Troubleshooting - Acrobat's Protected Mode/Can't Copy and Paste (Desktop)

Product

CommonLook PDF Desktop Version

Feature

Adobe Acrobat Protected Mode compatibility

Document Element

Copy/Paste in the Alt Text field and other Properties fields 

Compliance report saving

Link target URL validation

Help content display

License/update-server connectivity

Issue

explain issue

Symptom 

A user working in CommonLook PDF Desktop notices one or more of the following:

• Copy/Paste doesn't work when trying to paste text into Alt Text or other Properties fields.
• CommonLook PDF displays a message stating that "certain features will be limited."
• The compliance report can't be saved to a chosen location — it can only be saved inside the Documents folder.
• Link target URLs may not be validated properly by the application.
• The Help section looks different than expected, or some content (e.g., software screenshots) isn't available.
• Separately, the user may see an error that the software can't connect to the Update server, or the license fails to activate during installation.

Causes

Adobe Acrobat's Protected Mode is a security sandbox that restricts what other applications on the machine — including CommonLook PDF — are permitted to do. This can block clipboard access between Acrobat and CommonLook PDF, restrict file-write access to locations outside the Documents folder, block the network calls CommonLook PDF needs for license activation and update checks, and interfere with link validation and Help content loading. All of the symptoms above stem from this same underlying restriction. 

Affected Users

This is primarily an issue for the document remediator/author using CommonLook PDF Desktop (the person adding Alt Text and other accessibility properties), rather than an issue that affects end readers of the PDF directly. That said, if it blocks the remediator from completing their work, it indirectly delays accessibility improvements meant to benefit screen reader users and other people who rely on accessible PDFs. 

Resolution Steps

If your organization's IT policy allows disabling Protected Mode, resolve this by uninstalling CommonLook PDF, disabling Protected Mode in Acrobat, and then reinstalling CommonLook PDF:

1. Uninstall CommonLook PDF.
2. In Acrobat, navigate to Edit (in the toolbar).
3. Choose Preferences.
4. In the left side of the Preferences dialog box, select Security (Enhanced).
5. Under Sandbox Protections, uncheck "Enable Protected Mode at startup."
6. Under Protected View, choose the "Off" radio button.
7. Press OK and close out of Acrobat.
8. Reinstall CommonLook PDF.
9. Re-open the PDF and CommonLook PDF.

If your organization does not allow disabling Protected Mode (it's a security feature some IT policies require), contact your IT administrator, since CommonLook PDF cannot fully bypass this restriction on its own.