Opening CommonLook & Troubleshooting (Desktop only)

Opening the CommonLook PDF (desktop) Plugin

1. Open a PDF document in Adobe Acrobat (Standard or Professional).
2. Assuming that the document already has tags, In the Acrobat toolbar, click Plug-Ins, scroll to CommonLook, and choose CommonLook PDF.
   • If the document does not have tags, refer to the "Adding Tags (In Acrobat)" section).

CommonLook PDF Won't Open

"This document is untagged."  Adding Tags in Acrobat.

If you try to open CommonLook PDF and you get an error message stating that the PDF isn't tagged, as shown in the previous screenshot, follow these steps:

1. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat (if it isn’t already open) and navigate to the Tags pane.  (You can do this by clicking the Tag icon, on the left, if it's available or go to "View," "Show/Hide," "Navigation Panes," and then choose "Tags.") 
2. At the top of the Tags tree, right-click (open the context menu) on “No Tags Available.”
3. Choose “Add Tags to Document.”
   
4. Save.
5. Open CommonLook PDF.

If CommonLook tells you that the PDF isn't tagged but, when you navigate to the Tags pane in Acrobat, you find tags there, follow these steps:

1. In the Tags panel in Acrobat, click the Options button. 
2. Make sure the “Document is Tagged PDF” option is checked.

If the PDF has tags but, in Acrobat, the option for "Document is Tagged PDF" is not checked, CL PDF will still open.  However, when running the verification, you'll receive a failure for the document not being "marked."  You can either mark it manually, in the metadata panel, or you can use the Fix Wizard to "Mark" the PDF.  "Marking" the PDF is the same as checking that item in Acrobat, to indicate that the document is a tagged PDF.

Exception loading CommonLook PDF - "Protected Mode"

Note:  As of version 5.14, released in December 2023, the desktop version of CommonLook PDF now supports Protected mode, in Acrobat, with some limitations to functionality.  Please refer to the Release Notes for more information. 

If you try to open CommonLook PDF and you get an error message stating that there is an exception loading CommonLook, as shown in the previous screenshot, your document is likely in "Protected Mode."  In addition, if CommonLook PDF won't open or if Acrobat crashes, it's likely that Protected Mode is turned on.  Having Protected Mode turned on would prevent any changes from being made to your document, thus making remediation impossible. To turn off Protected Mode in Acrobat, follow these steps:

1. In Acrobat, navigate to Edit (in the toolbar)

2. Choose Preferences
   

3. In the left side of the Preferences dialog box, select Security (Enhanced)

4. In  the Sandbox Protections, uncheck “Enable Protected Mode at startup”

5. In “Protected View,” choose the “Off” radio button  (Please note the screenshot below if needed.)

6. Press OK and close out of Acrobat.  Then re-open the PDF and the CommonLook Office.  

Unable to lock this document.

If you try to open the desktop version of CommonLook PDF and you get an error message stating that the document cannot be locked, as shown in the previous screenshot, your document is most likely saved in a location that CommonLook cannot access. This would prevent any changes from being made to your document, thus making remediation impossible. To make sure your document can be "unlocked" and remediated, follow these steps:

1. Make sure the document you're working on is saved locally on your machine and that you're not trying to work on it in a shared folder like SharePoint, Dropbox, etc.  While some shared network folders do not cause issues, historically, some have, so this is our first check. 
2. Additionally, make sure that the PDF you're trying to work on is not in a zipped folder.  If it is, unzip the folder, pull the PDF out, save it in a more CommonLook-friendly location such as your desktop or other local destination, and try again.
3. As a last check, ensure that you do not have the file "preview" turned on in your File Explorer. This makes it so that when you select a PDF, a little window gives you a thumbnail of what that PDF looks like.  Historically, this has created an issue, too. It is likely because CommonLook "thought" the file was already open and you can only have one PDF open at a time when using CL PDF.  

"I can't use the Help!"

If you have Protected Mode turned on, in Acrobat, you will not be able to access the internet from within the PDF.  This means that you will also not be able to use the Help links in the software.  Turn Protected Mode off (using the instructions provided above).  

Also note:  Because you can't access the web, CL PDF also is not able to test for broken links! 

Didn't find what you're looking for? Navigate to our "General Software Functionality" section for more related articles that may help!