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Ridil28000261xpvn
Inspiring
January 18, 2023
Answered

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

  • January 18, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 20698 views

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.

 

    Correct answer Ridil28000261xpvn

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


    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.

    3 replies

    JR Boulay
    JR Boulay
    Adobe Expert
    November 13, 2023

    [MOVED TO THE ACROBAT READER DISCUSSIONS]

    Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
    Amal.
    Community Manager
    Amal.Community Manager
    Community Manager
    January 18, 2023

    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

    R
    Ridil28000261xpvnAuthor
    Inspiring
    January 19, 2023

    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.

    R
    Ridil28000261xpvnAuthor
    Inspiring
    January 19, 2023

    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


    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.

    Dave__M
    Dave__M
    Participating Frequently
    January 18, 2023

    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 

    R
    Ridil28000261xpvnAuthor
    Inspiring
    January 19, 2023

    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.

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