Participant

Answered

Why is Adobe Acrobat Reader starting automatically when I log into OSX?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
October 23, 2018
9 replies
48066 views

How can I stop Adobe from starting and opening every time I start up my computer?

I have both the options "open at login" and "keep in dock" turned off. Still, it automatically starts and opens when I start my computer.

This just started happening recently.

Correct answer NeteKoch

I found a way to stop Acrobat from adding to 'start at login'. Or at least on my computer:

Go to 'Activity monitor' kill all Adobe tasks.
Go to 'Machintosh HD > Library > LaunchAgents' and delete the file 'com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24ae...0d.plist.
Go to 'Machintosh HD > Apps > Adobe Acrobat DC' and delete the file 'Adobe Collaboration Synchronizer'.

After doing this Acrobat gives three warnings when starting, but - in my case - the app-helper is not automatically set to start in the background. Acrobat still seems to works.

N

NeteKochCorrect answer

Participant

I found a way to stop Acrobat from adding to 'start at login'. Or at least on my computer:

Go to 'Activity monitor' kill all Adobe tasks.
Go to 'Machintosh HD > Library > LaunchAgents' and delete the file 'com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24ae...0d.plist.
Go to 'Machintosh HD > Apps > Adobe Acrobat DC' and delete the file 'Adobe Collaboration Synchronizer'.

After doing this Acrobat gives three warnings when starting, but - in my case - the app-helper is not automatically set to start in the background. Acrobat still seems to works.

S_S

Community Manager

Hi @NeteKoch,

Hope you are doing well.

Thanks for letting us know it worked for you, and thanks for sharing the steps, which did help.

Marking this as a correct answer for future users to use as a reference.

Please feel free to write to us in case you have any further questions/concerns with Acrobat / Reader.

Regards,
Souvik.

D

defaultpuh0yhkm54et

Participant

Followed the above instructions to keep adobe from launching on starting computer. Could not find Adobe Collaboration Synchronizer. Could you help. Macbook pro with os sequoia 15.7.2 thanks

V

victor38911979w6t5

Participant

I had the same problem, solved it by puting the Acrobat Reader icon on the dock, now it does not open on start up.

AnandSri

Community Manager

Hi, I hope you are doing well. Thank you for reaching out. I'm glad to hear that the issue is resolved. Please contact us if you experience problems with Acrobat or the freeware Acrobat Reader application. Best Regards, ^AB

C

catherine_7954

Participant

My problem is not solved. How do I stop Adobe Acrobat application from automatically opening when I swtich on / start up my mac? Note I'm not referring to Creative Cloud. I'm on MacOS Sequoia

J

Joe286558767q8i

Participant

Found it - http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=3908296

C

chris241818577u5t

Participant

That works for Adobe Acobat Reader - doesn't work for other Adobe apps.

D

Dale28364363qvl0

Participant

I see these posts started in 2019 and here we are in 2023 and I don't see a single solution from Adobe. This is very frustrating for me, and nothing seems to work.

C

chris241818577u5t

Participant

Mac Big Sur. I have tried all thes options suggested and STILL acrobat opens full screen whenever I login. It is NOT listed under starup items.

So annoying. I used to have Adobe Professional (paid for!) but it stopped working several OS ago and I am expected to pay for it again. I used to like Adobe but over the years they have become so user-unfriendly with all their products I have used (Photoshop, Illustrator; In Design..) I use alternatives whenever I can - not that they care.

C

Cacao Bean Pirate

Participant

I agree, this is so annoying. So user unfriendly. I would not recommend anyone to buy this, it is very intrusive.

O

OpenChannel

Participant

This annoyed me for years. I just finally learned that our computers' system preferences have picked the Adobe Acrobat to be launched automatically at startup. You can change the setting by following these steps:

Click the black Apple icon in the upper-left corner of the screen.
System Preferences>Users & Groups
Click on Users & Groups. It's near the bottom of the dialog box.
Click on the Login Items tab.
Click on the application you want to stop from opening at startup. The applications are listed in the right pane of the dialog box.
Click on "minus sign" beneath the applications list. The application will be removed and will not run the next time you launch your Mac.

C

Cacao Bean Pirate

Participant

This does not work, any working solution?

A

anthonyh17534460

Participant

Hi guys.

Just found this and it's stopped it from happening:

Reader automatically launching at startup - why?

Jamie_Starr

Participant

That did not stop the icon from loading in the dock!

C

cyclopsdx

Inspiring

I have the same problem and it's annoying the hell out of me. Every time I start up my machine Acrobat DC (which I never use) opens automatically. I don't have 'Open at Login' ticked, either.

R

renees35953015

Participant

I've been having the same problem.

I upgraded to Adobe DC for a few months, then I didn't need it anymore, and went back to the free Adobe reader version. At that point, it started launching at start-up, taking over my whole screen. It's been driving me crazy.

In my Adobe preferences (the top mini menu), I was able to disable launch at login. Except, my "open at login" in the bottom tool ribbon, is perpetually clicked. I can't unclick it.

I spent over an hour on Adobe chat, and the tech just kept telling me that he was "looking into it". Personally, I think he was just delaying until I got bored. He succeeded in wasting my time and never resolved the issue (thanks Rahul).

But I did find this online: How to Stop an Application from Opening at Startup With Mac OS X , and it does stop the full application from opening. At this moment, only the icon in the bottom ribbon appears. The full program doesn't launch, just the icon. And for now, I'll have to live with that....until I find a different/better PDF reader and bid Adobe adieu.

C

Charismatic_care0101

Participant

I did what you did - upgraded to Adobe DC then decided to cancel, partly because whenever it opened a document, there was a sidebar with "All Tools" that was basically an advertisement for additional Adobe tools. And the user interface was not as straightforward as a simple PDF reader. Everything on this page didn't work for me - coming in through System Preferences, trying to delete login items (it wasn't even listed, but it still automatically started!), etc.

I then realized that there was an Adobe Acrobat Uninstall icon in the folder for the application (I got there by double-clicking on the icon in the dock, but I bet I could have gotten there by going to the Adobe application in the list of applications). I clicked on the Uninstall icon, and after closing all PDFs, it uninstalled the app.

Now when I click on a PDF, Preview is the app that opens it, and now I can more easily delete the pages in the thumbnail sidebar, or move them around. I'm going to test this and make sure it doesn't open anymore upon login, but it looks like this is a success.

C

Charismatic_care0101

Participant

Rebooted. Adobe Acrobat DC is definitely gone.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded