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Question

What did Adobe do to Acrobat?

Forum|Forum|9 years ago
May 20, 2016
10 replies
2630 views

basically, i just wanted to put a smiley on a document with some arrows. i had to go through edit then add picture then the whole background document disappeared. then i deleted the page then reinserted the page then added the picture first and the arrows second, because the "arrange" menu items were not working before.

you have to go to "edit" to add a picture and then the document does a whole OCR thing automatically -- and now even Acrobat is hanging with a dialog box that reads: Content Preparation Process

you have to go to "comment" to add an arrow, but the arrows are only available from an icon with a drop-down menu

basically -- you have to hunt and peck and now the app is hanging and i am working with a 4 page scanned document i wanted to put a smiley onto with some arrows.

geeze -- what is going on?

i used to love Acrobat, it was like the surgical scalpel you could use to process and print documents and take care of a good number of deliverability issues, etc.

i am working on a brand new iMac

3.1 GHz Intel Core i5

8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3

with the latest MacOS

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dainiswmichelAuthor

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the latest update of Acrobat Pro does not fix the issue of comments just disappearing for no reason.

dainiswmichelAuthor

Known Participant

still happening. comments just disappear. i think i found a workaround a while back, but i have been switching to preview for basic PDF tasks.

Adobe: can you explain the painfully poorly designed user interface?

step 1: search for functionality that you need in all the oddly named categories (like ok i want to fill but i want to comment but then i have to switch back and forth and wait each time yay -- and what's with "back to document?")

step 2: do all the workarounds u need to do to get acrobat to provide professional results

step 3: groan

Community Expert

Community Expert

Sorry, English is not my native langage and "boring" may not be the appropriate word.

In any case you should register as a beta tester into the Acrobat prerelease site ( Adobe Prerelease ) instead of complaining here.

Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien.

(The best is the enemy of good)

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dainiswmichelAuthor

Known Participant

:-)

the best may be the enemy of good, though in adobe's case, mediocre is becoming the enemy of the dysfunctional.

what i mean there, is: adobe needs to set a new standard of mediocrity to avoid descending entirely into a microsoftesque abyss of dysfunctionality.

dainiswmichelAuthor

Known Participant

it must be hard to be a "good programmer" at adobe. my guess is the really good ppl are holding their tongues.

speak up speak out make these programs "great again!" LOL

dainiswmichelAuthor

Known Participant

JR, maybe you haven't been around the block much. Today is the first day I experienced creating a PDF file in Acrobat -- and having it display differently on other devices. It's likely downhill from here -- which is sad.

If you are "bored" by my what you call my "complaints," then you are not qualified to test or critique software.

Most of adobe's products should be much better by now -- and they are getting worse. It is sad to watch another giant start failing. It's also sad to compare where the world of communications could be by now, if adobe were at the forefront of usability.

Community Expert

Community Expert

Can you figure that Acrobat works fine on most computers and that yours is a special case?

So, please, stop boring us with your whining and call the customer support.

Thank you.

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dainiswmichelAuthor

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yipee, all my comments are invisible now!

why i tried acrobat -- i don't know.

opening preview so i can add some text to some PDF documents.

dainiswmichelAuthor

Known Participant

it really is quite amazing just how poorly the newest version of adobe acrobat functions on my new iMac.

i think what i am going to do, is sell my 6-8month old iMac and buy a completely even super duper even newer computer - install all the adobe stuff - and then really - either i work for adobe and you pay me to use and fix your software - or i abandon the adobe ship.

cuz really, it's like adobe doesn't use its own software.

it absolutely amazes me just how poorly the software works & how ill-thought out the user procedures are.

Community Expert

Community Expert

This is the reverse for me.

Since the last update Acrobat DC stops hanging and crashing.

Even the Comments panel now displays in less than 30 seconds.

(Mac OS X.9, aka Mavericks)

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dainiswmichelAuthor

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totally happy for you JR

dainiswmichelAuthor

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whoah, i just resolved a printing issue with acrobat - by switching to preview.

dainiswmichelAuthor

Known Participant

and it's happening again -- acrobat is balking and i am looking for alternatives. this time it is a tax form.

has anyone else noticed a severe decline in functionality and usability in Adobe Acrobat?

dainiswmichelAuthor

Known Participant

and now, for some reason, i opened acrobat pro...

need to make a text comment to put info onto a document.

the text comments disappear as if they were "sent to bottom" in a group of layers.

rt clicking & going to properties takes you basically nowhere.

i've searched online for a few minutes and am probably going to just use preview again

dainiswmichelAuthor

Known Participant

so now i have a more "complex" project, and i needed to add a few text boxes w commentary over some PDF form items. guess what? the text boxes appear behind the form field -- and it looks like you can't move them to the front. also, i found a tip: cut and paste the text boxes. ok, i did that, and that text box just disappeared -- it looks like you can't copy and paste them. wow.

i may be moving to preview -- again -- just to be able to do some simple work with PDF documents.

thnx George! i'll check out those options.

Acrobat should really be an amazing tool by now :-(

dainiswmichelAuthor

Known Participant

i am literally using Preview, again, because Acrobat is unable to give me fast, functional results.

dainiswmichelAuthor

Known Participant

well, Acrobat won't work, and i need to assemble a document today.

so, i am, again, using Preview.

Acrobat hangs and shows a dialog box about "preparing" the document.

Inspiring

You might want to set the following user preference settings:

Acrobat > Reading > Screen Reading Options > Page vs Document > Only read the currently visible pages

Acrobat > Reading > Screen Reading Options > Confirm Before Tagging Documents [select]

dainiswmichelAuthor

Known Participant

i have had to switch to the "Preview" app on Macintosh to get basic PDF tasks done.

Acrobat just hangs and "prepares" the PDF files.

my software and hardware are both as new as they can get.

Community Expert

Community Expert

I have had to switch to the "Preview" app on Macintosh

See these links to know why you should use any PDF software except Preview because it's dangerous:

Preview.app - Killer of PDF Files - KHKonsulting LLC

PDF Readers - 5 Readers Compared | Talking PDF | PDF

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