PLEASE NOTE: This solution only applies to machines running 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and 7. It does not apply to other versions of Windows or to any 32-bit version of Windows.
On Windows Vista 64-bit and Windows 7 64-bit, users have noticed that with Adobe Acrobat (Pro or Reader) installed, Windows Explorer and Microsoft Outlook 2007/2010 do not preview PDF files like they should be. A simple registry fix has been discovered, although not from Adobe or Microsoft, that correctly points Windows Explorer and other applications, like Outlook, to the Adobe PDF Preview Handler.
In the attached ZIP file, there are two registry import files:
- “adobe_pdf_x64_fix.reg” – Fixes the 64-bit PDF handler issue
- “adobe_pdf_x64_upgrade_fix.reg” – Fixes the 32-bit to 64-bit redirected registry setting. Only use this import if the first file does not fix the issue. Most commonly this file is needed if Windows was upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7 instead of doing a fresh install.
The original post about this can be found at: http://www.pretentiousname.com/adobe_pdf_x64_fix/index.html. The author of that post has also provided a tool that can also apply the fix without you having to mess with your registry.
Thanks, works like a charm!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Glad to hear it helped. :)
I downloaded the fix for adbobe previwer for outlook 2010 and it didn’t work for me, very frustrating. The foxit fix does work however when attaching more than one PDF to an email causes the computer to get stuck in a loop thus the screen then goes white – ish. Help.
Thanks John, worked a treat for me too! much appreciated
Thanks this has just saved me countless additional clicks and lowered by blood pressure!
Thank you for this solution
Glad it helped :)
Good work, worked like a charm for me.
Why isn’t adobe able to fix something as stpid as this in an update !?
Worked perfect! I am using Outlook 2010 and a new install of Windows 7. Thank you!
I’m glad it helped :D
Thanks so much!!!
Any idea how to make the previewer work if only Acrobat 9 is installed?
This made me abandon adobe acrobat in favor of a much cheaper alternative that does the same thing (PDF XChange)
Works great! Why couldn’t MS or Adobe do this????
Bad News…Windows 8 Developers Preview [x64] running Outlook 2010 [x86] with Acrobat 10.1 has this problem again and the current fix does not help. good grief ;/