Adobe reader files location

[belimbor]

Hello,

I am using Adobe Reader on Android. When exploring docs from the app, there are a lot of files "On This Device" downloads folder, but I can't find them via android file manager, tried storage/emulated/0/downloads, also storage/emulated/0/android/data/com.adobe.reader/files/Downloads/ still can't find that docs. These docs also include old files I already deleted. That is why I think these are cache files, but still do not want to delete them, just would like to find where they are stored. Can you help me?

[WilliamAHuston]

I have the same problem.

It seems to me Adobe have these HIDDEN in a private area which only their stupid app can access, and they use this BROKEN behavior to force you to purchase their cloud services.

[Meenakshi Negi · Accepted solution]

Hi Belimbor,

On Android, if the file appears on the list of PDFs under  "On This Device", then the file is saved on a location on the device.

The applicaiton only help you to view the PDFs, it does not save it in the application.

If you cannot find the file on the device, you may use the application in order to save a copy of that file.

Open the PDF in the application and then either use share option or save it to other location.

Hope the information helps.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Meenakshi

[Incredible_Rocket5EA3]

It does not help. Not at all. We cannot approach those files on the computer, when we connect our devices to the laptops, for example.

Why?

[Alexandre5E15]

What is wrong with your company seriously, are you mad? You are telling us that we cannot access our own files that are on our own device? Are you mad? Have you bought the file? Have you got the author rights on the file? The file is not your property, this is stealing. Either give access to my files or build a new application.

[marissan45072016]

UMM ARE YOU FOLKS SURE THAT YOU HAVE THE RIGHT PERSON THAT YOUR TELLING
THIS NONE SENSE TO??
TO BE HONEST..I DONT EVEN KNOW WHY WOULD YOU FOLKS EVEN ACCUSE ME OF SAYING
THAT YOU GUYS CANT ACCESS YOUR OWN FILES ON ADOBE READER..WHEN I DONT EVEN
KNOW HOW TO ACCESS ANY OF THOSE THINGS MY [cursing removed] ..!! SOO THEREFORE I
DONT EVEN THINK THAT YOU HAVE THE RIGHT PERSON..BUT WHEN YOU FOLKS DO END
UP FINDING THAT PERSON THEN PLEASE DO LET ME KNOW..THANKZ!!

[Bernd Alheit]

Can you access the files with Acrobat Reader or not?

[erikk00]

Here's the problem, which Bernd you seem to avoid entirely in every thread about this. I download a pdf in google chrome and then I open it in Adobe acrobat. At that point acrobat puts it into some private location on the phone, which no one will say where is EXACTLY (full folder path). I cannot find the file on my phone using a file manager. What if I want to open it in some other application than acrobat? Yes I can save a copy and put it somewhere else but  [cursing removed]  is acrobat hiding my files in the first place?

If this behavior is considered a feature not a bug (we ALL know this behavior is Adobe trying to push its subscription services) then give us the option of disabling it or modifying how it works. Otherwise it's just scummy corporate behavior. 

[NSN ZZ]

I have deleted the app and reinstalled it.  That took care of several years worth of stored files with the ap, despite having deleted files from my download folder.  Stupid, really. 

And I like how Adobe's reaction isn't to understand our feedback but to tell us their product is just fine 🙂 

[NSN ZZ]

I have no idea why Adobe likes to preserve files I have deleted from my download folder. 

Anyhow, in settings you can deny permission for the readerto access your files etc.  That seems to have this secret hoarding problem and now I can open my pdf from email, download etc and delete, without Adobe preserving a secret copy 🙂 

[NSN ZZ]

Erm, no.  I delete my emails and I also delete files I have downloaded.  Yet I see many many old files in my Adobe app, 'on this device'.  But they are no where to be found (I have searched both by name and by type) .  Now my Adobe app is 4 gigs of memory. 

[ajays42729205]

Many people asking the same question, but no honest answer from Adobe. The fact is that pdf is accessible from Android Reader app, but cannot be found in any known location by any file browser app. Only conclusion is that Adobe is intentionally messing up Android device storage by saving these file as part of some reader app storage. Intentional bad design that sucks storage without transparency. What a big and untrustworthy way to handle user's own files. Killing storage to force us to buy Adobe cloud. I'm uninstalling instead for want of a trustworthy answer. Enough junk files "On this device" that I cannot clean in any manner but accessible by reader app on fly!!

[ajays42729205]

The only way to claim storage due to "On this device" junk preserved by Adobe is to go to reader app settings. Now clear app storage data and cache. This method work only because Adobe cannot bypass Android storage functions available to users, thanks to transparency provided by Android. Adobe has no way to hijack this cleaning process. You'll be able to clear the junk and regain storage, but you cannot pick and choose pdf to be deleted due to intentional poor design on the part of Adobe.

[NSN ZZ]

Thank you.  I don't understand why the app is designed like it is, to hoard old files that have been deleted from downloads or emails or whatsapp or whatevs ...  But your workaround is essentially what I did - I just reinstalled the app 🙂  Cheers.

[James230184073noe]

I have several thousand files which appear as On This Device, which I want to copy to a disk. It is not practical to save each one individually, and as they are several GB in size, it is not practical to upload to cloud then download. Surely there must be a way to transfer the files from my device (which don't appear on file managers) to my personal storage. Surely!?

On a side note, why are these downloaded files not in the main phone directory structure in the first place?

Seems like a poor design decision, or maybe just to anger people so Adobe's name becomes mud.

Suggest an export function, because the solutions proposed do not handle large numbers of files.

Thanks.

[NSN ZZ]

Seems to be poor design.  Adobe assumes you only read files from within the app and then delete. 

Problem is that files come with many other apps (browser, email attachment, whatsapp) and deleting the email or downloaded file is not recognized by Adobe.  I have 4 gigs now devoted to Adobe because of their design. 

[Bernd Alheit]

You can delete the files in Acrobat Reader.

[NSN ZZ]

Yes, I am aware I can delete several years of files from the reader. 

If I download attachments, I can delete excel and ppt from the download folder of the phone.  But for pdf, I need to go to the reader. 

This is bad UX. 

[NSN ZZ]

I have no idea why Adobe likes to preserve files I have deleted from my download folder. 

I deleted and reinstalled the app.  That brought 4 gigs down to 0.3.

Further, in settings you can deny permission for the reader to access your files etc.  That seems to have solved this secret hoarding problem and now I can open my pdf from email, download etc and delete, without Adobe preserving a secret copy 🙂 

[hkhan_pdfs]

Without addressing the issue of whether how the files are kept is good practice or not, the following is the easiest way I found to get all my files off my android and onto my computer when I was switching phones:

(Within the Adobe Reader app) Go to Files and then On This Device

Click on the three-dots menu at the top right and then do Select All

Use Share a Copy and an option like Bluetooth to send them all to your computer in one go.

While it took an unnecessarily long time for the transfer, I did get all 450+ files off the device without needing to do each individually.

Hope this helps someone else looking for a solution like I was.

[jamai5]

extremely helpful. It works.

[WalshTX]

Just wanted to give everyone a solution if I am reading the post correctly. It seems that some have residual files hanging out in the app as well as others who can't get the file location to populate.  This solution pertains to those who can't retrieve the file location. 

To me it seems unmportant as to where the file is stored, but rather retrieving the file is the utmost importance.  For Samsung Galaxy s20 users there is a feature built into the phone called quick share. To use this feature open your Adobe app and under the file icon you should see all of your files. In the upper right hand corner hit the three menu button dots and then, select all next hit the same three menu button and select share. Here you will use the quick share option that should already be populated, if not you can scroll over and search for it. I sent the files to my new phone as they did not move over during the Samsung smart switch. I found this option to be very fast and was able to move all of the files at once opposed to sending them individually or being limited by email file size restraints. Hope this helps anyone in the future. 

Additionally, the files will be saved to your internal storage under download and in the quick share folder. From here you can move them wherever you like. 

[Samir of Bosnia]

I encountered this problem many years ago now. But still, even till this day, whenever I set out to clean up my phone of old junk files I have to remind myself of just what the flip is going on with this stupid app called "Adobe Reader". Which brings me here today! HELLO! Then it all comes back to me! All the memories of bad experiences with this horrendous app comes rushing to my prefrontal cortex.

It nevere ceases to amaze me how stupid things like this can hang on for such a long time. A world war 3 will break out and the hell will freeze over before Adobe lets go of its dumb/greedy/evil/bad/wrong (take your pick) practices.

Why is Adobe doing this? Because they can! It's as simple as that. No further explanation, speculation or rationalization is necessary! If you don't like it, then you should stop using their app immediately. The remedy is just as simple as the illnes, if you're willing and ready to take a stand and have them know you're fed up with this. Where there is a will there is a way!

As a user, you too have a responsibility. Let Adobe know what you think by uninstalling their app, and encourage your friends and other people you care about to do the same. Be the change you want to see in the world, and all that. Stop supporting Adobe by using their products and services. How bad do you need it? How bad do you want it? You need bread and water to survive in the world, you don't need "Adobe Reader".

You don't have the right to complain if you choose not to do what's in your power to make a change by uninstalling Adobe Reader and finding an alternative app or workflow for PDF files.

PDF is now an open standard, so competitors are able to make compatible apps without having to pay royaltee fees to Adobe. At least breaking away from your dependency on Adobe for PDF files should be a no-brainer. It's worse if you had to do the same for Photoshop and Premiere Pro files and workloads.

Just uninstall! I have uninstalled Adobe Reader. You should do the same.

[Samir of Bosnia]

Dear readers of my post, please forgive me for not inserting extra line breaks to add separation between the paragraphs for easier reading. Apparently, since I am new here, Adobe suspects that I'm here to abuse and spam you, so they have disabled the Edit function. You can read all about it here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/using-the-community-discussions/edit-forum-post-still-not-fixed/m-p/1...

This is a paragraph.

This is another paragraph.

This is also a paragraph but with one extra line break above it. Notice how much easier it is to read. Sadly I cannot edit this in to my post above because I am not allowed to. So you will have to live with it. Surely, it's much easier to live with something as unimportant as this, than living without something as important as bread and water. But it's small things like this that put me off from participating in such web forums (a.k.a. "community").

You can tell by the link above that other members are upset by this too. But the reasoning here is the same as for the Adobe Reader app... why is Adobe doing this? Because they can. But you can choose to not participate and go elsewhere. In my experience, the best places to discuss a software product are independent web forums, and not forums that are operated by the same people that made the product. Unless it's a free and open source software, because then the rules are usually much more loose and it's easier to freely discuss any aspect of the product or the community rules.

[Samir of Bosnia]

How to Export All the PDF Files Out of Adobe Reader's "Adobe Acrobat" Private Storage

1. Start the app.

2. Select "Files" at the bottom.

3. Select "On this device".

4. Tap on the three dots (for a menu) in the top right corner.

5. Select "Select all".

6. Tap on the three dots (for a menu) in the top right corner.

7. Select "Share a copy".

8. Select an app to share the files with.

I shared the files with OneDrive and my Microsoft account. I have several terrabytes of free space here that I can use, and I therefore don't need yet another cloud storage service, be it from Adobe or another company. You can select Dropbox here if you want, or another cloud storage provider.

I'm not sure what the "Duplicate" option does (it duplicates, yes, but I don't know where to). It might be that it creates local copies of your files on the device, to some location that other apps can access as opposed to being locked into Adobe's private area... you can also try selecting a file centered app of another type, like a file manager or something and see if you can make a local copy that way, I haven't tried this.

How to Export a Single PDF File Out of Adobe Reader's "Adobe Acrobat" Private Storage

1. Select "Files" at the bottom.

2. Tap on the three dots (for a menu) next to the file name.
3. Select "Save a copy".

4. Select "On this device".

This should create a local copy of this file on the device, to a location that other apps can access. This location is the "downloads" folder on the device. You can use your file manger to view this location, or just tap on the "Open" link when it appears and it will take you there. You was able to find the file in the "Download" (not "downloads") folder of "Internal storage".