Select and copy Text very often doesn't work with Adobe Acrobat Reader. What could be the problem?

[Ridil28000261xpvn]

I'm on Windows 10 and no matter what i try, no matter how i mark text (doubleclick or left mouse button down + drag + left mouse button up or even menu/edit/select all), most of the times (but sometimes it does work for the same document where it previously didn't, and while it's still open, no close/reopen has been done), copying text (with CTRL+C, with Right-Mouse-Button-Context-Menu + Copy, with the popup-toolbar and its copy icon or with menu/edit/copy) doesn't copy anything to the clipboard.

Copying the same marked text from the same document with the chrome pdf plugin always works.

I'm testing with the newest Adobe Acrobat Reader (V 2022.003.20310 64-bit).

Here's an example file where sometimes copying works and sometimes it doesn't:

https://www.adobe.com/support/products/enterprise/knowledgecenter/media/c4611_sample_explain.pdf

Note that i did click on "enable all features" when the warning about a potentially unsafe document has been shown.

The "Document Properties" show under Tab "Security", Line "Content Copying": Allowed.

This is awfully annoying and some friends told me they have the same problem so that i don't think it's just my pc.

[Dave__M]

For what it's worth, I am running Windows 10 & Acrobat Pro DC Pro - and copying text functions as expected on your sample document.  A thought, though, is that the file opened for me (after clicking the link) in a browser, and my browser settings instruct an online PDF to be displayed in Adobe's browser plugin.  When opened in the desktop Acrobat application, it also behaved 'properly'.  Are you trying to copy the text from inside a browser presentation of the PDF?

Any additional details you can provide might help isolate the issue.  (And I understand that I am not using Reader, but Acrobat - trying to reproduce your issue with the tools at hand.

My best,

Dave 

[Ridil28000261xpvn]

Hi Dave

I downloaded the file to a local harddrive and opened it from there with the newest Adobe Acrobat Reader (V 2022.003.20310 64-bit).

Then i also opened the same downloaded file in the newest chrome for comparison.

[Amal.]

Hi @Ridil28000261xpvn 

++ Adding to the discussion

Would you mind sharing a small video recording of the steps you are doing and the issue you are experiencing?

Also, please collect  the Adobe CC logs https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-log-collector.html  , Procmon logs (Win Only) https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/acromonitor.html  and share them via document cloud as described here https://helpx.adobe.com/document-cloud/help/sharing-pdfs.html  for further investigation.

Regards
Amal

[Ridil28000261xpvn]

Hi Amal

This is a company pc and i'm not allowed to install those data collectors. Do they show the complete data they're gathering and allow to manually delete some before uploading? Is the upload automatic or is it possible to cancel?

However, i did a screen recording of the behavior; please find it attached.

[Amal.]

Hi @Ridil28000261xpvn 

Thanks for sharing the video recording, i tried to reproduce the issue at my end using your steps as shown in the video and all are working fine.

Would you mind sharing the PDF file in question so that i can check it at our end.

Also the tools shared above to collect the logs are used to generate the log files and then you have to share them via any cloud storage. Just upload the logs and create the link and share that link with us in private message.

To start the private message, click on the envelop icon in the top right corner of this page.

Regards

Amal

[Ridil28000261xpvn]

Hi Amal

I intentionally searched for a PDF from the adobe domain so people wouldn't be scared by the attachment.

I'm testing with this one https://www.adobe.com/support/products/enterprise/knowledgecenter/media/c4611_sample_explain.pdf which i downloaded to and opened from a local drive.

Just to be sure i downloaded it again on another PC and compared the checksums. They match (SHA-256 is 2353DEADC9FA87817413B239841A373FB51DE8B74A75D3C8C863DE735CA0B4A0) so i don't attach the file here.

[Amal.]

Hi @Ridil28000261xpvn 

I have tried reproducing the issue using the PDF file you shared and its working fine.

Would you mind sharing the logs requested earlier so that we can isolate this issue for the fix.

Also, try updating the application to the new version 22.3.20314 , goto Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

Regards

Amal

[aclmmbell]

Was there any solution to this? I have the same problem - not using Reader, using the latest version of Adobe Acrobat (no updates available) on Windows 11. I can edit the text in the PDF within Acrobat, but when I simply try to copy text from an open PDF nothing works - not the shortcut, not the dropdown menu button, not the right-click context menu. There is no security on the PDFs, they allow copying of content. 

Can someone help? It is very frustrating - I work with documents with a lot of text and frequently need to copy from PDFs into other formats. 

[Ridil28000261xpvn]

Unfortunately not. I'm still having the problem on multiple systems.

[Ridil28000261xpvn · Accepted solution]

It's also worth pointing out that it's not like Acrobats copying isn't doing anything; when there's already something in the clipboard and i'm copying from acrobat, the clipboard get's cleared, so acrobat is actually doing something, just not enough or the right thing.

[defaultypojuv555h6a]

I am also having the same problem. Adobe Acrobat Pro on Windows 11. This is an Accessibility issue for people with low vision and other print impairments. NEEDS TO BE FIXED asap.

[Amal.]

Hi @defaultypojuv555h6a 

What is the version of the Acrobat DC you are using? To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the recent version 23.01.20143 installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

Also, try to repair the installation from the help menu (Win Only) and see if that works.

Please try to reset the Acrobat preferences as described here https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/how-to-reset-acrobat-preference-settings-to-defau... and see if that works for you.

If it still doesn't work, would you mind collecting the Adobe CC logs https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-log-collector.html , Procmon logs (Win Only) https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/acromonitor.html  and share them via any cloud storage. Just upload the log file to the cloud, generate the link, and share that link with us for further investigation.

Regards
Amal

[Ivan33536473x1xl]

Same problem! if I cut and past anything it shows some encrypted code of boxes. Look at this:

[Amal.]

Hi there

It looks like the font issue, a if the font is not embedded properly in the PDF or not present on your computer or you may not have the required permission to use the font.

Please try to do the Save As > Optimized PDF > Under fonts, check for any unembeded font and try to retain it as shown below and see if that works.

If it still doesn't work, try to export the PDF to MS Word and do all the editing and then recreate the PDF from the Word file via Adobe Acrobat ribbon in the toolbar and check.

~Amal

[Ivan33536473x1xl]

Again more road blocks. I cant belive how non user frinedly this is. Futhermore I trying to cut and past from one Adobe Doc to another. I cant why there would be a font issue:

[Jane38580093hm0g]

I have the same problem.  Very annoying. Can't figure out why I can't copy text and drop it elsewhere.  I did not have this problem earlier.

[Amal.]

Hi there,

Is this an issue with a particular PDF file or with all the PDFs? Please try with a different PDF file and check.

What is the version of the OS and the Acrobat DC you are using? To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the recent version 24.02.2089x installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

Let us know how it goes.

~Amal

[Ridil28000261xpvn]

Ok. How is this the correct answer? I feel like it only adds more evidence to the suspicion that there's a very annoying bug in acrobat reader.

[JR Boulay]

[MOVED TO THE ACROBAT READER DISCUSSIONS]