Acrobat SO SLOW...

[OriginalScuddy]

I spend hours daily using Acrobat with Pitstop Pro and FusionPro to work on customer-supplied PDFs and add variable data elements for mailings. Most of the time Acrobat works pretty well, but it does crash a few times per week for no apparent reason. Then we get to the more complicated files customers send in. We do mailings for some Las Vegas Casinos and they love graphics and shading. The files are supplied as native Indesign files that I export to PDF/X 2008. The files are usually only around 30-40 MB, but Acrobat is almost unusable sometimes. You click on an element and you get the Not Responding message in the title bar and it freezes up for 15-45 seconds. Every single move or action causes this. A few months back I switched to Acrobat 64-bit, but it didn't really help much. It really makes me want to pull my hair out working with these files.

My current machine is an AMD 3800XT with 128GB of RAM and an NVME SSD. I put together an AMD 7900 with 128GB of RAM and a PCI Gen 5 SSD to see if that would speed things up at all, but I have almost zero expectations that it will. I think it is just poor coding.

So they just released fusion pro that works w 2023 acrobat. I couldn’t get it to work w 64bit. Roll back to 2021 32 bit.

Doubt it a pc issue unless you have stuff bogging it down.

 

[kdw75]

So they just released fusion pro that works w 2023 acrobat. I couldn’t get it to work w 64bit. Roll back to 2021 32 bit.

Doubt it a pc issue unless you have stuff bogging it down.

I have been using the FusionPro with Acrobat 64-bit for several months. Haven't had any issues with it so far, unless it is contributing to the delays and sluggishness.

 

[Dov Isaacs]

@kdw75,

I got similar results to those of @abc when I ran Acrobat Pro's inventory of the file.

The ad agency may be very punctual and a pleasure to deal with, but they clearly are going overboard in terms of gratuitous use of gradients (i.e., the “smooth shades”). I suspect that the graphic artists in question have libraries of very complex special effects that they use in Adobe Illustrator for each segment of these pages, save as PDF, and then place into InDesign. Not only is each segment very/overly complex with excessive use of highly complex (i.e., not just linear and/or radial) gradients, but because the segments are individually placed into InDesign, the shading definitions are not shared in any way.

In terms of “refining” the final PDF file, if what you are referring to is the Prinergy feature of that name, all that does is convert to PostScript and redistill back to PDF, hoping for some optimization along the way – a nice 1990's era technique before Prinergy was able to use the Adobe PDF Print Engine. PDF smooth shades => PostScript smooth shades => PDF smooth shades. That wouldn't solve this problem.

- Dov

 

[kdw75]

@kdw75,

I got similar results to those of @abc when I ran Acrobat Pro's inventory of the file.

The ad agency may be very punctual and a pleasure to deal with, but they clearly are going overboard in terms of gratuitous use of gradients (i.e., the “smooth shades”). I suspect that the graphic artists in question have libraries of very complex special effects that they use in Adobe Illustrator for each segment of these pages, save as PDF, and then place into InDesign. Not only is each segment very/overly complex with excessive use of highly complex (i.e., not just linear and/or radial) gradients, but because the segments are individually placed into InDesign, the shading definitions are not shared in any way.

In terms of “refining” the final PDF file, if what you are referring to is the Prinergy feature of that name, all that does is convert to PostScript and redistill back to PDF, hoping for some optimization along the way – a nice 1990's era technique before Prinergy was able to use the Adobe PDF Print Engine. PDF smooth shades => PostScript smooth shades => PDF smooth shades. That wouldn't solve this problem.

- Dov

One way we have "fixed" this issue is to simply rasterize the page. I hate doing that as I know it isn't ideal, but it works.

 

[abc]

That's really the only (safeish) option I think, out of interest what resolution do you use?

 

[kdw75]

I have used 600 dpi in the past and it still looked fine in my eyes.

 

[narseman]

Needs more Cow Bell......

 

[bcr]

In connection with the original query.. I often work with documents several thousand pages long.

I have acrobat pro 2020 which is 32bit. Am I right in understanding that to get the 64bit acrobat I need to sign up for DC? I can't seem to find a 64bit download for 2020.

Otherwise - I have a Ryzen 9 3900 XT processor, 64GB 3200mhz ram, basic GPU, M2 NVMe ssd.

Anyone have any suggestions on improving performance? My system performance stats under load don't really indicate bottlenecks but I suspect getting the fastest SSD is probably the way to go.

Crucial's T705 is about 2.5 to 3.5 times as fast as my existing fast SSD - although that will require a new motherboard

 

[Dov Isaacs]

… I have acrobat pro 2020 which is 32bit. Am I right in understanding that to get the 64bit acrobat I need to sign up for DC? I can't seem to find a 64bit download for 2020. …

There is no 64-bit version of Acrobat Pro 2020 and won't be. It is unlikely that there will be another perpetual license version of Acrobat Pro.

In terms of your performance, a 32-bit address space is likely the primary cause of your performance issues. Regardless of how much memory you have on your system, 32-bit applications will only use 3GB of whatever memory you have. In this case and especially with your humongous PDF files, Acrobat last limited memory to cache any content, thus tremendous reliance on disk operations, even if those disk operations are to and from SSDs. 64-bit Acrobat also resolved numerous “issues” associated with limited address space and poor management of same by Acrobat's 32-bit versions.

In terms of “bang for the buck” in the long term, you are better off with subscribing to Acrobat which provides full support for 64-bit address spaces and continued new feature additions and more importantly, bug fixes. (Acrobat Pro 2020 is pretty much an end-of-life product now!)

- Dov

 

[bcr]

There is no 64-bit version of Acrobat Pro 2020 and won't be. It is unlikely that there will be another perpetual license version of Acrobat Pro.

In terms of your performance, a 32-bit address space is likely the primary cause of your performance issues. Regardless of how much memory you have on your system, 32-bit applications will only use 3GB of whatever memory you have. In this case and especially with your humongous PDF files, Acrobat last limited memory to cache any content, thus tremendous reliance on disk operations, even if those disk operations are to and from SSDs. 64-bit Acrobat also resolved numerous “issues” associated with limited address space and poor management of same by Acrobat's 32-bit versions.

In terms of “bang for the buck” in the long term, you are better off with subscribing to Acrobat which provides full support for 64-bit address spaces and continued new feature additions and more importantly, bug fixes. (Acrobat Pro 2020 is pretty much an end-of-life product now!)

- Dov

Thanks Dov, appreciate the effort of replying to this. I fully am sold on switching to DC and will do soon

 

[zevrix]

I fully am sold on switching to DC and will do soon

Just make sure to disable "new Acrobat" once you install it. This will disable the new horrible counter-intuitive UI that Adobe introduced in Acrobat some time ago - and restore Acrobat's normal, human-oriented UI.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

Just make sure to disable "new Acrobat" once you install it. This will disable the new horrible counter-intuitive UI that Adobe introduced in Acrobat some time ago - and restore Acrobat's normal, human-oriented UI.

Wow, you guys really love the current Adobe Acrobat?! Well I've got news for you, we've redesigned the entire UI! It's super cool now. Where are the buttons from before? That's a horrible question! How dare you question our UX design decisions?! Our super talented work from home 20 hour per week Senior Design Engineer Shaneequa spent an entire afternoon redesigning this interface! She worked really hard! I realize you're having a hard time adjusting to the new layout, so we'll give you 6 months of the old, stinky layout before we force you to upgrade.

BYE!!!

 

[narseman]

Wow, you guys really love the current Adobe Acrobat?! Well I've got news for you, we've redesigned the entire UI! It's super cool now. Where are the buttons from before? That's a horrible question! How dare you question our UX design decisions?! Our super talented work from home 20 hour per week Senior Design Engineer Shaneequa spent an entire afternoon redesigning this interface! She worked really hard! I realize you're having a hard time adjusting to the new layout, so we'll give you 6 months of the old, stinky layout before we force you to upgrade.

BYE!!!

I'm still on Acrobat 11. I passionately HATE the DC garbage, designed by 5 year olds. Yet I think I'm going to be forced to upgrade/downgrade soon. We'll see how long I can hold out.

 

[bcr]

Wow, you guys really love the current Adobe Acrobat?! Well I've got news for you, we've redesigned the entire UI! It's super cool now. Where are the buttons from before? That's a horrible question! How dare you question our UX design decisions?! Our super talented work from home 20 hour per week Senior Design Engineer Shaneequa spent an entire afternoon redesigning this interface! She worked really hard! I realize you're having a hard time adjusting to the new layout, so we'll give you 6 months of the old, stinky layout before we force you to upgrade.

BYE!!!

I've had so many problems with people at work who unreasonably block attempts to change and modernise. I could almost write a book on it.

Increasingly, however I find myself becoming frustrated by dramatic changes to OS and software layouts which take time to relearn the shortcuts and rapid use of menus so that they are once again deeply ingrained on an intuitive level.

I fear I may be getting old and turning into one of the change blockers that I so despise.

However, so often I can't see an actual logic in the changes being made... Acrobat moving menus from one side of the screen to the other, is... Infuriating

 

[tngcas]

Wow, you guys really love the current Adobe Acrobat?! Well I've got news for you, we've redesigned the entire UI! It's super cool now. Where are the buttons from before? That's a horrible question! How dare you question our UX design decisions?! Our super talented work from home 20 hour per week Senior Design Engineer Shaneequa spent an entire afternoon redesigning this interface! She worked really hard! I realize you're having a hard time adjusting to the new layout, so we'll give you 6 months of the old, stinky layout before we force you to upgrade.

BYE!!!

FedEx just did this for their online shipping software. The old layout worked perfectly, had all the features in a neat short layout that was entirely visible with almost no scrolling.
The new layout requires multiple clicks to unhide different parts of the screen and is missing fully half of the "essential features" that are helpfully listed on a list of "missing features coming soon." Things like verifying addresses and postage amounts are missing features. Why did you feel the need to change it and if you were going to change it don't release the new version missing critical features. Was the old version perfectly beautiful no, but I didn't need it to be beautiful, I needed it to be functional.

So now we are downgrading even further into their old desktop software to keep the features we need fast and easy to use.
(edited for spelling)

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

FedEx just did this for their online shipping software. The old layout worked perfectly, had all the features in a neat short layout that was entirely visible with almost no scrolling.
The new layout requires multiple clicks to unhide different parts of the screen and is missing fully half of the "essential features" that are helpfully listed on a list of "missing features coming soon." Things like verifying addresses and postage amounts are missing features. Why did you feel the need to change it and if you were going to change it don't release the new version missing critical features. Was the old version perfectly beautiful no, but I didn't need it to be beautiful, I needed it to be functional.

So now we are downgrading even further into their old desktop software to keep the features we need fast and easy to use.
(edited for spelling)

Just wait until they do it to InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator.

 

[bcr]

FedEx just did this for their online shipping software. The old layout worked perfectly, had all the features in a neat short layout that was entirely visible with almost no scrolling.
The new layout requires multiple clicks to unhide different parts of the screen and is missing fully half of the "essential features" that are helpfully listed on a list of "missing features coming soon." Things like verifying addresses and postage amounts are missing features. Why did you feel the need to change it and if you were going to change it don't release the new version missing critical features. Was the old version perfectly beautiful no, but I didn't need it to be beautiful, I needed it to be functional.

So now we are downgrading even further into their old desktop software to keep the features we need fast and easy to use.
(edited for spelling)

Yeah I also hate that and constantly click on "return to old layout" or whatever it's called.

Most infuriating is the part where you go to schedule a collection and it gives you three options to schedule one which requires you to login again to get to the scheduling page. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

 

[Glenn McDowall]

Its like your Gran comes to stay for the week, and when you get back from a day at work, they've helpfully re-organised all your stuff in to new kitchen cupboards to make it easier for you.

If a third party made a selection of "skins" for Acrobat's interface and tools, I'd be in ! Its 2024 and I've still got all the Kodak plugins showing as Lego Bricks.

I'm expecting quite radical GUI changes as the AI features get rolled in.

 

[narseman]

However, so often I can't see an actual logic in the changes being made... Acrobat moving menus from one side of the screen to the other, is... Infuriating

I HATE the child like pure bullshite new style Arobat.

 

[prepressdork]

I HATE the child like pure bullshite new style Arobat.

You can disable it if you wish.