security check boxes.

Nothing works.

Short of uninstalling and reinstalling, is there anything else to try?

Report · Feb 18, 2019

Hello Leahdshae,

We're sorry for the trouble you had with Adobe Reader, and thank you for sharing the detailed information. Is it possible to share a sample PDF file with us on which you are facing the issue so that we can try to replicate the issue at our end?

If yes, please share the PDF file in the direct/private message. How Do I Send Private Message

Have you saved these files locally or on a network or shared drive?

How many comments are there in the file (number of comments)?

What is the version of Windows 10 installed? Is it 1803?

We're here to help, just need more info.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

Report · Feb 26, 2019

Hi Anand,

Apologies that I haven't sent you a PDF, yet. The information in the PDF is currently confidential so cannot be let outside the company. I am hoping it will become public soon and then I can send you a copy. In the meantime:

Have you saved these files locally or on a network or shared drive?
The files are saved locally, on my desktop.
How many comments are there in the file (number of comments)?
File A has 178 comments.
File B had no comments, but I was adding short Sticky Notes (1-4 sentences each) and had a problem even when under 20 notes.
What is the version of Windows 10 installed? Is it 1803?
Not sure. It says Windows 10 enterprise. Model, WIN10-Final-Release-Q1-FY18

Note: My computer has 4 cores and 8 logical processors with a base speed of 2.70 GHz. While running tests on this problem a coworker and I observed that actions in Acrobat Reader max out 2.75 of my 8 processors. That shouldn't happen.

Regards,

Leah

Report · Apr 09, 2019

Hello Adobe.. Any answers to original posters question?? as I and many others in my organization are having the same exact issue.. it does not matter what version of adobe or MS windows one has. it happens to any document so sending you a sample document will be of no use. It does not matter whether files are stored locally or on the cloud an it seems this issue has been going on for some time now. I am disappointed & surprised you haven't addressed the issue. Please someone from Adobe please answer.. comments and sticky notes on documents are critical to using adobe acrobat.. Please help!!

Report · Jun 17, 2019

I too am having problems with comments and my files. It is very problematic for me. My system is a brand new laptop less than 2 weeks old... it has the necessary firepower to run this smoothly as it is actually a gaming computer. Any help on this problem would be grateful as it is a function that I use daily for work.

Report · Jul 29, 2019

AnadSri,

I too am having extreme slowness when editing a PDF document in Adobe Pro DC. What can to speed up this process and stop wasting valuable time?

Report · Dec 08, 2019

Apparently this problem is still there. I'm a Mac (10.15.1) user, Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 2019.021.20049. It's so slow to edit comments with comment enabled. The rainbow wheel appears all the time. The older versions were much better in this regard.

Report · May 04, 2020

Hi there,

I see that the issue was evident in 2019. I was using the feature today, over a year later and I can describe the software with one word: unusable.

I was commenting on engineering drawings, it keeps crashing, it's slow, etc, etc, etc, It happens as soon as I start the commenting tool.

Anyhow, I found a solution and I already tested it - it's 100% sucesfull, it goes like this:

Step 1 - log into your Adobe account and cancell Adobe DC subscription

Step 2 - Download Nitro Pro

Step 3 - Enjoy trouble free PDF editing

Cheers!

Report · Nov 05, 2019

I'm not sure if this will help your situation, but it solved mine (which is similar).

I work professionally on editing fairly decent-sized PDF documents (the last one was 40 pages). Because of the nature of my work, each edit has to be documented with an individual comment (so there are many). In that last document, I left over 600 comments. I work with the current version of Acrobat Reader DC and Windows 10. I noticed that during my editing sessions (that last hours) the performance would progressively get worse. The program would slow, even typing would start to lag, there would be errors in displaying pages, and eventually, I would even have to kill the program with the task manager after it locked up completely.

Frequent saves of the document prevented any real loss. The solution was actually very simple. Before the errors occur, close Acrobat Reader completely and restart it. When I up the same document (with all those comments), it runs at top speed as if there was never a problem. Now, I do that at regular intervals (at about an hourly rate), and it works. I assume that Reader has some memory leaks or other unresolved issues as comments are created that probably are eating up app resources and killing performance. Killing the program frees everything up and lets you start fresh. It's crude, but effective.

In my case, I was the only one commenting on a document, so yours may be a different issue, but the symptoms sound the same (and it's an easy fix to try). It also won't help if the problem is with the file itself (which I sometimes run into).

Good luck.

Report · Jul 10, 2020

I CANNOT BELIEVE THERE IS STILL NOT A FIX TO THIS. ADOBE IS

USELESS

UNUSABLE

WORTHLESS

I should not spend 20 minutes making 4 comments on one page... We are an engineering firm so having plan sets of 100+ pages 22x34 and needing to make 20-40 comments on each sheet is very normal. The fact that Adobe Acrobat Pro DC cannot handle something this simple when our computers can run 5 complex CAD files at the same time makes it apparent that your product is disgustingly flawed in how it processes anything. This is why I keep pushing for Bluebeam. Unfortunately I am new to this company and these old timers are used to Adobe since they still work with hard copies for everything. Everyone who is anyone has been transitioning to Bluebeam, kicking Adobe to the curb, because Adobe is USELESS, UNUSABLE, WORTHLESS.

Report · Jul 16, 2020

I have the same problem since DC-Versions of Acrobat. I checked out my file (500 pages, 920 comments) in Acrobat X. It runs fast and without problems.

In DC it takes about 2 minutes to show the comments after opening the file and each time I click the checked icon of a comment it takes about 4 seconds to finish.

Horrible.

Report · Oct 07, 2020

Same here, I cnnot believe how bad Acrobat DC still is. When it was released I refused to use it. Why oh why the huge interface restricting vertical screen space??? And now I have been forced to move to DC due to the arrival of a new MacPro and Mac OSX 10.15... and OMG, Acrobat DC is almost unasable. It is SO SLOW, especially when commenting on a document. For crying out loud, I've got a cutting edge MacPro 12 core, full of RAM and I can't comment on a PDF without HUGE amounts of lag.

Either fix it, or release an update for Acrobat X to work on OSX 10.15... I know that's not going to happen, but until 2 weeks ago Acrobat X was working perfectly on my old machine.

COME ON ADOBE, SORT IT OUT.

Report · Oct 08, 2020

Same here, I cannot believe how bad Acrobat DC still is. When it was released I refused to use it. Why oh why the huge interface restricting vertical screen space??? And now I have been forced to move to DC due to the arrival of a new MacPro and Mac OSX 10.15... and OMG, Acrobat DC is almost unusable. It is SO SLOW, especially when commenting on a document. For crying out loud, I've got a cutting edge MacPro 12 core, full of RAM and I can't comment on a PDF without HUGE amounts of lag.

Either fix it, or release an update for Acrobat X to work on OSX 10.15... I know that's not going to happen, but until 2 weeks ago Acrobat X was working perfectly on my old machine.

COME ON ADOBE, SORT IT OUT.

Report · Dec 03, 2020

I am having the same issue with pdf's created from CAD drawings, each line of text in the drawing comes up as a separate comment. I am using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC and the drawings are impossibly slow to even scroll through, then even slower again if I try and add comments.

Adobe, can you please fix this.

Report · May 14, 2021

I am having this EXACT same issue...my PDF is 167 pages, and Adobe is saying i have 11658 comments, and I have no idea how to make it so that doesn't happen when I create a PDF crom AutoCAD Electrical

Report · Jul 15, 2022

same here .... 173 pages with 13810 comments - fixit Jesus

Report · Nov 05, 2021

autocad comman pdfshx set the value to 0 it fixed this exact issue for me

Report · Dec 06, 2020

Edit --> Preferences ---> Commenting---> uncheck "show comments pane when a pdf with comments is opened". This should solve the problem.

Report · Dec 06, 2020

No, it doesn’t. I hide the comment pane all the time. Adobe is just not an
efficient commenting tool.--
Joshua A. Milks
josh.milks@gmail.com
210.441.0160

Report · Dec 06, 2020

Still i would suggest unchecking that option regardless, as it solved the issue for me.

Sent from Mailspring (https://link.getmailspring.com/link/AEFEB4A3-B28B-4945-B449-7201EED2C803@getmailspring.com/0?redirec...), the best free email app for work

Report · Dec 06, 2020

This also doesn't solve the problem when you are actually using comments (as I am). Adobe needs to fix this.

I could get the same improvement in efficiency by turning off (i.e., not using) Adobe PDFs.

However, I am glad that this works for you. Thanks for sharing.

Report · Dec 07, 2020

This does NOT solve the problem, it just masks it. How can you say hiding comments fixes the problem, when the OP problem is that Acrobat is extremely slow when using and making comments?

I believe the problems are three-fold:

Firstly, Adobe has forgotten about a large chunk of the Acrobat community that use it in professional publishing envoronments and work with documents containing hundreds of comments.

Secondly, it is just very bad coding on the behalf of the Adobe team responsible.

Thirdly, it is because Acrobat DC is now so reliant on on-line services and on-line co-operative working systems that it is constantly accessing the internet.

I have done brief tests on this third theory by unplugging ethernet and making sure wirless is switched off on my brand new MacPro, then launching Acrobat DC with a PDF that has 70+ comments. For me, it is a lot better, more responsive and easier to work with, edit, check boxes and create comments. It is NOT brilliant, justy better. This indicates to me that the parts of DC that need internet access and can no longer do so and dormant and not interfering with the other parts of Acrobat. I repeat, it is still not very good, just noticably better. Can anyone else try this and confirm, or de-bunk my findings please?

Adobe, I HOPE YOU ARE LISTENING.

Tom.

Report · Dec 10, 2020

Hello Tom,

I did a testing and cannot detect a difference between editing comments with or without being connected to the network.

My tests get the following results (document: 136 pages, 366 comments):

open in Acrobat DC, select all comments, mark them all and filter them out
duration: 143 seconds
disconnect computer from network, open in Acrobat DC, select all comments, mark them all and filter them out
duration: 137 seconds
the same procedure in Acrobat X
duration: 44 seconds

How long is Acrobat DC on the market? 5–6 years? I don't have the hope that Adobe will fix this behavior.

Francesco

Report · Dec 10, 2020

Hi Francesco,

Thanks for testing my theory. I was not sure.

I agree, I do not think Adobe are interested in fixing these problems.

Although I pay for Acrobat as part of my Creative Cloud membership, I am now looking at alrternative PDF editors such as PDF Pen Pro.

Cheers,

Tom

Report · Jan 22, 2022

I was having the same issue. This procedure fixed the problem...Wahoo!!!!.. now back to th 3,800 page document that I have to splice up..... (comments suck)