Acrobat - 2023 Changes Are Beyond Awful... Or Is It Just Me?

Ok, like everyone else after a week of lost productibity trying to give it a chance I have switched back to the better old, usable version as it's obvious that these are NOT changes that will be ok once you get used to them. They are major changes to the negative in the functionality and usability of the product. Once you find where things are hidden it is still multiple steps to get to often used functions with no way to make it better. And in some cases a few things seem to be completely gone. Howevr, even after reverting I am finding that examining the metadata of a document dispays way, way less information than the same document examined by someone who was smart enough to have the upgrade blocked and never installed it at all. This is unacceptable.

The new version of adobe has the hardest time openning pdfs. I have no idea why they needed to change anything at all. Its a pdf viewer/editor....not complicated. I have 3 computers running adobe and all of them have the same problem where adobe takes forever to open the file or just crashes altogether. 

Ditto, to all you've said. I use Bluebeam 99% of the time, as Adobe is just awful. 

The 1% use albeit an expensive and time consuming one, my firm has a subscription with Adobe, is for the 3D pdf generated by another program. Once Bluebeam has this capability, bye bye Adobe,  former user for over 3 decades.

Adobe software has certainly declined over the years.

Adobe, why can't you just add new functions while leaving existing functions and UI alone?  Did users send you messages that they thought the UIs needed to be completely redesigned?  I doubt it.

Consider the "new Acrobat" as a beta version, many features are still missing or half-implemented.

I am totally with you on this. It seems Adobe uses Acrobat as an experiment on everyone to test new thoughts on how to use products. Acrobat has had so many annoying design changes over the years it drives me insane.

We do actually use this product for work and pay for it. I have a number of automations I have setup that are now greyed out and I need to work out why this is. Maybe recreate them again which also means getting an entire team of people to do the same.

How about giving us 6 months free access to creative suite. That may cover the time spent getting everything functioning again.

Car manufacturers don't sneak into my sedan in the middle of the night and move the gas pedal to a different place, then tell me they did me a favor.

I like the product I bought from Adobe, that's why I bought it. Don't change the thing I bought without asking me, please.

The new interface makes the features I use most harder to use. More clicks. More sweeps of the mouse. I edit and share projects all the time, please don't tell me this is better. Don't tell me I need to learn how to use this, I already learned how to use it. Don't mess with the thing I paid for. 

I am used to software companies moving items around, but this is crazy!

When something works, it doesn't need an overhaul, you don't see Snap-On redesigning wrenches to a point where they are unuseable and unrecognisable.

This is a tool that requires skill and experience to use and this sort of design puts everyone close to ground zero.

This is like coming home to find that the keyhole on your front door has changed positions and is now unrecognisable (without a training package being completed).

Worldwide, I wonder how many lost working hours this has cost....either through having to search 'how to use new Acrobat', the slow factor of using something new, or the 'water cooler' bee-atching about it.

Amen. These changes are garbage, and will be losing me as a customer as a result. 

It is not just you. They are absolutely AWFUL. I have no clue why these companies think they need to change their "look". No one cares that you think it looks better. It needs to work and it needs to work consistently. I do not have the time to relearn a software system I've been using for years. Absolutely ridiculous.