Can’t Open Reader - No Error Message

Report · Mar 30, 2019

Hi,

I opened a PDF doc on my laptop this morning, hit the upload to cloud button so I could take it with me on my phone but when it hung I just ‘X’-ed out. I got an initial generic message saying the program was unresponsive but ever since, I can’t open Adobe or any MS program (Word, Excel, etc) either directly or via clicking on individual files in Windows Explore. No error message, just click and nothing happens. Massively frustrating.

I tried signing out of Adobe on my phone, deleting and reinstalling Reader on my laptop, shutting down and restarting and in desperation, even ran a complete repair of my Office 365 but none of that worked. Still can’t open anything.

Would hugely appreciate any advice anyone can provide. Getting desperate.

Damian

Report · Apr 02, 2019

Hello Damaino,

We're sorry for the trouble you had with Adobe Reader, please reboot the machine once and try launching Adobe Reader again.

If you are able to launch Adobe Reader, please check for any pending updates of Adobe Reader form help>check for updates.

Reboot the machine again after updating Adobe Reader and try opening any PDF file by launching Adobe Reader and choosing File menu.

You may also check for any pending updates of the operating system and install them.

Are you on Windows or Mac machine and what is the version?

What is the current version of Adobe Reader installed? To identify, please refer to the help article Identify the product and its version for Acrobat and Reader DC

If you experience any issue, try resetting the Adobe Reader's Preferences once and reboot the machine. To reset the preferences, please refer to the article How to reset Acrobat Preference settings to def... | Adobe Community

If the issue persists, please use Acrobat cleaner tool to remove Adobe Reader Download Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool - Adobe Labs

Reboot the machine and install Adobe Reader from Adobe - Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Distribution

Let us know how it goes and share your observation.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

Report · Apr 02, 2019

Hi Anand,

Thanks for the reply. I’m using Windows 10. Have already tried suggestions (rebooting, updates, even uninstall and reinstall of Reader. None of that worked.)

What did work, at least intermittently, was to open the app as administrator (wouldn’t open otherwise), go into preferences and uncheck protected mode in the Sandbox. Not sure why but that then allowed me to upload the PDF doc to the cloud. I then re-checked the protected mode box.

The frustrating thing is every 2 or 3 uploads (it seems to be random) the problem comes back and I have to go back into the Sandbox and uncheck the protected mode box. So I have a work around but would love to find a permanent fix. Any ideas?

Damian

Report · Apr 03, 2019

I currently am experiencing the same issue trying to run reader on a Windows 10 machine. Both reader and Windows 10 are completely up to date. I can only open reader when opening as administrator. I did find a workaround. If you change it to run in compatibility mode and choose to run in windows 8 mode, it works. However, this is just a workaround, not a solution to the problem.