Cannot open anything with Adobe Reader, as Adobe Acrobat Pro takes over each time

Report · Feb 13, 2023

I have both Adobe Reader and Acrobat Pro on my PC. I prefer opening pdfs with the Reader, as the Pro asks me to log into my account every single time I open it, which is highly annoying, so I only use it when I really need it.

However, recently Adobe Reader "stopped working" in that any time I try and open a pdf with the reader, it instead opens in Pro. I have set Adobe Reader as the default program for pdfs, but that didn't help. Even if I right-klick and specifically select "open with -> Adobe Reader", it instead opens in Adobe Pro.

What else can I try???

Report · Feb 13, 2023

Adobe are moving to making only one app. So it is, or soon will be, impossible to have both Reader and Pro separate. If you have Pro, it is only Pro, never Reader. It may be worth focussing on why Acrobat keeps asking you to sign in. This is not how it is supposed to work; it should do it only every few months. Some possible causes

- signing out from Pro

- using VM (virtual machines) set up by your company

- using some "anonymising" app which keeps changing the identity of your computer (so you keep needing to sign in)

Some tests.

1. Start Pro. Sign in. Quit. Start it again. Do you have to sign in again, just a minute later? Or is it only the next day?

2. Consider leaving Pro running all the time and minimizing instead of quitting. Any good?

Report · Feb 13, 2023

Thank you for the reply! Unfortunately the log-in problem comes from the fact that in our team we only have one Adobe licence which we use on several computers (mainly for Illustrator and Photoshop). So now every time I want to simply open a pdf to look at it, I have to kick someone else out of Illustrator or Photoshop because my Adobe Reader doesn't work anymore. (I'm aware that the licence-problem is "self-made", but this is how it is at our workplace unfortunately).

Report · Feb 13, 2023

I have bad news for you: Adobe don't sell any licenses for sharing in this way. Each member of the team MUST have their own license. Yes, I realise your company won't want to hear this, and you may not be the one to carry the bad news to them, but it certainly explains why Adobe won't see this as a problem to fix...