Can't Reduce File Size in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC - Program Crashes

[jaclynb]

I use Adobe Acrobat Pro DC and I used to be able to reduce the file size of the PDF two different ways. One way was to optimize the PDF, the other was just to save as a reduced file size. Both stopped working a few days ago. My Adobe crashes and forces close every time I try either way now. 

I found a setting that said "Always reduce file size when saving if larger than 10MB" so I checked the box and tried a few files; worked awesome. Thought I solved my problem. But a few documents later, I'm right back to square one. When I attempt to save the document, it crashes and forces close. The error message I get just says "Adobe Acrobat has stopped working." The only option is to close the program. 

I've worked with tech support within my company who tried reinstalling and reinstalling the program, checking for updates, etc. Nothing has solved the problem. It is very frustrating because I have to send these documents via email, and there is a 10MB limit on some of the emails I have to send them to. I have a Windows 10 OS. 
Has this been an issue for anyone else? How do I fix this? 

[MichaelKazlow]

You can use the Acrobat Cleaner Tool before reinstalling to get rid of anything corrupt from a previous install. 

Have you tried to use the advanced optimization settings to get the best size reduction for the quality you want to maintain?

[MichaelKazlow]

https://labs.adobe.com/downloads/acrobatcleaner.html

[jaclynb]

The tech support guy actually used the cleaner tool before reinstalling. We also tried the repair option on the program. Nothing helps. 

If I try to save as an optimized PDF, with advanced settings, it crashes and force closes. I've tried multiple advanced settings with help from others I work with that reduce file sizes on a daily basis. It will not work. 

[Raw-we]

Does it crash only when you try to reduce the file size or any other operation as well?

Try printing the PDF to Adobe PDF printer. It flattens the document thereby reducing the size. You can use this as an interim method to reduce file size of PDFs.

Crash logs will be helpful to debug the issue if you still face problems after following Michael's advice above.

Thanks,

Ravi

[jaclynb]

I tried printing to Adobe PDF like you recommended and it made the file size larger. So that's not a good solution. 

But yes, it only crashes when I attempt to reduce the file size as I stated above. 

[MichaelKazlow]

Now we have to try some other techniques. Crashes are usually driven by driver and/or hardward issues. Try to see if you can turn off any hardware acceleration, espcially for your display.

You can also try to create a new user and see if the software crashes on a new user.

[jakubgal]

This issue has still not been resolved by Adobe Team . Reducing PDF crashes my fully updated PC. 11/04./20

[defaultp0g93m5n77kv]

I have the exact same issue. nothing has changed in my setup. Enabling fast web view also causes crashes. windows 10 everything up to date.

[BarlaeDC]

Hi,

Would you be able to use the Document Cloud to share the document, therefore allowing bigger documents? (just a thought)

Is anyone able to create a document that they can share that shows the problem?

Malcolm

[uniryan]

Hi there,

Wanted to add to this thread as I am having the same problem. Actually many designers in my department are. We have not found a solution around this. We noticed that this first started when all the Adobe products got updated a few months ago with new releases. Since that time we have tried everything everyone in this thread has attempted. 

We also rely primarily on handing off proofs / mocks (lower-res) in PDF format to get signed off on from managers through Adobe Acrobat. Where in the past I could compress a 100MB file size down to 5MB and email it to a CD, now it's impossible and creates a block in workflow. The team is trying to find a solution....online proofing and just getting rid of Acrobat altogether.

If there is an update to this issue, please advise. Otherwise my team is dumping Acrobat due to workflow efficiencies.

[MichaelKazlow]

Many crashes years ago were caused by hardware issues. See if you can turn off any video acceleration options. That might help.

[Amal.]

Hi there

++ Adding to the suggestion by MichaelKazlow

A new version of Adobe Acrobat/Reader DC is now available version 21.001.20135. Please try to update the application from the Help menu > Check for Updates and reboot the computer once and check.

For more information about the new version please check the help page https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/ReleaseNotesDC/index.html

Regards

Amal

[jakubgal]

Adobe. I areally apprecaite your many applications, but Adobe is super frustrating. My Adobe Acrobat is fully updated to 21.001.20138. My office has multiple Adobe licenses and yet Adobe Acrobat fails on us every time we need to 'Reduce size of PDF'. We need to reduze file size daily. When trying to do so Adobe simply crashes and closes the PDF.  As a work around, I am exporting my one PDF as multiple smaller sets (6-9 sets), which need to individually be reduced. After all sets are optimized I need to merge them back into one. Please provide a solution. Thank you for the effort and help.

[jakubgal]

Amal / Adobe Team ,

Are you or Adobe still there? The problem persists and my team is paying for a monthly Adobe Subscription. Can you help me with this issue here, so that it solves an Adobe Acrobat community issue?  My tech specs :AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 8-core processor. 16gb RAM. Windows 10 Home. OS Build 19041.867. 

Once again, my Adobe Acrobat Pro DC fully updated. I have un-installed / re-installed. Otherwise is there any other software out there that someone has that can do the work of Adobe Acrobat Pro DC? Need to omptize large files, as I am currently required to uplaod every file to the cloud and these files are taking up too much space. Approximately 65,000 kb. Exporting PDFS multiples times per week.

[uniryan]

Hi there, This is Ryan (the original poster to this thread) I got fed up with no solution to this so you can just a free online tool here: https://www.freepdfconvert.com/compress-pdf

It's easy to use and actually works better than Adobe. Unfortunately it is my only solve for this until they can figure it out! Hope it helps.

[Vizzie]

Tried this and it didn't work.  Driving me nuts.  Is 1.5 GB just too large to reduce??

[Amal.]

Hi there,

What happens when you try to reduce the page size? Do you get any error message, If yes, please share the screenshot of the same for more clarity. Make sure you have the recent version 23.08.20555 installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

Also, try to repair the installation from the help menu (Win Only) and see if that works.

~Amal

[Vizzie]

Here is what I've tried and the results. I did update.
1. Acrobat cannot reduced jpgs to pdfs very much: jpg file = 73MB, pdf file
= 57 MG see warning, tho I still can do it
2. When I convert jpgs to individual pdf files to combine into one file=
3.5 MB

3. If I take the combined pdfs/single file and Save as Other-reduced file,
it reduces to 2.9
*4. Reducing individual pdf files to reduced files is very good: 3.2 MB to
179 KB*

*THAT is a lot of work to reduce multiple pages. Any work around to reduce
???????*
*Dale*

[MikeKazlow]

I no longer have access to Acrobat Pro so I cannot give you the details how but you can unembed fonts if embedded in your pdf and to downsample image resolutions. However if you take these steps you need to work on a copy of the pdf file then insure the fidelity to the original. These are most likely the cause of most pdf file bloat. 

[Vizzie]

WOW!It never occurred to me to unembed fonts. I'll look that up. Thx

[Vizzie]

Definitely won't want to unembed fonts.  Too many glitches can happen.

[jakubgal]

I was dealing with this for many months, without Adobe reply. See Above. Since then, I have been using an open-source PDF Reader for free and have no issues ( https://tools.pdf24.org/en/pdf-reader ). If you find an Adobe solution great, here's another solution to get the work done and move on. 

[DRUN2]

So glad you posted this. I thought it was just me and was losing my mind as to what was going on. But unlike you, I was first using the Acrobat Reader. I use to be able to use "Download as a PDF" from Google Docs using Acrobat Reader and then "Save As", and it would automatically reduce the size of my file from near 5MB to 80KB which would be faster to send as a file or acceptable for most uploads/attachment for resume files. Then all of a sudden it stopped around near the end of May and the file was staying the same without any changes. And I didn't add or change anyhting to the files I was looking to send as a PDF. It stayed at a huge 4.89MB which is too big and not acceptable for most places that accept file uploads. I never had to Optimize or Reduce it before. Then I thought getting Acrobat Pro DC would solve the problem. I used Optimize and Reduce file and it still stayed at a large size, no where near the size it use to reduce it to before to KB file size. It slowed my job search cause PDF is what I used and now the file size is too big. Not sure if it was an update they did that caused this but I can't figure anything else.

[mannyp86560477]

Somehow, there is a Ghost  the coding: at first Adobe DC on Mac, it reduced the file from 400mb to 50mb and it gave us the 3, three , options.  then a couple of days later we tried the same procedure but the 3, three, options where gone.  Wake up Adobe, just get going with this, solve it NOW