How to Fix Acrobat DC Freezing When Creating PDFs from Clipboard
Question details
The user is experiencing application freezes and errors when attempting to create a PDF from clipboard content or when using the PDFMaker plugin in Microsoft Office applications.
- Product
- Adobe Acrobat DC Pro, Microsoft Office
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Creating a PDF file from copied clipboard content or utilizing the Acrobat PDFMaker add-in within Microsoft Word or Microsoft 365.
- Observed behavior
- Acrobat DC Pro freezes completely and displays error messages during the PDF creation process, preventing the file from being generated.
Ensure you save any open documents or ongoing work in your Microsoft Office applications before troubleshooting, as you will need to restart the software.
Update Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Office
Installing the latest software updates ensures compatibility between Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Office, resolving bugs that cause the PDFMaker and clipboard features to freeze.
Software conflicts between Acrobat DC and Microsoft Office often occur when one or both applications are running on outdated versions. Updating them to the latest releases patches these known freezing errors.
Open Microsoft Word (or any Office application). Click on 'File' in the top-left corner, select 'Account' (or 'Office Account' in some versions), click the 'Update Options' button, and choose 'Update Now'.
Open Adobe Acrobat DC. Navigate to 'Help' in the top menu bar and select 'Check for Updates'. Follow the on-screen prompts to download and install the latest patches.
Once both applications have been successfully updated, completely close and restart them. Copy new content to your clipboard and attempt to create a PDF to verify the issue is resolved.
Create High-Quality PDFs Smoothly Using WPS Office
Skip the freezing and compatibility errors caused by external plugins. WPS Office features a robust, built-in PDF toolkit that allows you to easily create, edit, and convert PDFs directly from your documents or pasted content without needing third-party software.
- 1. Paste Content: Launch WPS Office and open a new blank Writer document. Paste the content from your clipboard directly into the document.
- 2. Export to PDF: Navigate to the 'Tools' tab on the top ribbon menu and click on the 'Export to PDF' button.
- 3. Save Your PDF: Adjust your preferred export settings, select your destination folder, and click 'Export' to instantly generate your PDF file.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Acrobat PDFMaker crash my Microsoft Word?
This typically happens due to version incompatibilities between the PDFMaker add-in and your current version of Microsoft Word. Updating both programs to their latest builds usually resolves these conflicts.
Is there an alternative way to create a PDF from Word if Acrobat freezes?
Yes. Instead of using the Acrobat PDFMaker plugin, you can use Microsoft Word's native 'Save As' feature and select 'PDF' from the format dropdown menu, or use the 'Print' menu and choose 'Microsoft Print to PDF'.
How do I create a PDF from clipboard content directly if my software is failing?
If your dedicated PDF creator is freezing, a reliable workaround is to paste your clipboard content into a blank Word document or WPS Writer file, and then natively export or save that document as a PDF.
