Tip 179: Disable the Acrobat Addin

If you use Adobe Acrobat, Outlook has a Send as PDF button on the toolbar. If you want to remove the button, you need to disable the COM add-in.

Normally, you can disable an add-in from the COM Add-ins dialog, in Tools, Options, Other tab, Advanced Options, COM Add-ins or Add-in Manager (Outlook 2003 and older) or from the Trust Center, Add-ins dialog in newer versions. The Trust Center is on the Tools menu in Outlook 2007, and in File, Options in Outlook 2010 and 2013.

However, some add-ins are re-enabled by the parent application and you need to disable them in the registry.

1. Open the Run command by pressing Windows key + R, then type regedit in the Open field and press Enter.
2. Browse to this key in the registry:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\ PDFMOutlook.PDFMOutlook
3. Change the LoadBehavior value from 3 to 2. Restart Outlook.

The PDF functions will still be available in Word and the other Office programs.

All Outlook add-ins load from either this key or the matching key in the Current User hive.

Published September 2, 2004. Last updated on October 21, 2013.

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