Adobe Acrobat Reader is *incredibly* slow & keeps hanging - AGAIN!!

[i fm34168167]

Since the release 24.003.20054, Adobe Reader is AGAIN running slow again opening documents

Does anyone know why Adobe Acrobat Reader is so *incredibly* slow & keeps hanging please?

I keep getting the 'not responding' message; have to close it down & try again.

Documents load *really* slowly, if at all!

I have a fast PC with 32 GB of memory, so that shouldn't be the problem...

The previous 'fix' at here no longer works !!

Any ideas on speeding it up please?

[raresolid]

This is the problem we had. I was able to disable the document recents by going into Menu>Preferences>Documents>"Documents in recently used list" Set this to "0". This will disable the recents and prevent Adobe from trying to load thumbnails.

"Adobe Reader still hangs when we open the start page (probably because it tries to load thumbnails for the recently opened documents)."

[Maxwell_66]

Anyone find a registry key to set recently used documents to 0?

[i fm34168167]

You don't need a registry key to do this - you can set it under 'Preferences'

[axel_2681]

This is in the settings of the program, not regkeys

[marc_5040]

Guys, you can certainly set some things in the program options when you're sitting at home in front of your own computer. But try doing that for 100+ computers in a company network.
The registry keys help the admins to quickly roll out/correct the settings via script. But they also work at home on your own PC if you want 😉

[steve_7400]

The problem with that is that reader keeps squirming. Updates change the names of the folders where it installs, the name of the program file, the registry keys names and layouts, etc.  So I get it all squared away, then there's an update, and suddenly it's all sideways again. 

[golfjunkie]

I have found the setting at the following place:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\AVGeneral\iMaxMRUCntToBeStored

[marc_5040]

Hello everyone,

this is not a guide, but a description of what I have done so far. 

Therefore, I do not accept any responsibility for damage caused to third parties by improper editing of the registry. 

This is because every system and software can be different.

I also have the problem that Adobe freezes or hangs for a while.

I have worked through the Adobe preferences reference and have come to the conclusion that it is probably due to the enhanced security and protected mode. 

I have deactivated these in the registry using Powershell, as we already have comprehensive protection elsewhere. 

Perhaps in the end it is also because Adobe's own settings are getting in the way of those of the AV solution. 

But everyone has to decide for themselves. 

Software used: Adobe Acrobat Reader DC

Underlying reference from Adobe: 'https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/PrefRef/Windows/FeatureLockDown.html'

- First I uninstalled 'Adobe Acrobat Reader DC'.

- Then I deleted the registry keys HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC' to have a clean base.

- After that I reinstalled 'Adobe Acrobat Reader DC' and updated it to the latest version.

- Then I set the following registry entries via Powershell.

# Toggles enhanced security.

# 0: Disable enhanced security. 1: Enable enhanced security.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bEnhancedSecurityStandalone -value 0

# Enables protected mode, which sandboxes Acrobat and Reader processes.

# 0: Disable protected mode. 1: Enable protected mode.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bProtectedMode -value 0

Since then, Adobe has not crashed anymore.

Additionally, I have set a few other keys because I don't need the functions and it feels like it brings a bit more performance.

# Disables messages prompting the user to upgrade the product.

# 0: Do not disable upselling. 1: Disable upselling.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bAcroSuppressUpsell -value 1

# Disables and blocks a PDF file's ability to display commercial advertisements.

# 0: Allows advertisements to be displayed. 1: Disables and blocks a PDF file's ability to display advertisements.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bCommercialPDF -value 1

# Specifies whether to globally disable and block JavaScript execution.

# 0: Do not disable JS. 1: Disable and lock JS.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bDisableJavaScript -value 1

# Specifies whether to collect usage data for some of the Acrobat dialogs.

# 0: Disable the ADM dialogs for data collection. 1: Enable data collection.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bEnableADMAnalytics -value 0

# Specifies whether to enable the cloud-based search service in the search tool.

# 0: Do not enable the cloud search service. 1: Enable the Cloud Search service

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bEnableCloudPoweredSearch -value 0

# Specifies whether to play Flash content in a PDF file.

# 0: Flash content is rendered as a blank, white box and does not play. 1: Flash is played if a system player is present.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bEnableFlash -value 0

# Specifies whether to show the generative AI features in Acrobat Reader (64-bit) for non-logged-in users

# 0: Disable the generative AI features. 1: Turn on generative AI features.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bEnableGentech -value 0

# Enables protected mode, which sandboxes Acrobat and Reader processes.

# 0: Disable protected mode. 1: Enable protected mode.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bProtectedMode -value 0

# Specifies whether to enable the Help menu item for signing in and out.

# 0: Enable the Help menu item. 1: Disable the Help menu item.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bSuppressSignOut -value 1

# Specifies whether to enable the First Time Experience (FTE) feature.

# 0: Enable FTE features. 1: Disable FTE features.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bToggleFTE -value 1

# Whether to show the Send Feedback icon.

# 0: Hide the icon. 1: Show the icon.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bToggleShareFeedback -value 0

# Whether to disable the What's New experience.

# 0: Enable the What's New experience. 1: Disable.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bWhatsNewExp -value 1

## Create new cCloud subkey

New-Item 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown\cCloud'

#Toggles the Adobe Send and Track plug-in for Outlook

#0: Enable Adobe Send and Track. 1: Disable Adobe Send and Track.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown\cCloud' -name bAdobeSendPluginToggle -value 1

## Create new cServices subkey

New-Item 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown\cServices'

# Disables access to the Document Cloud service, except for the features controlled by the other settings

# 0: Enable Document Cloud services. 1: Disable Document Cloud services.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown\cServices' -name bToggleAdobeDocumentServices -value 1

# Specifies whether to enable Document Cloud storage.

#0: Enable Document Cloud Storage. 1: Disable Document Cloud Storage.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown\cServices' -name bToggleDocumentCloud -value 1

# Whether to disable all in-product and desktop notifications.

# 0: Enable desktop notifications. 1: Disable all desktop notifications.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown\cServices' -name bToggleNotifications -value 1

# Disables settings sync.

# 0: Enable settings sync. 1: Disable settings sync.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown\cServices' -name bTogglePrefsSync -value 1

# Disables Adobe Send and Track. Some UIs have been renamed to Share since October 2018

# 0: Enable Adobe Send and Track. 1: Disable Adobe Send and Track.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown\cServices' -name bToggleSendAndTrack -value 1

# Specifies whether to enable cloud storage connectors.

# 0: Enable 3rd party connectors. 1: Disable third party connectors.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown\cServices' -name bToggleWebConnectors -value 1

# Disables both updates for the product's web plugin components and all services

# 0: Disable services and updates for service components. 1: Enable services.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown\cServices' -name bUpdater -value 0

## Create new subkey cWebmailProfiles

New-Item 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown\cWebmailProfiles'

# Specifies whether to disable WebMail.

# 0: Change the default behavior of the email icon to automatically attach the file to an email as described above. 1: The email icon opens the sharing panel.

Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown\cWebmailProfiles' -name bDisableWebmail -value 1

As I said, be careful when changing the registry and check the Adobe reference first to see if the setting is what you want to change. My settings here are only intended to serve as an indication of what is possible. No guarantee of functionality or completeness.

Best regards

A simple Adobe Acrobat DC User

[Maxwell_66]

Seeing positive results after pushing these two keys, but as has anyone seen any improvements after updating to:  24.003.20180 Planned update, Oct 03, 2024 

# Toggles enhanced security.
# 0: Disable enhanced security. 1: Enable enhanced security.
Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bEnhancedSecurityStandalone -value 0

# Enables protected mode, which sandboxes Acrobat and Reader processes.
# 0: Disable protected mode. 1: Enable protected mode.
Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bProtectedMode -value 0

[Jonathan28648969ckx7]

Haven't had any improvements after updating to the latest Adobe Reader DC version.

Setting the reg keys from the thread above (especially the first two keys) helped to solve the issue.

[Rick29448730l6z7]

We are seeing this in the latest 24.003.20180 update. Came here looking for solutions.

[mario_0770]

Update to 24.003.20112 also introduced a lot of Application Hangs in our Server 2016 VDI environment.
We do not like the proposed workaround disabling registry keys as they relate to Security.
I hope Adobe will address this as a known issue as we see it happen on dozens of user sessions, and there seems to be no common root cause.
Screenshot Application Eventlogs of one affected machine:

[raresolid]

We have Server 2016 RDS, same issue. Did you try disabling the "Recents" documents from peoples views? This solved our issue on 9 users so far plus a few others in the office.

[Tina37863267thi1]

Has anyone had any luck with Version 24.003.20180 on Windows 10?

[Maxwell_66]

No improvment, needed to still add these registry changes (which has been a good workaround)

# Toggles enhanced security.
# 0: Disable enhanced security. 1: Enable enhanced security.
Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bEnhancedSecurityStandalone -value 0

# Enables protected mode, which sandboxes Acrobat and Reader processes.
# 0: Disable protected mode. 1: Enable protected mode.
Set-ItemProperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FeatureLockDown' -name bProtectedMode -value 0

[Gereon_2489]

We are having similar problems with more and more users. We have version 24.003.20180 (64-bit) installed on PCs running Windows 10 Pro. The program is very slow and we regularly get “not responding” messages.

Deleting the entire history has alleviated the problem on our systems at least until the history fills up again.

It’s far from a permanent fix, but an easy temporary fix for the time being.

[raresolid]

You can permently disable the history by going here. This has worked for nine of our users having issues. Open up Adobe on the affected machine. It will probably go to not responnding. Wait until it responds again. When it is responsive, go to Menu at the top left, then Prefrences, then Documents on the left side, then change the "Documents in recently used list" from 100 to 0. This will make it so that NO recent documents appear in the list anymore.

[sebastianh78948769]

We have had this with more and more users over the last few days, Windows 10 and 11. Switching to the “old view” has massively improved our performance. If you have this “menu” with the three lines at the top left, the eighth item from the bottom is the switch to the old view.

[satindra_1996]

We faced the same issue  until we disabled the "new Acrobat" via the "hamburger menu.

See reddit answer below from "IHopeYouStepOnALego ":

Acrobat is Painfully Slow. How do I fix that? : r/Adobe

[JenniferBB]

I, like others, am considering deleting ADOBE altogther despite being a paid subscriber for years.  The lagging is painful. I cannot work efficiently at all andcauses stress, major loss of productivity therefore income. I cannot reach out to tech support to walk me through issues.  As solutions offered are mixed I believe direct tech support is waranted. 

[steve_7400]

Solution in Windows 10/11:

Control Panel > Installed Programs > Adobe > Uninstall Everything

Delete all C:\ProgramData Adobe folders

Delete all C:\username\AppData\Local (or Roaming)\Adobe folder, and delete everything in the Temp directory in the Local folder (don't delete the temp directory itself, skip anything that is in use.

Check your scheduled tasks for anything Adobe, delete

Restart computer

Problem solved.

Then just use the Foxit reader, which does not update itself to look different constantly, unsettling non-tech-savvy users.  Does not upsell users with upgrades to the full Acrobat -- WHICH IT INSTALLS IN THE USER CONTEXT TO CIRCUMVENT THE NEED FOR ADMINISTRATOR CREDENTIALS ON YOUR WORK DOMAIN, AND THEN EXPIRES, AND STOPS WORKING REQUIRING I.T. TO STEP IN AND REMOVE IT AND REINSTALL.

Adobe is garbage, been getting worse for years, and only artists compelled to use it for work should be using it for anything anymore.

Oh, and you can still buy a perpetual license of Foxit for like $150 for the full PDF software, if you don't want the subscription version.  Adobe's actions with installing the full Acrobat in the user context should have provoked a full blown revolt against them.  I know none of us I.T. people appreciated that little slimy maneuver.  Totally shady.

See you in the funny papers.

[i fm34168167]

Help from MS on the way . . .

[steve_7400]

Except none of the computers in question in my case are running Windows 11.  Adobe is still going to upsell users, install updates constantly, install itself into every nook and cranny, leave services running even after you uninstall it, and, worst of all, easily, install an upgraded full version of the software in the user context to circumvent domain restrictions on software installation.  I hope they get ants.  That was just deliberately sneaky and underhanded and diabolical.  It seems they've stopped that, but the fact they did it at all is insufferable and unforgivable.

[i fm34168167 · Accepted solution]

When I updated to Windows 11 Pro v 24H2 Build(26100.2454), the problem (for me) no longer occurs.

Whether its the OS upgrade or something Adobe have fixed I can't really say

[Kymmeez11]

I have Pro and it still lags - horribly!!  I have another pdf system and it is lagging too...