Adobe Acrobat opens wrong PDF files on iPad

Report · Mar 28, 2022

I have a recurring, on-and-off problem with Adobe Acrobat (version 21.10.00) on my iPad Air 3rd generation (running iOS 13.3).

I have a library of PDF files organized in folders within folders on Dropbox. Sometimes, when I double tap on one PDF file inside of Acrobat, it actually opens a different PDF, stored in a completely different Dropbox folder. If I close and reopen, I will eventually get the correct PDF to open. I then highlight the PDF as I'm reading it. When I close it, the highlights are lost.

Sometimes, this happens to an entire folder. I open folder X in Acrobat to find a file, but it shows me the content of folder Y.

It's like wires are getting crossed and Acrobat is creating links between PDF files that have no obvious links behind them.

95% of the time, I don't have this issue. But the remaining 5% is really annoying.

What is happening?

Report · Mar 29, 2022

Excuse me, please explain your problem in more detail. Is it possible to
illustrate the link to the drop address and how it is interrupted?

Report · Mar 29, 2022

Hi @Jonathan237906306o2v

Thanks for providing the details of the issue. Could you please share a video/screen recording that shows the issue clearly, so we can try to reproduce on our end?

Also, it looks like the app has an update pending, please make sure that the app is up to date.

Thanks,

Harsh

Report · Mar 29, 2022

Hi,

I don't have any screenshots or video recordings at the moment. If it happens again, I will do my best to document it.

Report · Apr 01, 2022

I am having the same issue with my ipad. Everytime she tries to open a file from dropbox in adobe, adobe launches a different file. It just started happening the other day.

Report · Apr 11, 2022

Hi:

I am having the same issue. When I open a PDF from within Dropbox ("Open with.. Adobe Acrobat Reader"), Acrobat opens a different PDF file, from a different Dropbox folder (usually a PDF that I have edited previously). If I navigate to the correct Dropbox folder from within Acrobat, the same thing happens. It seems certain PDFs become linked with another incorrect PDF that opens instead (repeated attemptes always open the same wrong file). I notice that this often results in several duplicate files ("..(CONFLICT)") being created as well.

I'm running the latest update, on an iPad Pro (2018) with the latest iOS. But I don't think the issue is versions - this has been happening to me intermittently for YEARS.

Renaming the offending file doesn't help, but deleting and creating a new file seems to fix the issue for the one file.

Please let me know how to fix this problem.

Thanks,

T.

Report · May 27, 2022

Hi, Harsh Vardhan Pareek,

It happened to me again just now. I can't get a recording because the problem is so intermittent. When it happens, it's too late to record it.

I spent 20 minutes reading a scientific paper saved on Dropbox using Adobe Acrobat Reader on my iPad. I annotated it. When it came time to close it and save these annotations, the annotations were not saved, and the app acted like I was not accessing a file in folder X, but rather in folder Y, which was the previous folder I had opened last week in Reader. It said it created a conflicted copy of my file (which I cannot find), and now, when I open this file that I spent 20 minutes annotating, all the annotations are gone.

Trevor wrote a reply to my thread in April, and this is the exact problem I have. It's intermittent and incredibly frustrating. I waste time annotating papers and having these annotations not saved. If it were happening constantly, I would switch to a better product, but because these instances are rare, I don't know what to do.

Please help.

Report · May 27, 2022

Hi @Jonathan237906306o2v

Sorry for the trouble.

We are checking with the team and we need to reproduce it for testing. As you have posted the query two month, could you please check if it's up to date and confirm the Application's and iOS versions again?

Thanks,

Harsh

Report · May 27, 2022

Hello, I have finally drawn the attention of an Adobe employee on Twitter, and I have managed to screen capture the problem. I have sent all of this as a DM to @Adobe on Twitter. The problem occurred under at least 2 different versions of the iPad's operating system (I'm now operating under 15.5, and the problem is still there), and the Reader version is 21.10.00. What seems to happen is that Reader confuses 2 files in 2 different folders, and shows file #1 in folder #2 and vice versa.

Report · May 28, 2022

For what it's worth, I did stumble across a way to stop this from continuing to happen: delete the Acrobat app completely, then reinstall from the App store. It seems that the problem becomes more persistent the more pdfs I work on, and the greater number of pdfs I'm annotating. I use it for grading assignments (submitted by the students as pdfs), so when I'm annotating pdfs, I'm annotating a LOT of pdfs one after another. It works great for a while, then the files start to get confused (as described well by Jonathan above) - that's when I know it's time to delete the app and reinstall. Certainly frustrating when I've put a lot of time and effort into the annotations of a file, to find that the file wasn't saved properly.

T.

Report · May 28, 2022

Thanks, Trevor, for the tip! I'm still awaiting further instructions from Adobe.

By the way, I sometimes get an error message when trying to save annotations. I found out yesterday that the annotated PDF, which seemingly can't be saved and which looks forever lost, actually gets saved on my iPad in the "Files" app. It's quite the rigmarole to export that file from there, but you can in practice salvage the annotated PDF file in those cases and put it back in its proper folder.

Report · Dec 03, 2022

Hi Jonathan, have you heard anything back since you originally wrote this, aside from uninstalling and reinstalling? I am having the exact same problem you described and it is driving me nuts. It is mixing up all my student files and then not saving the annotations - I'm grading the same things over and over again and wasting an enormous amount of time.

Thanks in advance,

Sarah

Report · Dec 03, 2022

I'd be curious to know if Adobe has come up with a solution yet too.

I'm in the habit now of doing a delete/reinstall every time I'm about to embark on a big set of grading. Grading the same things over and over again is no fun.

Thanks,

T.

Report · Dec 03, 2022

OP here. The only solution I have at the moment is to delete the app and reinstall. It will look as if the annotations on that PDF are lost, but that's not true: the file is saved in the Files app on your iPad. So you can grab it from there and restore it to its proper location. That is unfortunately the only solution I have to this annoying and recurring problem.

Report · Jul 15, 2024

I have this problem too. If I make a copy of the file, delete the old one, then it usually gets back on track.

Report · Jul 19, 2024

Hi @oosplatt2,

I was going through the entire thread and the first part sounds very strange.

If Dropbox is accessed through Acrobat's file section, it follows the folder directory that is shared by DropBox.

Acrobat only uses a connector workflow which uses the server to display files saved on the cloud.

For the second part about file copies getting created, our team is aware of it and working on a fix.

We released a fix i the earlier versions of the app, but it looks like cloud storage like OneDrive or DropBox updated their terms of usage from time-to-time which resets all the write permissions directly to the drive, thus Acrobat creates an internal copy of the file to save your changes.

That being said, let me check this with the team again and get back to you guys.

Thanks,

Souvik

Report · Jan 19, 2025

I am having the exact same problem. It occors independently of whether I open the file from Dropbox or from Acrobat. Really frustrating to loose a lot of work with no way of recovering it.

Report · Mar 04, 2025

I am running version 25.02.00 on iPad Pro OS 18.3.1. I have used this program for over 5 years particularly for work. Several months ago I had the exact same issue of files being displayed from my Dropbox not actually being opened when I click on the file. I disconnected and reconnected the Drobpox account and that worked temporarily Sometimes I had to reinstall Adobe and that would solve the issue. However, the past two days when I open the Dropbox folder for the day with my patient charts the folder will not even display all of the files and displays duplicates of others. Opening files would again link to a different incorrect file. I have reinstalled Acrobat and Dropbox 3 times and realized it was not a Dropbox issue as in the Dropbox App the files would display and open correctly. However even when from the Dropbox App I say "Open in Adobe Acrobat" once Adobe opens the file it is incorrect. I have even tried linking the account only online and keeping the Dropbox app uninstalled, but alas, indeed Adobe is the problem. This has led to me having to write everything by hand and transfer the information on my computer when I get home. I pay for this application and this is obsurd and disrupting my work life.

Another problem that coincided with these difficulties was in the text fields designated in the files, the writing shows up DOUBLE once I click to edit the field (picture shown)

This issue needs to be resolved!!!

Report · Apr 23, 2025

Hi there

Hope you're doing well.

We're really sorry to hear about the trouble you experienced with the app.

The issue where text fields were showing double or duplicated text has been fixed in our latest update (version 25.03.0). We recommend updating the app from the App Store to make sure you’re using the newest version. After updating, please restart your device—it helps apply the changes properly.

Also, once you’ve done that, please check if the problem with the Dropbox folder is still happening. The update may help with that as well.

Please try this and let us know if things are working better now or if you're still facing any issues.