Fix Adobe Acrobat Pro 2020 Crashing on M1 MacBook Air
Question details
The user needs to resolve frequent application crashes when using Adobe Acrobat Pro 2020 to edit PDFs.
- Product
- Adobe Acrobat Pro 2020
- Device & OS
- MacBook Air (M1 processor, macOS Big Sur)
- Scenario
- Editing PDF documents.
- Observed behavior
- The Acrobat Pro 2020 application crashes or freezes unexpectedly during the editing process.
Save any unsaved work in other applications and ensure you have your Adobe ID login credentials handy in case you need to re-sign in after resetting preferences.
Update Acrobat and Check File Location
Many crashes on M1 Macs are caused by outdated software versions or network latency when opening files from shared drives.
Running the latest version of Acrobat ensures compatibility with macOS Big Sur and Apple Silicon (M1) processors.
Open a different PDF file to see if the issue is isolated to a specific document or affects all PDFs.
If the file is stored on a network or shared drive, copy it to your local Mac storage (e.g., Desktop or Documents folder) before opening it in Acrobat.
Launch Adobe Acrobat Pro 2020, click 'Help' in the top menu bar, and select 'About Acrobat' to verify your version.
Click 'Help' > 'Check for Updates' to download and install the latest patches optimized for macOS Big Sur and M1 chips.
Reset Adobe Acrobat Preferences
Corrupted preference files can cause unexpected freezes and crashes during PDF editing.
Test with a New Administrator Profile
If the issue persists, your current macOS user profile may have corrupted permissions affecting Acrobat.
Try WPS Office for Stable PDF Editing on Mac
If Adobe Acrobat continues to crash on your M1 Mac, consider switching to WPS Office. It includes a powerful, built-in PDF editor that is lightweight, fully compatible with Apple Silicon, and highly stable on macOS.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Adobe Acrobat Pro 2020 crash specifically on an M1 Mac?
Older base versions of Adobe Acrobat Pro 2020 may not be natively optimized for Apple's M1 silicon or macOS Big Sur. If the application is running without the latest compatibility patches, it can lead to memory management issues and crashes.
Can a damaged PDF file cause Acrobat to crash?
Yes, a corrupted or highly complex PDF file with broken structural elements can cause the application to freeze or crash. Testing with a different, simple PDF helps determine if the issue is file-specific rather than a software problem.
Will updating my macOS fix the Acrobat crashing issue?
Sometimes. While updating macOS ensures your system has the latest bug fixes, you must also ensure Acrobat Pro 2020 is updated via 'Help' > 'Check for Updates' to maintain compatibility with the newer OS version.
