Acrobat reader keeps running by itself on Win 10 Pro

Report · Jan 18, 2023

Hi,

Acrobat Reader periodically opens over the top of all open applications. This occurs even when the application is not even open.

I have observed this behaviour on multiple machines (all with Creative Cloud and at least one I think with Acrobat Pro installed).

The app is stealing focus when it does this, and hanging around for an inordinately long length of time while it loads a bunch of previous PDFs or something.

This is beyond infuriating for an application that I JUST use to read PDF files(!). I can't put up with this and will be uninstalling Acrobat Reader and switching to something else, unless somebody happens to know a solution to this issue?

regards

David

Report · Jan 21, 2023

Hi @David27995393azqi

Sorry to hear about the frustrating experience.

The description above looks like the Acrobat Reader application is launching automatically, even though it is not being used or asked to open.

What do you mean by opens over the top of all open applications? Is it overshadowing the other apps or something?

There's likely a chance that the application is enabled to launch at startup. Check this:

Open Task Manager>Startup>look for Acrobat Reader> right-click and Disable

If it still doesn't help, then:

Run this cleaner tool to remove the existing installer and application’s file traces:

https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/cleaner.html

Download the Acrobat Reader installer from here: https://get.adobe.com/reader/enterprise/

Thanks,

Akanchha

Report · Jan 22, 2023

Hi Akanchha,

Thank you for your reply. That is correct, Acrobat Reader is launching automatically, about once every hour or something of that sort of frequency.

By "opens over the top of all open applications" I mean it opens on top of everything - it gets focus, puts itself on top of other Windows applications which might be open. Just like running any application in Windows where it opens on top.

I don't see Reader in Startup apps; only Creative Cloud Content Manager and Creative Cloud Desktop, as well as a couple other Adobe processes which I have included a screenshot of.

This is still an issue on my work PC, my laptop and my home PC. Intermittently, about once per hour, Reader opens for no reason and puts itself on top of the Window stack, waits a while (usually opens a few PDFs or something) and then disappears again.

regards

David