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M
MarcusH
Participating Frequently
August 2, 2021
Question

Adobe Acrobat Reader is *incredibly* slow & keeps hanging

  • August 2, 2021
  • 19 replies
  • 239128 views

Hello folks,

 

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 16GB of memory, so that shouldn't be the problem...

 

Any ideas on speeding it up please?

Maybe Adobe you coudl do so?!

 

    19 replies

    T
    Todd Schaus
    Participant
    July 15, 2025

    Adobe sucks and has been slow for a long time

    Mrrobc
    Mrrobc
    Participant
    December 31, 2024

    For mac users, try these settings marked by a red box.

     

    S
    steve_0255
    Participant
    January 31, 2025

    Assuming the update released on Jan 23, 2025 also didnt work for you and you don't want to disable the security settings, this has worked for several of my clients. It's a lame "fix" but in my opinion, better than turning off security.

     

     

     

     

    K
    kevin_4979
    Participant
    December 16, 2024

    Update for any users around 12/16/2024:

    Adobe pushed out an update 2 weeks ago with PDF's opening slowly from local/network locations, this behavior usually happens on the 3rd PDF/..4..5, etc. After troubleshooting numerous hours with companies, found out doing these changes underneath help speed up the process, not perfect though. Adobe said they have a major update ready to fix this bug in early January after chatting with them/confirming.

     

    Make sure Page cache is unchecked under

    Edit > Preferences > Page DisplayGo to Edit > Preferences > General

    Uncheck the option, Show online storage when opening files & Show online storage when saving files.Lastly, ensure new Acrobat is disabled, Hamburger Menu > disable new Acrobat.

     

      S
      steve_0255
      Participant
      January 27, 2025

      Is the big update just going to uninstall Adobe and install Foxit in it's place? That seems like the best fix. 

      S
      slabman3000
      Participant
      August 21, 2024

      Easy fix, always run it as Administrator and the problem will be solved.

      J
      jaburmester
      Participant
      October 8, 2024

      Does not work same issue even if you run as Administator.

      S
      Sayel30721079921v
      Participant
      February 18, 2024

      AR super slow... couldn't find the security enhancements recommended to make it do its basic work (read a small PDF)... I'm moving to Foxit reader... it's not my job to make sure Acrobat Reader can read a normal PDF

      E
      erikb7240238
      Participating Frequently
      January 18, 2024

      I'm going completely nuts, my whole high end PC is crashing becouse of this f*cking acrobat, i cannot even combine 3 png images to a PDF. what the heck is wrong with this software

       

        Amal.
        Community Manager
        Amal.Community Manager
        Community Manager
        February 19, 2024

        Hi there

        Hope you are doing well and sorry to hear that

        Is this an issue with a particular file or with all the files? Please try with a different file and check.

        What is the version of the Acrobat DC you are using? To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the recent version 23.08.20533 installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

        Also try to repair the installation from the help menu (Win Only) and see if that works.

        Please try to reset the Acrobat preferences as described here https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/how-to-reset-acrobat-preference-settings-to-default/td-p/4792082

         

        Let us know how it goes.

         

        ~Amal

        E
        erikb7240238
        Participating Frequently
        December 15, 2023

        I though i was the only one with this issue but it seems not. i basicly also have a super computer this software fails to even open a one page PDF text document. What a joke adobe has become. Time to switch to open source softwares.

        Amal.
        Community Manager
        Amal.Community Manager
        Community Manager
        December 21, 2023

        Hi there

         

        What happens when you try to open the PDF? Do you get any error messages? If so, please share the screenshot for more clarity. Also, make sure you have the recent version 23.08.2042X  installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

         

        ~Amal

        I
        igordugonjic
        Known Participant
        December 13, 2023

        Thank you, I just could not believe how slow it is, it was completely unusable until I read this advice.

        It is hard to believe that a company like Adobe makes this a default, I had problems with Acrobat for years, I just thought that the software was slow and buggy.

         

          3
          32162202jbxc
          Participant
          October 20, 2023

          I am hoping someone comes up with an alternative to Adobe....my files take FOREVER to load (literally hours sometimes) and often I get a NOT RESPONDING message.  The ADOBE SIGN is much more difficult than the older way of gathering signatures.  The "upgrades" have tripled my time to get work done.  I hate it.  

           

           

          I
          itduong260m71804606
          Participant
          August 30, 2023

          i have never seen such a stupic PDF reader like Adobe acrobat reader

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