Fix Acrobat Failed To Connect To A DDE Server Windows 10 With 5 Solutions

The Adobe Acrobat PDF software often displays ‘Acrobat failed to connect to a DDE server’ error message for many users. Users encounter this error while trying to open PDFs or merge documents with Adobe Acrobat. As a result, they fail to open a PDF or merge documents in Acrobat. This error seems to occur more frequently on Windows 10 Operating System. This error primary occurs when you want to combine several files into a single PDF. When you try to merge multiple files, Acrobat gets overloaded and enter an error state.

If this is not the actual reason, then an improper installation of the application or missing files can pop up this error message. Moreover, the problem may arise from one or more registry keys of Adobe Acrobat. Furthermore, running an older version of this software is another possible cause of this error. The more you will read this article, the more this concept will get clear to you. So, let’s continue with the rest of the article and have a proper fix in hand.

Straightforward Solutions to Fix Acrobat Failed to Connect a DDE Server Windows 10

Make sure that you have administrator access and active internet connection on your PC. You will then only be able to try out the following fixes.

Solution 1: Update the Acrobat Software

Updating this software has resolved the underlying issue for many users. Thus, you need to check whether Acrobat has released an update or not. To know that, open the Acrobat window and click the ‘Help’ menu. Now, check for updates to open the Updater window. If updates are available, then click the ‘Install’ button to get the updates on your PC.

If you want to make a fresh installation of Acrobat, then uninstall this software and reinstall it again on your PC. So, right-click on the ‘Start’ menu and select ‘Run’ to open the Run application. If you aren’t using a Window 10, then press Windows key and ‘R’ at the same time to open the Run application. Then, type ‘appwiz.cpl’ in the Run dialogue box and click the ‘OK’ button. Search for Adobe Acrobat from the list of applications installed on our PC. Then, select Adobe Acrobat and choose the ‘Uninstall’ option. Click ‘Yes’ on the resulting popup to confirm the uninstallation process.

After uninstalling the software, restart the system and open a web browser. Then, visit the official page of Adobe Acrobat and click the ‘Install Now’ button to add the latest version of Adobe Acrobat on your PC.

Solution 2: Temporarily Disable the Antivirus Software

Some third-party antiviruses are known to be causing issues with newly installed applications. Thus, turn Off the antivirus installed on your PC and check whether it fixes the problem or not. You can uninstall this software by these simple steps:

1. So, search for Control Panel or open it directly from the Start menu.
2. Then, click the ‘Uninstall a program’ link and find out the antivirus you would like to remove.
3. After that, right-click on the software and choose the ‘Uninstall’ option from the context menu.
4. Tap the ‘Yes’ button on the resulting dialog box to confirm this action.
5. If prompted, then restart the system and check whether Acrobat can connect to the DDE server or not.

Solution 3: Edit the Windows Registry

Editing the registry is an official solution of Adobe to fix the DDE error. In this method, you need to modify an application key for Adobe Acrobat. Since this is a risky method, you need to be extremely cautious while editing the registry.

1. First, press Windows key and ‘X’ simultaneously and select the ‘Run’ option.
2. Type ‘regedit’ in the text box and press ‘Enter’ to access the Registry Editor.
3. Now, copy paste the ‘HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTacrobatshellopenddeexecapplication’ path in the address bar and press ‘Enter’.
4. Select the application key in the left pane of the Registry Editor window.
5. Navigate to the ‘Default’ button and double-click on it to access the ‘Edit String’ window.
6. Go to the ‘Value data’ box and select the ‘AcroviewA18’ or ‘AcroviewA 19’ and tap the ‘Delete’ button below. If ‘AcroviewA18’ was the original value in the ‘Value Data’ box, then enter ‘AcroviewR18’ in its place.
7. Hit the ‘OK” button to save the changes and restart the Windows after editing the registry.

Note: Before entering a specific value, check the version of Acrobat installed on your PC.  

Solution 4: Repair Acrobat

According to many users, they have fixed the ‘Acrobat failed to connect to a DDE server Windows 10’ issue by repairing this software. That’s why you can also give it a try and see whether it works for you or not. The repairing process involves the following steps:

1. At the first step, you need to open the Run application and enter ‘appwiz.cpl’ in it.
2. Now press the ‘Return’ key and select ‘Adobe Acrobat’ software.
3. Then, click the ‘Change’ button and you will come across a new window.
4. Click the ‘Repair installation errors in the program’ option and press the ‘Next’ button.
5. When the repair installation process is over, click the ‘Finish’ button on the resulting popup.

Solution 5: Turn Off Protected Mode at Startup

Some of the Acrobat users have fixed the DDE error by deselecting the ‘Enhanced Security’ as well as the ‘Protected Mode at startup’. Follow the steps discussed below in order to implement this solution.

1. So, open the Acrobat window, click the ‘Edit’ menu and choose ‘Preferences.’
2. Choose the ‘Security(Enhanced)’ option in the left pane of the ‘Preferences’ window.
3. Uncheck the box next to the ‘Enable Protected Mode at Startup’ option in order to disable it.
4. Close both the ‘Preferences’ and ‘Acrobat’ windows and restart the system.
5. Open Acrobat and perform an operation to ensure that you aren’t experiencing the same issue.

Hope, these solutions will work for you and fix the ‘Acrobat failed to connect to a DDE server’ issue successfully. For any sort of difficulties, feel free to leave feedback in the comment section below. Furthermore, you can also let us know whether the article is able to help you or not.