Adobe reader print issue from outlook attachment

[simonh1286402]

Who else has experienced the following:  (Copying another users post from Reddit) as they desribe it best)

With recent update (can't figure out yet if W10, to Adobe Reader, or Office 2016), when users double click open email attachment that have PDF. Then if they click on print on the pdf doc, it opens the printer list drop down menu to choose printer to print PDF doc, even if they choose printer, and click on print, it opens the drop down menu again and never prints.

Works fine if doc is saved to the computer, also quick print from outlook works.

Works fine if if change PDF default application to MS edge.

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After my own invetsigation, found that ocurs when the pdf is in a temp state prior to being saved, where it would reside in C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Outlook\<xxxxxxxx>

Can also get it to occur in Acrobat when creating a new pdf but prior to saving. Unsure where the temp file resides prior to saving. Maybe the same folder? But not observed there. 

Have had 2x tickates/calls with Adobe support. They try a bunch of things. 1st call thought it was a a specific file on my side that was casuing the issue. Nope. Can be done with any pdf received via email. 2nd call they blamed it on GPOs they thought I applied within my workplace. Nope, we don'ts use them. Both of those were closed without my approval.

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Last reddit post by another reddit user (Jan 6/24):

It is logged as a bug now with Adobe. It's affecting Reader and Pro users. I think it's Windows 10 and 11, something in the latest update windows update causing permission problems in outlook temp files.

This is their internal bug number for the issue ADC-4492909. It should be high priority and a fix coming probably next week in their Jan update or sooner.

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Any one from Adobe want to comment? Your product appears broken. 

Reddit where you will find the most info (including snippets of above):

Adobe reader print issue from outlook attachment : r/sysadmin

[alexandre_0598]

Hey, we have the same issue, 2 tickets opened with Adobe, no feedback since mid december and multiple users affected.

Adobe is mostly saying that the issue is on our side. Incriminating our printer driver.
Though, when opening a local file and an external (temp/attachment from email) within the same Adobe instance, the local file prints without issue, external file doesn't.

We tried plenty of things, deleting temp files here and there, uninstalling/reinstalling all sort of things.

We provided logs and we are still waiting to hear back.

Now, to confirm this issue is with Adobe only, we have the same issue when opening a file from the Adobe cloud storage.

Adobe, please fix.

[simonh1286402]

Print driver. Thats funny. I can get it to occur without any "printers" installed, where the only items in the printer list are (windows) Fax, Microsoft Print PDF, Microsoft XPS Document Writer, and Send to OneNote.

[luke_9071]

To me, appears to be an issue where Adobe temp stores the files instead of the printers. 

As mentioned on the reddit case, any file that has not already been saved locally on the system to a folder that is not a temp location like auto-save is affected. As soon as an file from an outlook attachment or a brand new PDF it's saved to i.e desktop, the print function works. 

The caveat to this, we have had two users have the issue no matter how they open the file. Locally, from Outlook, new file saved, etc. They simply cannot print as they have the exact same issue but this is 2 users out of 300. 

[simonh1286402]

Note for Adobe. I have 39x users in my organization that have the issue. So not really a one off.

[JR Boulay]

[MOVED TO THE ACROBAT READER DISCUSSIONS]

[luke_9071]

I've been involved in the reddit thread as well since it was first reported a month ago by our users. We are a global organization with over 300 users world-wide who are all experiencing the same issue. We are getting daily reports from users that this is still on-going with us being unable to advise a fix - making us look incapable. Adobe seriously needs to start taking accountability for the on going issue. 

I also had a ticket raised with Adobe on my personal account after a long call investigating which they decided to close without warning on Christmas Day. Crazy...

[luke_9071]

Little update, we have some users including myself that it appears to be partly resolved. 

I am now able to print from PDF's if the file has been directly opened by Outlook HOWEVER, if I open Adobe Reader exe and create a blank PDF - the issue returns. I've 2 out of 4 users we've tested so far are some what working, the others aren't.

[luke_9071]

UPDATE: Version 2412 of Office has resolved the issue when opening PDF from an Outlook attachment - myself and another user are running versions 2412 and working. Users on 2411 still have the issue.

HOWEVER, the issue with unsaved Adobe PDF's still remain. I.E creating a blank PDF using Adobe Reader and not saving it. Assume Outlook have implemented a temp fix for where files a temp stored when opening as an attachment.

[alexandre_0598]

I deployed 2411 and the issue is fixed for outlook attachments.
Though, same issue with file on Adobe Cloud Storage.

[alexandre_0598]

ahhh, tried again and broken again.. So, worked once after update....

[luke_9071]

Just tested on version 2412 again, working still for me. 

[simonh1286402]

Made some progress with Adobe. Had my third ticket/call with them. Located their hard to find 800 number 800-915-9428, and started a call that way. Went through the same routine with their Tier 1 support. (Uninstall, delete adobe files and regkeys, reinstall, repair office etc.) BUT at the end they agreed to escalate my call, to their next tier. Tier 2?.  They arranged for a call back with 24-48hrs. 

Anyhow... Finished up the call 4 with their "Tier 2", and although we did not solve it, I felt I was dealing with a more knowledgeable person as well as have better confidence on the next steps. – Plus he did not get me to repeat all the same uninstall/reinstall steps I did with calls 1-3.

In a nutshell.

• Confirmed this issue is being tracked as a bug under ADC-4492909. Which covers both Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat.
• Informed they are working on the bug for a future update. No time line if it will be in the next update. But did point me to their Release notes page so I can see when it gets included Release Notes | Adobe Acrobat, Reader
• If the bug is high priority and occurring with a lot of clients it will be worked on quicker.
• (Although the tech did say only the high priority bugs get listed there, so it could be possible it does not show there but is included... not really liking that... but it is what it is.)
• During my call he enabled logging, after which we replicated the issue and gathered the logs for their engineers. He thanked me for those, as it added to the available information for the engineers. He agreed he believes the issue is centered around when the file is in temporary memory prior to saving.
• He did informed me he will be closing my current ticket, as it was noted as a bug to be addressed in a future update, and I have a work around (save and print). (Not really liking that. But again it is what it is.)
• Asked him how I can get updates on the bug status being fixed. 1 – By watching for the updates and applying them. 2 -  checking the release notes page. 3 – and if no mention in next update or release notes, I’m free to call the 800 and ask about that bug number.

Side note: We currently have 50+ reported cases in my organization. Most are Windows 10, Office 2016 and Reader. We also have Windows 11, Office 365 and Reader. Across both win10 and win11 we have about 33% with Acrobat Standard. So windows version, office version, reader/acrobat and its version, no difference. We probabably have even more, that have not logged the issue, as we sent out an email a while back to say its a known issue.

Additional Note: I have run into a few cases now where it "seems" like anyway you open/save/print you cannot print. I have gotten around these by closing the pdf (if a fillable form fill it out first, then save), then while in file explorer right-click and choose print. This in all my cases, has bypassed the issue. It does mean you are kinda printing blind. But if you open and review first. Then close it, then print, its worked for me. Its a kinda janky work around, but helped in a few situations.

[luke_9071]

Great update, thank you.

I can confirm we have also deployed MS Office Version 2501 which has resolved the issue when opening the PDF via Outlook for all of our users excluding 2.

However, the issue still occurs with a new and blank PDF that has not been saved yet. 

[simonh1286402 · Accepted solution]

BIG UPDATE – So I hate letting Adobe off the hook, but turns out, at least in my organization, that Adobe is not the cause of the issue. We eventually tracked it down to ProofPoint, which is a Data Loss Prevention security service/app.

We had tested with our main antivirus uninstalled/disabled and that did not fix the issue.

BUT when we tried with ProofPoint uninstalled. It magically started to work! No printer selection loop.

SO… We contacted ProofPoint, and found it was a known issue that they were planning to have fixed in their next version.

Supposedly, ProofPoint has features like, do not print pdf’s with key words etc. And although this feature was not turned on in our environment, it was glitching out to cause the issue.

ProofPoint said we could 1- Rollback to a previous version, 2- wait for the next version and live with issue (estimated to come out 7-10 days from now) 3- request an early beta version to install now.

We tested rolling back, and that worked great. And as we could not wait, and did not want to be their testing ground for a beta version, we went with option 1 across the board. We will upgrade to the new version when it is released.

Bad version of ProofPoint: 4.1.0.1673

Previous good version: 4.0.1.4004

SO for those of you still stuck and have ProofPoint, check if that is the issue. If not check if you have any other Data Loss Prevention security services/apps that may be the cause. Good Luck!