Disable file-lock on Adobe Reader DC (Windows 10)?

Make a BAT file with the following:

taskkill /IM AcroCEF.exe /F
taskkill /IM AdobeCollabSync.exe /F

et voila.

I've seen this reply before, and I guess it's up to Adobe to tell people to shove off and download alternative software all they want. I just think it's hilarious that you can be this dismissive of a suggestion and then be surprised that you don't have more users who need the functionality.

I'm guessing at least half of SumatraPDF's user base would have been using acrobat reader if they weren't forced to use software that actually integrates with other software. Even your own software clashes with this! It's not because we think PDF is the main format for Illustrator, it's because we're *exporting* to PDF from Illustrator and Indesign, and we'd want to be able to do that without double checking that the file isn't open in Reader or *selected* in Explorer. 

Make the reader mode difficult to get to if you want, the people who care don't worry about having to set some cmd flag, and the people who would consider this a bug will never see it.

At the very least you have to admit that it's weird to reserve editing rights for a thumbnail previewer.

Sorry but with respect, I take issue with your assessment that "other significant number of our users". This has been a problem with PDFs for over a decade if you want thumbnails in explorer, without which managing them is terrible.

When used as a viewer, it does not make sense that a document must be locked for exclusive access. If the document is actively being read, ok.  if the document has changed, notifiy the user it has, and re-open. locking a document that is only being read, even when it's not being read, is bad-form.

I need thumbnails. generation of thumbnails and/or previewing them locks pdfs, and sometimes doesn't let go after many minutes of being outside that folder.

so... this is a problem for me, and has been for over a decade. just because I haven't previously piped up, and others haven't either, doesn't mean it's not a problem.  it just means that most people, imo, feel that adobe will dismiss the problem as too hard and not worth the bother.  which is an unfortunate attitude. That said, it seems to be changing with the subscription model. much to many folks' surprise.

while reading a file, pdf or otherwise, the process doing so should be able to open in read-only mode, note the modification date, and release the lock while not actively reading the file. When re-entering reading mode, check the file modification date and if it's changed, notify the user it's changed and offer to re-load.

something like that for a VIEWER makes way more sense to me.

but does my voice matter? - I'm still not 100% sure.

I think it's reasonable that Acrobat locks a PDF file while it is open in Acrobat. However, there has been a fundamental bug in Acrobat (or its associated processes) for many years: it locks a PDF file (or its folder) even when the PDF file has been closed in Acrobat! The processes AcroCEF.exe and AdobeCollabSync.exe seem to be the culprits. Consequently, our DTP software cannot rewrite a PDF file even though it has been closed in Acrobat. Instead, the entire Acrobat application has to be closed. Alternatively, using Windows task manager to end the offending processes (named above) immediately allows our software to rewrite the PDF file. Not correctly releasing files represents a fundamental error in Acrobat's file handling.

> Quite honestly, we don't see this as a “problem” nor have any other significant number

> of our users.

Perhaps the user's that experience this tend to just switch to a different reader? Silence does not necessarily mean that there isn't a problem. As this discussion shows. I certainaly have this problem too, in the same scenario. I.e. PDF generated by some script or other software, from source material, and I want to check on the rendered PDF while making changes to the script or the source material.

> Perhaps a better solution is to fix LaTeX or its parameterization to prompt for a new file name

> if it finds the current file is locked or possibly have LaTeX create new folders for each new

> generation of PDF files it generates which you can copy over when you are done mucking with

> the previous generation's file.

I'm afraid you sort of miss the point here. A much simpler solution than modiying LaTeX or other scripts to produce a new file name, would be to simply close the reader program before attempting to regenerate the PDF. But the actual _point_ is that it leads to an inefficient and tedious workflow. When I run the script under Linux with evince as PDF viewer, it doesn't lock the file and I can repeatedly rerun the script and within a split second evince will detect the file change and update the rendered view. Keeping the PDF rendered on half the screen and my editor on the other half, this is quite efficient. On Windows colleagues tend to use Acrobat Reader by default, this preventing this workflow. Closing Reader and reopening the file manually after every rerun of the script is inefficient. Making the script always use a new file name doesn't fix this, because I would still need to open the file manually and now I have a bunch of files to delete also so it's actually even worse.

I'd just like to add that Klaus.at is not alone with this need Dov Isaacs​

Here is another example, one that we are experiencing and really annoys us. One of our designers that use Illustrator are working in PDF-files so that others can view her work using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. There are several colleges that need to check on her designs from time to time. When they open a file that she already has open in Illustrator she can no longer save her changes and is therefore interrupted in her work.

So, other people are allowed to open her files (that are already opened for editing by her) with a software (made by Adobe) that is meant for viewing files. So far so good! But Adobe Reader will also lock the file so she can't continue her work. That's not good.

Receiving a cached copy for our viewing pleasure when we open a PDF with a PDF reader can be considered rather intuitive, as in "expected behavior before reading the manual". Intuitive behavior is a very important factor when designing good software.

The argument about "space waste" cannot be relevant in the most scenarios (99% of the cases?) but more of a special case, right? And special cases should not be allowed to dictate and decrease the usability of the more common case if it can be avoided.

Here is a crude and intentionally unpolished suggestion, for brainstorming:

When opening a file with Adobe Reader DC, if the file is smaller than "computer RAM-size divided by 2", copy the file to cache in the background while the file is opened. Once the copy is completed, release the lock on the file.

And don't tell me you have to write to the file continuously while having it open in Adobe Reader for viewing in ways that can't be done without locking the file for everyone else. Why then can a file be opened by Adobe Reader when Adobe Illustrator already has that file opened for active editing? Does Adobe Reader ignore the lock Illustrator has and write anyway. Doesn't seem like a good thing.

Ok. But what if we want to actively change the file with the software that's meant to read files, even though it's already opened by another software for editing?

Then Adobe Reader DC can try to reapply the lock as soon as a EDIT-function is requested. If someone else is already editing the file, or in the process of opening it, a lock should exist that correctly prevents the second editor from changing the file.

I know I don't have all the answers here, but come on. With the competence you have I have no doubt in my mind that you can solve this in a beautiful way.

when I edit a file in adobe and go to save It ...... it will not overwrite the file and save the changes I just made to it

I have to save it under a different name.... and now I have 2 files and have to spend time to verify which is the most current

then I cant delete or rename the old one because your recent files list has it "open" so I have to clear recent files

close adobe and close all explorer windows then open explorer and then delete the old one and rename the new one again to the original file name as we have specific file naming conventions

very counter productive

all because of your locking files idea