Getting the "Please wait..." error in Adobe Reader DC

[dougman82]

Hello,

I am using a Macbook with a fresh installation of MacOS Mojave. Sometimes I'll get PDFs that when trying to open them in Preview or in a web browser, they only display a warning like so:

When this happens, I always open the file in Adobe Reader and I'm able to get in. However, recently, there have been a number of PDFs that show this error even when opening them in Adobe Reader. Just now, a co-worker needed to fill out a form. So I found the blank form and verified that I could open it in Reader and then sent it to him. He filled it out (again, using Reader on his laptop), and then sent me back the file. But when I try to open it to make sure he filled out all the right information, I just get that error message.

Please advise - how can I get Adobe Reader to properly open these PDFs?

Thanks,

Doug

[dougman82]

Also, just to clarify. I have been searching the web for this issue, and all I seem to find is people getting this error while trying to open a PDF in their web browser, and once they are directed to use Adobe Reader, it works. This is NOT the case for me. I have downloaded the PDFs in question to my hard drive and I am explicitly opening them in Adobe Reader, and still getting this error.

Finally, I have updated my Reader to the latest version available - version 2019.008.20080.

Thanks,

Doug

[AnandSri · Accepted solution]

Hello Dougman,

I am sorry for the trouble you had and for the delayed response, please refer and try the suggestion from the following help article PDF won’t display. Please wait …

Make sure that you have the latest version of Adobe Reader installed, check for any pending updates of Adobe Reader from help>check for updates, reboot the machine after updating Adobe Reader and try opening the PDF files.

Are you getting the error message with all the PDF files or with specific PDF file? If it is with a few specific PDF files, is it possible to share any sample file with us so that we can test it at our end?

Share the PDF file by direct message only How Do I Send Private Message

If updating Adobe Reader does not resolve the issue, please use Acrobat cleaner tool to remove Adobe Reader and reboot the machine Download Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool - Adobe Labs

Then download Adobe Reader setup file from the URL ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/AcrobatDC/1900820081/

Complete the installation process and open the PDF files and check.

For testing purpose only, disable the 'Protected mode at startup' and ' Enhanced security' from Edit>Preferences>Secdurity(Enhanced) and check if this brings any difference.

Let us know how it goes and share your observation with above-shared steps.

Thanks for your time and patience thus far.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

[Opaso]

Disable antivirus. Especially if you have signatures, or security built into the pdf that the antivirus will flag and won't download those parts of the pdf, thus causing the error.

[COSSIE_AJ · Accepted solution]

If this helps anyone i recently had this error in Adobe Acrobat Pro. Steps to resolve close the application > backup the reg key Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC then delete the DC folder to reset settings to default. Hopefully this helps someone. 🙂