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Jan28787298lb6s
Participant
March 9, 2023
Answered

Adobe Acrobat Reader opens print dialog when PDFS are opened

  • March 9, 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 34759 views

When opening some PDF files stored on Onedrive, Adobe Reader (latest version) switches to the Print dialog. The PDF is not opened. If I print and save a new PDF at that point, the new PDF opens. How can this be fixed? 

    Correct answer Thief_

    I've got a few PDFs which were downloaded from the internet for my solar installation, and each time I open them, they open in Acrobat Reader however a Print dialog pops up which is annoying. In fact some of them open the Print dialog twice for some reason. Annoying I know!

    Anyhow, using the information already mentioned here, I opened the PDF documents in Notepad ++ and they open as text files, Based on this, I searched for the text "this.print" and found the following:

    <<
/Type /Action
/S /JavaScript
/JS (this.print\({bUI:true,bSilent:false,bShrinkToFit:true}\);)
>>

    I removed the line:

    /JS (this.print\({bUI:true,bSilent:false,bShrinkToFit:true}\);)

     

    And saved the file. The file now opens without the print dialog showing!

    4 replies

    T
    Thief_Correct answer
    Participant
    September 11, 2025

    I've got a few PDFs which were downloaded from the internet for my solar installation, and each time I open them, they open in Acrobat Reader however a Print dialog pops up which is annoying. In fact some of them open the Print dialog twice for some reason. Annoying I know!

    Anyhow, using the information already mentioned here, I opened the PDF documents in Notepad ++ and they open as text files, Based on this, I searched for the text "this.print" and found the following:

    <<
/Type /Action
/S /JavaScript
/JS (this.print\({bUI:true,bSilent:false,bShrinkToFit:true}\);)
>>

    I removed the line:

    /JS (this.print\({bUI:true,bSilent:false,bShrinkToFit:true}\);)

     

    And saved the file. The file now opens without the print dialog showing!

    A
    Anne30996188ltvx
    Participant
    October 10, 2024

    I wanted a PDF of a Google calendar to use as a visual for a presentation. Google created a printable PDF that did the exact thing you are describing everytime I tried to open the file.  To fix this, I did an unsophisticated jerryriged method: On Mac, I opened the file in Preview instead of Acrobat. I then printed the file and selected the option to "print as PDF," essentially creating a new copy of the file. This new file does not launch the print dialog. 

    S_S
    Community Manager
    S_SCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    October 15, 2024

    Hi @Anne30996188ltvx,

     

    Would you mind sharing a sample file where you see this issue?

     

    This will help us test the issue in-house and get a fix. You can share the file with me by private message.

    [To share a private message, click on my profile name followed by the blue "Send Message" button on the next page]

     

    Thanks,

    Souvik

    try67
    Community Expert
    try67Community Expert
    Community Expert
    March 10, 2023

    This is usually caused by a script embedded in the file. If you only have Reader there's not much you can about it, since you can't edit the file and remove this code. What you can do is disable JavaScript altogether before opening these files, and then the Print dialog won't show (but other features might not work correctly, either).

    To do so go to Edit - Preferences - JavaScript and tick off the box next to "Enable Acrobat JavaScript".

      K
      Keh_San
      Participant
      February 22, 2024

      How do you remove the script. Is it possible inside acrobat?

        try67
        Community Expert
        try67Community Expert
        Community Expert
        February 22, 2024

        If you have Acrobat then yes. It's most likely located under Tools - JavaScript - Document JavaScripts.

        Look for something like this:

        this.print();

        And delete that line or add "//" (without the quotes) before it.

          S_S
          Community Manager
          S_SCommunity Manager
          Community Manager
          March 10, 2023

          Hi @Jan28787298lb6s,

           

          Hope you are doing well. Sorry for your experience with Acrobat Reader.

           

          I suggest resetting the preferences of the application. You might want to try the steps mentioned here: Resetting Acrobat Preference settings to default.

           

          Please let us know if this does not work, and we will investigate further.

           

          Hope this helps.

           

          -Souvik.

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