Acrobat Reader DC Crashing in macOS Sierra

[williamg60611]

When I open Adobe Acrobat Reader DC in macOS Sierra 10.12.4 it crashes after a few seconds. The whirling beachball of terror appears, and I have to Force Quit the application. I have uninstalled the program manually and reinstalled it, but it still crashes. Is there a way to fix this?

[Adorobat]

Hi williamg60611,

Could you please try troubleshooting steps given in the link below?

Troubleshoot Mac OS 10.x system errors, freezes | Adobe software

Please confirm the version of Reader DC installed on the machine.

You may refer this link to do so: Identify the product and its version for Acrobat and Reader DC

Awaiting your response.

Shivam

[williamg60611]

Shivam,

I am running Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 17.009.20044 on macOS 10.12.4.

My system meets the requirements of the program.

I’ve reinstalled macOS from the App Store, and I reinstalled Adobe Acrobat Reader DC twice yesterday.

My system does have a preference file:

/Users/[user name]/Library/Preferences/Adobe Settings/Adobe Prefs.psp

I don’t have the skill or knowledge to troubleshoot beyond that.

I’d be glad to set up an appointment for assistance.

Onward,

Bill Greaves

[williamg60611]

I’m sorry. I meant to say my system does NOT have a preferences file:

/Users/[user name]/Library/Preferences/Adobe Settings/Adobe Prefs.psp

unless it’s a plist file.

[Adorobat]

Thanks for trying the steps.

Could you please check if the following file is available?

com.adobe.acrobat.dc.plist

If it is, try dragging it to the desktop, reboot the Mac and relaunch Reader.

If that doesn't work, try uninstalling Reader, reboot the machine, download and install Reader DC from the following link:

Adobe - Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Distribution

Is there any error message you are getting when Reader crashes?

[williamg60611]

Found the file com.adobe.reader.dc.plist. Dragged it to the Desktop. Rebooted. Opened Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. It crashed.

Uninstalled Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. Went into the Libraries and deleted associated files (internet plug-ins and preferences). Rebooted. Reinstalled from your link. Installed Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. It crashed after a few seconds. Again, with the spinning beachball of terror.

There is no error message when Reader crashes. Just the spinning beachball of terror.

I don’t know if it will help, but here’s the first section of the report that appears after I Force Quit the application:

Date/Time:      2017-04-23 22:20:39 -0500

OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.12.4 (Build 16E195)

Architecture:    x86_64

Report Version:  25

Data Source:    Stackshots

Command:        AdobeReader

Path:            /Applications/Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.app/Contents/MacOS/AdobeReader

Version:        17.009.20044 (17.009.20044)

Parent:          launchd

PID:            5428

Event:          hang

Duration:        1.59s (process was unresponsive for 14 seconds before sampling)

Steps:          16 (100ms sampling interval)

Hardware model:  MacBookPro8,1

Active cpus:    4

Fan speed:      1996 rpm

[Adorobat]

Could you please try launching Reader from an administrator account and see if that helps?

Please follow the steps given under Basic system troubleshooting>Run the application in a minimized mode or from an administrator account in the following link:

Troubleshoot Mac OS 10.x system errors, freezes | Adobe software

If that doesn't work, try creating a new account, login in that account and try to install Reader.

Follow the steps given under Reinstall the Adobe application in the above give link.

Let me know if you need any help.

[jf50996583]

I am having the same problem, have done troubleshooting, and cannot resolve the problem.  I downloaded Acrobat Reader and tried to use that, but now am getting the same "hang" error in Reader as well.  I've copied the error message I'm getting below.  Please help!! Thank you!

Date/Time: 2017-08-29 17:20:14 -0500

OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.12.6 (Build 16G29)

Architecture: x86_64h

Report Version:  25

Data Source: Stackshots

Command: AdobeAcrobat

Path: /Applications/Adobe Acrobat 2015/Adobe Acrobat.app/Contents/MacOS/AdobeAcrobat

Version: 15.006.30355 (15.006.30355)

Parent: launchd [1]

PID:             1131

Event:           hang

Duration:        6.40s (process was unresponsive for 7 seconds before sampling)

Steps:           64 (100ms sampling interval)

Hardware model: MacBookPro11,5

Active cpus:     8

Fan speed:       2986 rpm

[Adorobat]

Hi Jf,

It seems you have Adobe Acrobat installed on the machine, could you please try resetting preferences to their default settings and see if that works?

Steps are given here: How to reset Acrobat Preference settings to default.

Reboot the machine and try launching Acrobat again.

Thanks,

Shivam

[jf50996583]

Hi Shivam,

I tried what you suggested, but unfortunately, that did not work.  Can you please assist? 

Thanks.

[Adorobat]

Hi Jf,

Please try uninstalling Adobe Acrobat from your computer, reboot the machine, and reinstall Acrobat.

You may refer to the steps given in the following links for uninstalling Acrobat:

Installing, uninstalling Adobe Acrobat X | Mac OS

Uninstall Acrobat Reader DC from a Mac

To download Acrobat, visit the following link: Download Pro or Standard versions of Acrobat DC, 2017, XI, or X

Thanks,

Shivam

[LarryWillis]

I'm having the same issue with Acrobat DC Sierra 10.12.6 MacPro.  I uninstalled rebooted the system and then did a reinstall and same issue.   Wild!

[Adorobat]

Could you please try disabling "Extensions" and reboot the machine to check if that resolves the issue.

1- To disable extensions > click on the Apple icon in the top-left corner of the screen > System preferences

2- Click Extensions > uncheck the box next to the extension to disable it.

3- Reboot the machine and launch Reader/ Acrobat.

Below is the screenshot of the Extensions tab on Mac:

-Shivam

[LarryWillis]

Still not working, consistently still crashes on my Mac Pro (Late 2013) but no problems on my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015).   None of the other CC2017 give me any issues (Dreamweaver, InDesign, Photoshop)... I still have Adobe Reader 9 installed.  I removed the older version of Pro I was running thinking that was the issue I guess I'm going to have to go back to that version for now.

[LarryWillis]

I've gone back to the 2015 release for now.

[LarryWillis]

As a matter of update.... I'm now running Adobe Pro DC Release 2017 Version 2017.012.20098, while I'm not exactly sure what triggered it. ... I uninstalled all of the previous versions of Adobe and went back Adobe Pro Release 2015 then updated the app using Creative Cloud.   Seems simple enough but I tried that several times before and it didn't work my speculations is that disabling the extensions, uninstalling Adobe Pro DC then reinstalling resolved the issue.  

[unrealsimon]

Hi Larry, I'm having the same issue (also on a Mac Pro (Late 2013), how did you get the 2015 version, the CC installer no longer shows an older version?

[LarryWillis]

Fortunately I kept the installer of the older version.   You can download the older version as well but you'll need the serial number Download Pro or Standard versions of Acrobat DC, 2017, XI, or X

[unrealsimon]

Thanks Larry. I'll give it a try.

[unrealsimon]

Still no joy, Adobe seem inept when it come to resolving these issues.

[Adorobat]

Hi Unrealsimon,

I have sent you a private message, please check the inbox for the same.

Thanks,

Shivam

[marcg12]

I am having the pinwheel of death problem too.  I deleted and reinstalled Reader and it still crashes.  Why are we still having this problem?  Please update the software to fix this!!!!!

[Adorobat]

Hi Marcg,

Could you try removing reader using cleaner tool: Download Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool - Adobe Labs , reboot the machine,  reinstall Reader from here: Adobe - Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Distribution , reboot the machine and check.

Thanks,

Shivam

[marcg12 · Accepted solution]

Shivam,

The Cleaner Tool cleaned up the Reader...and unfortunately some Lightroom components as well.  After rebooting I reinstalled Reader (from your link) and Lightroom.  Everything seems to working now.

Thank you so much!!

Marc