Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC crashes, or displays PDF cannot be viewed error in macOS

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Applies to: Adobe Acrobat DC

某些 Creative Cloud 应用程序、服务和功能在中国不可用。

Problem: Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC crashes or displays the error "This PDF cannot be viewed in Acrobat or Reader, and the application will now exit.”

PDF cannot be viewed in Acrobat or Reader error

Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC crashes on macOS, or displays the above error dialog when you perform any of the tasks below in a PDF file:

  • Play MP4 content
  • Render a 3D model
  • Add a .U3D file
  • Scroll a PDF created by InDesign

Reason

When the virtual memory limit of Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC crosses the internal threshold, Acrobat displays the error and exits.

Solution: Create a FeatureState.plist file with a lock-down setting to increase the threshold limit

  1. Quit Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC application if it's already running.

  2. Navigate to the folder /Library/Application Support/Adobe/(product name)/(version)/Preferences.

    For example, the path for Acrobat DC is /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Acrobat/DC/Preferences.

  3. Do the following:

    a.) Download the com.adobe.acrobat.featurestate.plist.zip file below - click the Get file button.

    Get file
    com.adobe.acrobat.featurestate.plist.zip file

    b.) Extract the file, and copy the extracted file to the following folder - /Library/Application Support/Adobe/(product name)/(version)/Preferences.

    Note:

    The com.adobe.acrobat.featurestate.plist file has the following entry:

    • Key: kEnableHigherVirtualSizeLimit
    • Type: Boolean
    • Default  Value: 1

    When kEnableHigherVirtualSizeLimit = 0; the default internal threshold is used.
    When kEnableHigherVirtualSizeLimit = 1; the increased internal threshold is used.

    In either case, when you exceed the internal threshold limit, Acrobat displays the error and exits.

  4. (Optional) Open Terminal and run the following command:

    sudo killall cfprefsd

    This command clears your Mac's cache preferences, and avoids the macOS to delete the newly added plist file when you launch Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC.

  5. Launch Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC and perform your desired task.