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 10, 2023

It worked like a charm for me !
Thank you Salman 😘 😘 😘 😘 😘 😘

Report · Feb 10, 2021

We have a user that is now having this same issue. He has an engineering document that has 7,294(!) comments. Acrobat Pro works on loading them for about 3 minutes and makes it up to 4,864 comments. At that point, the program just stops responding and you have to exit out.

We've been investigating Foxit PhantomPDF as an alternate to Acrobat Pro. I opened his document in that editor without any issues and could see all of the comments. Even with everything loaded, it only used 326MB of memory; Acrobat was at 557MB at the point it stopped responding.

Report · Apr 15, 2021

I was having the same exact problem where my document would load 10k objects and then crash every time. I spent countless hours trying to optimize the file with little help online. My job requires marking up large PDF's quickly for fast installations and one would assume that software that was designed specifically for PDF view/modification would be the best or at least be prepared for issues like this and quickly correct them. My organization recently ruled out trials of Bluebeam Revu and it is night and day compared to Adobe. Bluebeam seems to self optimize the file and the same 70 page file mentioned above worked amazingly. I was done marking it up in less than an hour. To see this many other users left unanswered gives the impression of a tenured company that has lost sight of innovation. My Bluebeam is self updating as I type this with patches fixing issues that I didn't even know it had.

To sum this up, my issues with my PDF in Adobe may be user error but it seems that as a basic Adobe user we should be able to open a large PDF and at least not have the programs default internal executions instantly spiral itself into frustrating gridlock and maybe have the ability to recognize that the program is spiraling and automatically ask the user if it can adjust things to run better.

Report · Apr 20, 2021

I had a the following problems with Foxit PhantomPDF:

counldn't filter ticked comments out
text decorations like italic or bold weren't shown (didn't test it in comment-bubbles)

Now I found another program, that fits my requirement: PDF-XChange Editor

Even in the free version I can handle my comments.

It's so amazing to open and handle a PDF-file at this speed. If I have a little bit more time I will check other functionality of the program. Perhaps it will be the better solution at all.

Report · Apr 29, 2021

Hi, do you know if its possible to import comments from Acrobat to another pdf reader? I recently got PDFelement, but it seems to only open the files with highlights, no annotations.

Report · Apr 30, 2021

Hi kpl777,

yes, it's possible. If you open a pdf file that contains comments, all are shown.

You can also export comments from Adobe Acrobat to fdf-file and import these comments.

The same you can do from PDF-XChange Editor.

One difference: Adobe Acrobat shows text decoration within the comment list. In PDF-XChange Editor you have to show the flyouts (comment-bubbles) to see text decorations. The comment list itself only shows plain text.

Report · Jun 16, 2022

Hello Adobe Community! I have a MacBook Air (MacOS Monterey 12.4) from my work and I am using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC 2022.001.20142. I had to switch computers because my last mac was giving me trouble.

So, the same problem was happening everytime I added a comment, but one way I found to eliminate the lag was to open the comments section, and leave it open while I keep reading. If I want to make a comment, I don't have to click right or click on the highlighted part. Instead, I just go to the bottom right of my document and write the comment. After that, I can continue and the circular rainbox( loading) doesnt appear.

I still have to click on the highlighting icon tho, but at least I don't have to wait 5+ seconds for each comment I do. I hope this is helpful!

Report · Jun 16, 2022

5+ seconds would be great. It's more like 5-15+ minutes or completely frozen and broken or zero memory even on a 64-bit adobe. The program simply doesn't work, never has worked, and never will work. Adobe doesn't give a flying crap because they make their money off photoshop and other products. Adobe has been their long lost, thrice separated, orphaned stepchild.

Report · Jun 25, 2022

Same problem on a Mac... almost unusable but like everything else with Adobe one has no choice.

Report · Aug 31, 2022

Found a solution that works for me. Avoid opening up the comments sidebar. Instead, right click on your toolbar --> "customize quick tools" --> add the comment tools you like to use. There are a few other tricks to speed up the pdf, like "optimizing" the pdf to downsize it, changing up the "page display" and "commenting" sections in "preferences," but what has helped the most for me is the first solution that I mentioned.

Report · Mar 23, 2023

It's 2023 and I'm having this issue for the first time with Acrobat Pro DC 2022.001.20112. Customers make comments to files and Acrobat takes at least 5 minutes to load them, whether there are 2 or 200 comments. I have never had this problem in all the years I've been using this program, and it is a major pain in the neck. It looks like Adobe either doesn't care or can't fix the issue.

Report · Aug 08, 2024

Just to keep the issue on the radar of Adobe: I still have exactly the same problem mid 2024 - although I would assume it's even worse. Between the input of a comment (or just changing the colour of a comment) and the execution it takes up to three minutes! I'm actually writing the comment right now whilst this is the case in Acrobat - without any lag at all, so the horrible performance is purely software related. The file is an only two MB big flowsheet with about 700 comments. I've never in my life experienced a software performing this poorly, from day one on just problems. If not completely necessary, I try to avoid Adobe at all cost. But sometimes there just aren't alternatives, because as @joshmilks already said companies don't like to change their default software...

Report · Aug 14, 2024

Actually, I found another solution that works for me pretty well, at least for now and as long as the comment functions of the free version are sufficient: After having a look in the task manager, I realised that Creative Cloud drained a lot of system ressources while working with Acrobat. I deinstalled Creative Cloud and now the program runs like a charme, but without the paid functions. As they aren't needed for commenting PDFs, it doesn't matter to me. I just don't know how to create the same effect without deinstalling Creative Cloud, but as the time needed to install and set up Creative Cloud again is much less than the time wasted by the slow performance, it's a tradeoff worth to consider.

Report · Sep 06, 2024

I have similar issues in 2024, but mostly with larger files (40 pages or more). What helps me is not opening the comments pane on the left (I have Adobe Acrobat Reader 32 bit). The moment I open the comments pain everything lags by 5 seconds or more even just going to the next page. I can edit comments just fine with a one secondish lag and if I need to add a comment I just copy and paste it either from the same document or from another smaller one that isn't laggy. Adding short cuts for the comment box or 'draw arrow' to the toolbar does not work for me since those shortcuts will not appear unless you open the comment pane on the left. So I have to copy and paste any text boxes or arrows if I want to get anything done.

Report · Sep 06, 2024

I don't know how to edit my comment so I will just reply to it. Edit *comments pane is on the right. The left pane displays thumbnails. Sorry for the confusion.