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Participant
December 18, 2025
Answered

Cannot reorder Tools in the All Tools Panel

  • December 18, 2025
  • 14 replies
  • 183 views

Hello. I am unable to reorder Tools in the Tools Panel on the left of the screen. The instructions I've found online seem to indicate that I should be able to "Drag and Drop" tools in my preferred order. However, I cannot select any of the Tools to Drag them.

Correct answer hermann_1653

I was able to solve the problem with ChatGPT:

I had exactly the same issue with Adobe Acrobat Pro Continuous Release 2026.002.21931 (64-bit) on Windows:

  • Drag & Drop of tools in All Tools did not work.
  • Right-click → Move up / Move down did nothing.
  • Resetting All Tools did not help.
  • Repairing the Acrobat installation did not help.
  • The same Acrobat version worked correctly on another PC.

I compared the Windows Registry between the working and non-working PCs.

The relevant key is:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\AcroApp\cAllToolsOrder

On the working PC, the values were stored as REG_SZ and contained the actual tool names, for example:

a0 = EditPDFApp
a1 = StampApp
a2 = PagesApp
a3 = FormsApp
a4 = ProtectApp

On the problem PC, the same key existed, but all values were incorrectly stored as REG_BINARY with the value 00.

I exported the cAllToolsOrder key from the working PC and imported it into the problem PC.

After restarting Acrobat, Drag & Drop and Move up / Move down immediately worked again.

So in my case the problem was caused by a corrupted/incorrect cAllToolsOrder Registry entry.

This might be worth checking for other users experiencing the same problem.

14 replies

hermann_1653Correct answer
Participant
September 21, 2026

I was able to solve the problem with ChatGPT:

I had exactly the same issue with Adobe Acrobat Pro Continuous Release 2026.002.21931 (64-bit) on Windows:

  • Drag & Drop of tools in All Tools did not work.
  • Right-click → Move up / Move down did nothing.
  • Resetting All Tools did not help.
  • Repairing the Acrobat installation did not help.
  • The same Acrobat version worked correctly on another PC.

I compared the Windows Registry between the working and non-working PCs.

The relevant key is:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\AcroApp\cAllToolsOrder

On the working PC, the values were stored as REG_SZ and contained the actual tool names, for example:

a0 = EditPDFApp
a1 = StampApp
a2 = PagesApp
a3 = FormsApp
a4 = ProtectApp

On the problem PC, the same key existed, but all values were incorrectly stored as REG_BINARY with the value 00.

I exported the cAllToolsOrder key from the working PC and imported it into the problem PC.

After restarting Acrobat, Drag & Drop and Move up / Move down immediately worked again.

So in my case the problem was caused by a corrupted/incorrect cAllToolsOrder Registry entry.

This might be worth checking for other users experiencing the same problem.

JR Boulay
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 22, 2026

Thanks  hermann_1653, but tinkering with the Windows Registry isn't really a solution.
It should just work normally and as expected.

Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
Participant
September 22, 2026

That's true. However, Adobe didn't provide a solution, so I found one myself, especially since I was getting frustrated with the issue.

Participant
July 25, 2026

I can reproduce the same behavior on a recent Acrobat version. The documentation suggests drag-and-drop should work, but in practice it seems inconsistent depending on the UI version or recent updates.

One thing that helped me narrow it down was checking whether the new Acrobat experience was enabled, updating to the latest build, and then testing with a fresh user profile. If it still doesn't work after that, it does feel more like a product limitation or bug than a configuration issue.

I also found this guide helpful while comparing different troubleshooting approaches:. It explains technical problems in a straightforward way and helped me think through the possible causes before assuming something was wrong with my installation.

Hopefully Adobe can confirm whether this behavior is expected or if it's something that will be addressed in a future update, since it looks like multiple users are running into the same issue.

Participating Frequently
July 24, 2026

See below

creative explorer
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 18, 2025

@Joseph5CBC I don't think you can 'Drag and Drop' tools in the modern and new Acrobat Interface; you would need to 'Disable nw Acrobat,' under View, and go back to the Classic Interface if you want to Drag and Drop

m
Participant
December 18, 2025

In this video at 2:20, Adobe says to drag and drop tools in the new interface, but it does not work.

Participating Frequently
July 24, 2026

I have same problem.   It does say you can drag and drop, but the “Move up” and “Move down” options (when you right-click) don’t work either.