# Why does adobe acrobat take so damn long to load! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2006, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845 "2006-11-10T06:56:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bdeatrich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecb155/32.png) [@bdeatrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdeatrich)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/1 "2006-11-10T06:56:41Z")
Whenever I see a pdf symbol, I steer clear from it. Opening up acrobat through a web browser takes sometimes a whole minute, which seems little, but compare it with the post about 0.03s google searches. Doesn’t it occur to adobe that many people won’t want to wait so long? Or are they content with business customers who enjoy the versatility of the software? I shouldn’t really be complaining, they gave it to me for free. But seriously, what’s the hold up? ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/2 "2006-11-10T07:00:47Z")
I’ve often seen this said on the boards, which is why people warn in their post when they post a pdf link. But I don’t get it – pdfs load fine for me, on many different computers I’ve used. Do you have 256MB of ram or what? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/3 "2006-11-10T07:03:31Z")
[QUOTE=mstay] Do you have 256MB of ram or what? [/QUOTE] So that’s the minimum requirement now, is it? :rolleyes: There’s endless threads asking ‘why the PDF warnings?’ Some people have problems with browsers crashing, etc., and would prefer to save the file or open it externally. For this reason, I use PDF Download in Firefox, which lets me choose what to do with each PDF. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/4 "2006-11-10T07:32:30Z")
Another reason people want to be warned about PDFs is that they can be quite large, and more often than not, larger than what might be absolutely necessary when someone just wants to read a few lines or paragraphs, and instead, has to download an entire book. As for Adobe Reader (Acrobat is the application that creates PDF files) taking so long to load, I’ve found that the current Version 7 is much faster than previous versions. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/5 "2006-11-10T08:05:36Z")
I don’t know, the computers are routinely use are 1.4 ~ 2.0 Ghz with at least 1GB of ram and PDFs do take a ridiculously long time to load if opened by the Adobe reader. The only computers on which this is not the case are running Mac OS X. My feeling is that this is intentional “adobe rigging” which it has been accused of in the past with its Photoshop line (I don’t know if anybody ever had any evidence, but Photoshop on PC does seem to run a lot crappier than it does on a Mac with no other reasonable explanation other than just bad code) ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/6 "2006-11-10T08:17:50Z")
[Foxit Reader](http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php) is free, fast-loading, has a small footprint, and renders PDFs **much** more quickly than Adobe Acrobat Reader (this is particularly noticeable when scrolling around high-density documents such as maps). ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/7 "2006-11-10T08:45:26Z")
[QUOTE=bdeatrich] Opening up acrobat through a web browser takes sometimes a whole minute, which seems little, but compare it with the post about 0.03s google searches. [/QUOTE] See if this works for you: 1. Launch Adobe Acrobat Reader 2. Go to Edit/Preferences/Internet 3. De-select “Display PDF in browser” 4. Click on Ok to save the change (you may have to shut down any open browser to make this change) Now try to click on a PDF link and see if it opens directly in Adobe Acrobat Reader and not the browser window. This is usually much faster. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/8 "2006-11-10T08:52:40Z")
Acrobat 6 is a system hog. Most of the load-up time is spent initializing .api files - these are DLLs that Acrobat uses for specific tasks. Many of these tasks are not needed for general PDF viewing so… move all the .api files (and any subdirectories) from _Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\Plug\_ins_ to _Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\Optional_ except for \*\*AHLS32.api EWH32.api IA32.api \*\* Acrobat will then not load all the plug\_ins at startup, but only as required. Much faster for most PDFs. Si ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/9 "2006-11-10T15:54:34Z")
[QUOTE=si\_blakely] Acrobat 6 is a system hog. [/QUOTE] Which is why I advise moving on to Version 7. As it is, they’re saying Version 8 is just around the corner, so get yourself current, if you can. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/10 "2006-11-10T16:00:28Z")
I’ve had v7 for a while. Doesn’t seem much better to me. I’ve moved all the plugins, too. I use Foxit, mostly. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/11 "2006-11-10T16:45:22Z")
[QUOTE=Antonius Block] [Foxit Reader](http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php) is free, fast-loading, has a small footprint, and renders PDFs **much** more quickly than Adobe Acrobat Reader (this is particularly noticeable when scrolling around high-density documents such as maps). [/QUOTE] I have to disagree on this, although the problem I had may have been with the particular file I was working with. Backstory – I’ve been having problems with my PC at work lately due to the stupid way IT initially partitioned the hard drive - a 6GB C: drive and a 30+ GB D: drive. The C: drive is nearly completely full because of all the system files that go on C: every time I install something new, even if I install to D:. OK, so one of our helpful IT staff took off my Adobe Reader and installed Foxit, explaining how it took up less disk space, was much faster to load, etc. The next day I tried to open and print a 2-page PDF generated from MS Project. Foxit itself loaded pretty quickly but took several minutes to load the PDF, mostly because it was drawing every line on the grid one at a time. If I scrolled or resized it started redrawing the entire thing again. And it did the same thing in Print Preview. When I printed it, it sent a 14.4 MB file to the printer (as opposed to about 1.5 MB for Adobe) which I wound up having to kill after ten minutes when it got stuck and was blocking the print queue. Foxit lasted all of one day on my PC. I’d rather Adobe take 30 extra seconds to load if it means I don’t have to spend ten minutes trying to print something. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/12 "2006-11-10T16:59:57Z")
My fix was to find one of my old Computer Games Strategy Plus Magazine CDs and installed Adobe Reader 4.0 from them, with Adobe Reader 6.0 installed but not set as the default program for opening. 4.0 starts up quick (being designed for 1st gen Pentium computers or something along those lines) and if anything doesn’t work, I can load it in 6.0. Foxit Reader is probably a somewhat better solution though. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/13 "2006-11-10T17:17:22Z")
[QUOTE=si\_blakely] Acrobat 6 is a system hog. Most of the load-up time is spent initializing .api files - these are DLLs that Acrobat uses for specific tasks. Many of these tasks are not needed for general PDF viewing so… move all the .api files (and any subdirectories) from _Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\Plug\_ins_ to _Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\Optional_ except for \*\*AHLS32.api EWH32.api IA32.api \*\* Acrobat will then not load all the plug\_ins at startup, but only as required. Much faster for most PDFs. Si [/QUOTE] I just did this and 6.0 opens very quickly. Thanks!! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/14 "2006-11-11T16:51:50Z")
I just want to acknowledge infinite gratitude for so many fine folks answering questions like this. I.e., Mrs. FtG was having trouble last weekend with Reader and IE (which I don’t use). I spent a very frustrating time trying to fix it. Uninstall and re-install a bunch of stuff. I double checked that “Display PDF in browser” was set, etc. Then I read this thread. You mean that is _not_ supposed to be set? Fixed it. Thanks to **xash** and the rest of the helpful SDMB universe. (As opposed to the folks at the website she was using. They told her to click on the floppy icon to save a copy of the pdf. And of course the flag inside the pdf to forbid copying was turned on. Nice. Had to browse the temp Internet folder.) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/15 "2006-11-11T18:01:31Z")
I saw some link in another thread recently that had a PDF-like document that was instead a .SWF (Flash) file. It came up instantaneously and looked just fine. If Macromedia goes after Adobe in this field, it seems they’ve got the technology to whoop them. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/16 "2006-11-11T18:05:46Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] I saw some link in another thread recently that had a PDF-like document that was instead a .SWF (Flash) file. It came up instantaneously and looked just fine. If Macromedia goes after Adobe in this field, it seems they’ve got the technology to whoop them. [/QUOTE] Too late. Adobe bought Macromedia. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/17 "2006-11-11T18:20:29Z")
As a related question, why is that after you read a pdf in Adobe Acrobat in Windows, it always hangs up your computer when you try to shut it down or just log off of a network? ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/18 "2006-11-11T19:31:46Z")
[QUOTE=BobT] As a related question, why is that after you read a pdf in Adobe Acrobat in Windows, it always hangs up your computer when you try to shut it down or just log off of a network? [/QUOTE] Because Adobe is still running in the background and takes forever to exit. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/19 "2006-11-11T19:43:13Z")
So you can’t kill Adobe Acrobat and it won’t die? ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845/20 "2006-11-11T19:57:50Z")
[QUOTE=BobT] So you can’t kill Adobe Acrobat and it won’t die? [/QUOTE] Well you can most of the time. Sometimes it’s hard though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-adobe-acrobat-take-so-damn-long-to-load/379845.md?page=2)