Acrobat 2020 PDFM Error on Apple Silicon with Microsoft Office 365

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Level 1

8 points

Acrobat 2020 PDFM Error on Apple Silicon with Microsoft Office 365

Opening Adobe Acrobat 2020 on an ARM Mac when using Microsoft Office 365 leads to problems that invoke a set of pop-up windows reporting a PDFM error. One can run across the internet looking for a solution, and many complicated solutions are given, but they don’t work. Only one actually works, and that solution is provided by Adobe here: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/runtime-error-acrobat2020-apple-m1.html

The short version is that Acrobat 2020 runs on an X86_64 chipset, while on Apple silicon machines, Microsoft programs run on the ARM64/Universal (Apple silicon) chipset. So as Acrobat 2020 is set to run on one type of chipset, Microsoft programs are set to run on another, and communication stops.

The internet solutions involve multi-step openings of folders through the Go menu, clicking through folders to get to Microsoft programs, and looking for files that often don’t even exist. So the problem continues. The simple and effective solution provided by Adobe is to go to the Applications folder and then choose each Microsoft program, one at a time, and right click it to open the “Get Info” window. One third of the way down the resulting Get Info window is a checkbox for the command “Open using Rosetta.” Click that checkbox, close the Get Info window, and the problem is solved.

Mac mini, macOS 26.2

Posted on Jan 25, 2026 7:41 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 25, 2026 7:51 PM in response to stefano445

It is well-known that Rosetta 2 cannot support "mixed-mode" processes – that is, ones where some application code is Intel code, and some of the code is Apple Silicon code.

What you describe is forcing the Mac to run the Intel version of the main application under Rosetta 2 translation so that when it tries to use an Intel-only plug-in, it can use the plug-in. In the early days of Apple Silicon, I believe the practice was fairly common among people who had Universal 2 (Intel + ARM) versions of Photoshop, but only Intel versions of third-party Photoshop plug-ins.

By now, I would expect that there is a version of Acrobat that is Apple-Silicon-native, and that would not force you to run Microsoft 365 / Office programs under Rosetta 2 translation.

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Answer 2

steve626

Level 6

14,055 points

Jan 25, 2026 8:30 PM in response to stefano445

That seems like a reasonable workaround. There may be a small efficiency penalty with Rosetta 2 but it might be hard to notice in practice.

But, see About the Rosetta translation environment | Apple Developer Documentation

Rosetta is being phased out sometime in the 2027 timeframe. So the workaround might be short lived. Or you could choose to stay on Tahoe and a 2020 version of Acrobat for a while. But that isn't very forward looking, although it might be lower cost for some time, until the outdated software catches up with your compatibility and workflow.

There are much lower cost alternatives to Adobe Acrobat if its cost is too high for what you need it for. I have a program called PDF Expert and it works well for forms, digital signing, editing and modifying PDF files, and now even has OCR built in as an option. Also, PDF Expert has much better file size reduction for large PDFs than does Acrobat. There are other alternatives as well, PDF Expert is just the one I am familiar with, there are others.

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Answer 3

stefano445 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 25, 2026 8:09 PM in response to Servant of Cats

You are correct. Newer versions of Acrobat don't have this problem. However, some of us with Acrobat Pro 2020--a fully functional version of Acrobat--don't want to have to purchase a subscription to Acrobat, as it is a rather expensive program, and the improvements or new features in later versions of Acrobat may not be worth the additional expense for us. For the use I make of Acrobat, I don't need chatting, summarization, or artificial intelligence features. I just want to be able to make forms, portfolios, and so on, and I don't want to have to pay $19.99 a month forever thereafter when I already have purchased a program that was paid for years ago and does what I need it to do without additional expense, particularly in an era when Microsoft already generates PDF pages for free. So the Rosetta workaround enables the use of the existing version of Acrobat without the unnecessary $239.88 subscription fee each year when I already have the program that does what I need it to do.

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Answer 4

Jan 25, 2026 9:46 PM in response to stefano445

stefano445 wrote:

You are correct. Newer versions of Acrobat don't have this problem. However, some of us with Acrobat Pro 2020--a fully functional version of Acrobat--don't want to have to purchase a subscription to Acrobat, as it is a rather expensive program, and the improvements or new features in later versions of Acrobat may not be worth the additional expense for us.

Ah! I had not kept track of when Adobe converted Acrobat from "one-time-purchase" to a "subscription". They did that to Photoshop and Lightroom way. back in pre-Catalina days and never updated the installer or activation code to be 64-bit.

This had the result of helping to kill off the one-time purchase versions of Photoshop and Lightroom long before Tahoe came out, and before even the first Apple Silicon Macs appeared on the scene.

If Acrobat was still a one-time-purchase program in 2020, no wonder you do not want to upgrade to the current version.

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Answer 5

stefano445 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 25, 2026 8:36 PM in response to steve626

I will look into PDF Expert. Thank you for the suggestion.

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