Fix Microsoft Excel Crashing After Installing Adobe Acrobat Pro
Question details
User is experiencing startup crashes in Microsoft Excel immediately after installing Adobe Acrobat Pro.
- Product
- Microsoft Excel
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Opening Microsoft Excel after a new installation of Adobe Acrobat Pro.
- Observed behavior
- Excel begins to open but crashes before fully launching, likely due to a third-party add-in conflict.
Ensure you have saved any open documents in other applications and verify that you have administrative privileges on your computer, as you will need to modify application settings and potentially run software repairs.
Start Excel in Safe Mode and Disable the Acrobat Add-in
Launching Excel without add-ins helps confirm if the Adobe PDFMaker is causing the crash. Disabling it prevents future crashes.
Safe Mode allows Excel to start with minimal features and without third-party add-ins. If Excel opens fine in Safe Mode, it confirms the Acrobat add-in is the root cause of the crash.
Press the Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog box. Type "excel /safe" and press Enter to launch Microsoft Excel.
Click on "File" in the top-left corner, select "Options" at the bottom, and then click on "Add-ins" in the left sidebar of the Excel Options window.
At the bottom of the window, locate the "Manage" dropdown menu. Select "COM Add-ins" and click the "Go..." button.
Uncheck the box next to "Acrobat PDFMaker Office COM Addin" (or any other Adobe-related add-in) and click "OK". Restart Excel normally to see if the issue is resolved.
Repair Office and Acrobat Installations
Corrupted installation files can cause add-in conflicts. Repairing both programs restores missing or damaged components.
Switch to WPS Office for a Stable, Crash-Free Experience
If Microsoft Excel continues to crash due to third-party add-in conflicts, consider switching to WPS Office. It provides robust spreadsheet tools with high stability and built-in PDF capabilities, eliminating the need for conflicting add-ins.
- 1. Download WPS Office: Visit the official WPS website and download the free installer for your operating system.
- 2. Install and Launch: Run the installer, open WPS Spreadsheets, and enjoy a stable working environment.
- 3. Open Excel Files Directly: Drag and drop your existing .xlsx files into WPS Spreadsheets; no format conversion is required.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Adobe Acrobat Pro cause Excel to crash?
Adobe Acrobat Pro installs a PDFMaker COM add-in into Microsoft Office applications to quickly convert documents to PDF. If the add-in version is incompatible with your Office version, or if the installation is corrupted, it can cause the application to crash on startup.
Will I lose my ability to make PDFs if I disable the Acrobat add-in?
No, you can still create PDFs without the add-in. You can use Excel's built-in "Save As" or "Export" feature to save your spreadsheet as a PDF, or open Adobe Acrobat directly to create a PDF from the Excel file.
How do I permanently remove the PDFMaker add-in if disabling it doesn't work?
You can remove it by running Excel as an Administrator, going to File > Options > Add-ins, selecting COM Add-ins, highlighting the Acrobat PDFMaker add-in, and clicking "Remove". Alternatively, you can modify the Adobe Acrobat installation via Control Panel to exclude the Office Add-in feature.
