Printing freezes Acrobat Reader various versions

[_Tracy_Baker_]

I have one (luckily, just one) client who has a problem printing from Acrobat Reader. So far, this problem has been with v6.x, v7.x, and v9.x (uninstalled 6.x, installed and uninstalled 7.x, and then installed 9.x, trying to solve this issue, with no changes).

For the longest time, there was NO problem printing PDF files. Then, she couldn't print at all, it would bring up an error message. I read where setting/changing the default printer would solve this, and it did -- to a point.

Now, when she tries to print (FILE | PRINT -- read below as to why this is necessary), it will print, but the printer dialog box takes a LONG time to come up (3-5 minutes) and then the drop down menu to select a printer takes a long time to come up, as well.

She travels between various offices, which is why she must use FILE | PRINT -- she needs to choose the printer(s) that are available to her when she logs into the network. There are HP, Cannon, Lexmark, and other printers at these various locations.

The problem *only* happens in Acrobat Reader. All of the other applications print fine.

Today, I discovered something interesting by accident. If she is *disconnected* from a network, and starts a print job (again, FILE | PRINT), the printer dialog box opens almost immediately, as does the printer selection drop-down menu. She can then reconnect to the network, after selecting a printer, and then press OK (to print), at which time it does print just fine.

So, in a nutshell:

(1) It *only* happens when trying to print something from Acrobat Reader regardless of version.

(2) It is *only* slow to bring up the printer dialog box, and printer selection drop-down menu when connected to a network.

(3) It *will* eventually (say 3-5 minutes later) bring up the printer dialog box, and printer selection drop-down menu, and print, when connected to a network.

(4) She is using Windows XP (I didnt check on the service pack version, it is, for certain SP2 at least, although she may have allowed Windows Updates to upgrade it to SP3). Multiple printers are being used, from various vendors (HP, Lexmark, Canon, others) so it is extremely unlikely that it is a printer driver issue.

(5) There are others with identical laptops, Windows XP, and using the same printers and Acrobat Reader who also travel to the same offices and work in the same fashion as she, and they do not have this issue.

So, anyone out there smarter than me, any suggestions about how to resolve this?

[_Ralf_Becher_]

I have the same probleme since the WinXP SP3 update.
Is there any workaround?

[_RegF_]

I had the same problem with a user. Found a link that talks about stale printer or bad network printer drivers were causing the delay of the print dialog box. I deleted the unessary printers and also deleted the drivers from the print Server Properties. In this case it was a HP 1700(network) and a Brother (local) printer. Problem went away after that.

Hope that helps,
Reg

[_Ralf_Becher_]

Thx for help! I've deleted network printers which doesn't exists anymore. Now it seems to work again.

[_Jerry_Bruns_]

I'm having the same slow acrobat print dialog box problem with Windows XP SP3 and Acrobat Reader 8.1.3. I have deleted the network printers but it is still slow (3 - 5 minutes).

[_Cary_Good_]

I am having the same issue, has anyone discovered anything yet? I am using reader 9 on XP PRO SP3 and experiencing the same slowness to print, but when we run it from our 2003 Terminal Server it comes up super quick.

[_Aaron_Corrilo_]

I am having the same problem with a user. It takes forever for the print dialogue box to come up, and between printing multiple pages of a pdf. This only happens with adobe. I have tried to revert back to service pack 2, and delete the printers that were not necessary. Any info would be helpful.

[_Andrew_Sauter_]

Removing old printers definitely works. If you have network printers that you do not want to delete as you use them when connected to other networks, mark them as "offline" so they are ignored when acrobat queries the available printers. To mark as "offline", right click on the printer and select "offline".

Hope this helps.

[_Aaron_Corrilo_]

Ok, so deleting the unused printers did work. I still am suffering a pause between printing each page of a multiple paged pdf. It only occurs on pdf. It takes an extra 10 seconds before the next page will print. Any ideas?

[Guest]

Hi, I found this to work

open cmd

type the following and press enter after each command:

c:

cd\

del arc*.tmp /S

What the command does is that it deletes acrobat temp files that are stored on your pc, which slows down acrobat printing.

I found this info at http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/403/kb403914.html towards the bottom of the page

Hope it helps