Adobe Labs Downloads

Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool

The Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool removes a standalone installation of Reader or Acrobat, including any preferences and settings that may be preserved during a standard program uninstall.

While most installs, uninstalls, and updates operations happen without incident, there are cases where a user may not be able to complete such tasks due to some registry or file conflict on the machine. This is particularly problematic when permissions set on plist entries or files prevent the successful installation of new installs and/or updates. The Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool is designed to fix such issues by cleaning up corrupted installations, including removing or fixing corrupted files, removing or changing permissions registry entries, etc. The tool provides options for removing problematic Acrobat items only while leaving Reader untouched and vice versa.

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Adobe Reader DC and Acrobat DC Cleaner Tool

AcroCleaner for DC and later

This download provides the Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool for Windows and Mac.

IMPORTANT:
1. THIS TOOL IS NOT FOR USE WITH ANY CREATIVE SUITE PRODUCTS INCLUDING SUITES THAT CONTAIN ACROBAT. IT CAN ONLY BE USED WITH STANDALONE VERSIONS OF ACROBAT AND ADOBE READER.
2.The Windows version of the tool only supports cleanup of DC products (both Continuous and Classic tracks). If you want to remove any older versions of Acrobat and Reader products then please refer to “AcroCleaner for 10.x and later”.
3. In some scenarios Cleaner tool for Windows might affect some preferences common between Acrobat and Reader. Hence it is advised that if both Acrobat and Reader products are installed on machine then the installed product be repaired after running the cleaner Tool.

Windows

Version	4
Date	June 10, 2015

Use the AcroCleaner Version 4 for DC and later on Windows to cleanup failed or partial uninstalls of DC products.

English

Download Adobe Reader DC and Acrobat DC Cleaner Tool for Windows version 4.0 (ZIP, 468 KB)

Mac

Version	1
Date	Dec 13, 2017

Use the AcroCleaner Version 1 for 11.x, DC and later on Mac to cleanup failed or partial uninstalls of of 11.x and DC products.

English

Download Adobe Reader DC and Acrobat DC Cleaner Tool for Mac version 1.0 (DMG, 416 KB)

Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool

AcroCleaner for 10.x and later

This download provides the Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool for Windows.

IMPORTANT:
THIS TOOL IS NOT FOR USE WITH ANY CREATIVE SUITE PRODUCTS INCLUDING SUITES THAT CONTAIN ACROBAT. IT CAN ONLY BE USED WITH STANDALONE VERSIONS OF ACROBAT AND ADOBE READER.

Version	Preview 2
Date	June 17, 2013

Use the AcroCleaner Version 2 for 10.x and later to cleanup failed or partial uninstalls of 10.x and 11.x products.

English

Download Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool for Windows version 2 (ZIP, 651 KB)

AcroCleaner for 9.x

Version	Preview 1
Date	June 17, 2013

Use the AcroCleaner for 9.x to cleanup failed or partial uninstalls of 9.x products.

English

Download Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool for Windows version 1 (ZIP, 614 KB)

User Instructions

Follow either the User Interface Workflow or the Command Line Usage instructions below to use the Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool. Once you are done, please send us your comments and let us know about your experience.

Windows

User Interface Workflow

Do not proceed if you installed Acrobat or Reader as part of Creative Suite. This tool can only be used with standalone versions of Acrobat and Reader.
Double click the AdbeArCleaner.exe file.
Verify you want to continue, and choose Next.
Accept the EULA and choose Next.
Choose the standalone product to clean and choose Next.
- If the product to be cleaned is installed on the machine, tool directly proceeds to cleanup.
- If the product is not found, then Acrobat/Reader is cleaned from default installation location at ProgramFilesFolder\Adobe\Acrobat *.* folder. The user is also given an option to select and add any other additional installation.
If more than one product is detected, choose which product to remove and whether or not to remove any files that may be shared between Adobe Reader and Acrobat.
Choose Clean Now. Cleanup begins.
When finished, restart the machine.

Command Line Usage

Do not proceed if you installed Acrobat or Reader as part of Creative Suite. This tool can only be used with standalone versions of Acrobat and Reader.
Open a command prompt.

Run tool with the desired command line parameters as follows:

AdbeArCleaner.exe /silent /product=<ProductId> 
/installpath=<InstallPath> /cleanlevel=<CleanLevel> 
/scanforothers=<ScanForOthers>

ProductId	Identifies the product: 0 = Acrobat (Default) 1 = Reader
InstallPath	Specifies the product installation path. Default = the product’s default location; e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Reader 10.0. You must use this parameter when using ScanForOthers = 0.
CleanLevel	Specifies the level of cleanup; i.e. shared components should be cleaned or not: 0 (Default) = clean only components for the selected product. 1 = clean components for the selected product as well as shared components.
ScanForOthers	Specifies whether to search for and delete only the installation directory identified by InstallPath or all directories on the machine: 0 = Search for and delete only directories found on the path specified by the InstallPath parameter. 1 (Default) = Search for and delete installation directories system wide. This search includes non-default paths as well as default paths such as C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 10.0.
/?	Invokes the tool’s Help; for example: AdbeArCleaner.exe /?

Mac

User Interface Workflow

Double click to mount the AdobeAcroCleanerTool.dmg
Double click the file: AcroCleanerTool.app
Verify you want to continue, and choose Next.
Accept the EULA and choose Next.
Choose the product to remove and click Next.
Applications found installed are listed separately for both Acrobat and Reader. By default, all the listed applications will be selected for clean-up. Following buttons below the lists can be used to customize the list.
Remove button: Select the application you don’t want to uninstall and click ‘Remove’ button below that particular list.
Refresh button: You can repopulate the full list again using ‘Refresh’ button below that particular list.
Click on Clean button to remove the listed applications
Press OK to confirm.
Provide admin password in the admin prompt dialog.
Cleanup processing begins.
Press OK once finished dialog is shown.
Press Quit button to quit the CleanerTool app or ViewLog button to view the logs.

Frequently Asked Questions

What products and versions work with the cleaner tool?

The tool supports both Acrobat and Reader versions 11.x , DC, and Classic Tracks – 2015 and 2017.

Does running the tool write to a log?

During execution, a log file is created at:

Windows 7: C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Temp\RaftLogs\AdbeArCleaner.log
Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\[USERNAME]\Local Settings\Temp\RaftLogs\AdbeArCleaner.log
Mac: ~/Library/Logs/Adobe/AcroCleanerTool.log

If the cleaner tool executes the MSI uninstaller as part of the cleanup process, then an additional log file named Msi[RANDOM_NUMBER].tmp.log is created in the above location.

What are the system requirements?

The tool can be used on any system that is supported by product versions 9.x and 10.x.
Mac: The tool can be used from OS X 10.9 and onward.

When should the tool be used?

The tool should be used when the regular uninstall fails for Adobe Acrobat, or when you want to remove Adobe Reader from your system.

How do I uninstall the tool?

To uninstall the tool, just delete it.

How do I provide feedback?

To submit feedback or ask a question, use the Enterprise Forum .

Known Issues

If you have both Acrobat and Reader installed, removing the product that is the default PDF viewer can result in the other product failing to become the new default PDF viewer. When this problem occurs, run Repair on the remaining product and reboot the machine to make the remaining product the default PDF handler.
For Acrobat Pro Extended 9.x, the tool leaves the Acrobat entry in Add Remove Programs. To manually remove this entry, run an uninstallation from the ARP entry or manually remove the following registry entries:
- Windows 32 Bit OS: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\<Product-Code>
- Windows 64 Bit OS: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\<Product-Code>
- The product code is language specific. For example, for EFG it would be {AC76BA86-1033-F400-7761-000000000004}
The Cleaner Tool removes the Reader 9.x or Acrobat 9.x installation even if the user chooses Cancel at the Files in Use dialog during uninstallation. The File in Use dialog appears when you try to uninstall a product that is already running.

Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool

You must check the box above to indicate your agreement to the agreements listed above to activate the download link.