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L23370334ofdk
Inspiring
January 22, 2024
Question

how to stop Widows 11 from combining PDF icons on its taskbar?

  • January 22, 2024
  • 3 replies
  • 9274 views

Does anyone know how to make the Win 11 taskbar show a separte icon for each PDF that's open?

 

By default, Windows 11 likes to combine together all open files by program.  Looking in the Windows community forums, I fould that we were given the option to turn off that "feature" last year (I'm running build 22621.2861, ver 22H).  So I set the tasbar to Never combine, and it stopped combining my Excel, Word, etc files. Each now shows separately on the taskbar.

 

However, my PDF's are still being combined into a single icon. I know I can click on the icon then select which PDF to work on, but my preference is to have a separate icon on the taskbar for each PDF I have open.  Since Windows 11 does this for other for other programs now, I'm guessing PDFs are being combined due to some Adobe setting. Does anyone know if that can be changed so my Win 11 taskbar shows a separate icon for each PDF I have open? 

 

Thanks!

 

Thx

    3 replies

    T
    Tim28077476aihf
    Participant
    November 7, 2024

    This behavior varies between primary and secondary monitors: On what windows 11 calls the main monitor, Acrobat entries are combined (this is my preferred behavior for tabbed PDFs as they are all in one window). On additional monitors, whether 1 or 4 more, the taskbar includes separate entries for each PDF open as well as one entry for the program itself (whose name is preceeded by the name of the current tab).
    For example: I open 1.PDF, 2.PDF & then 3.PDF in three tabs on an acrobat window on my main monitor.
    I see one taskbar entry listing 3.PDF - Adobe Acrobat Standard (64-bit) on my main monitor. Hoverover shows 3 screenshots of each PDF.
    I move that to another monitor (left or right doesn't matter)
    I see 4 taskbar entries: the first is 3.PDF - Adobe Acrobat Standard (64-bit)
    The second is entry is 1.PDF
    The third is 2.PDF
    The fourth is 3.PDF
    Hoverover shows 3 screenshots of each PDF.

    M
    meagans
    Participant
    January 22, 2024

    It seems like with the new update for Acrobat, by default all files open as tabs in a single Acrobat window, which is why Windows 11 is only showing 1 icon in the taskbar. I am unable to find where to change the default so PDFs all open in individual windows. The files can manually be dragged apart, but there's got to be a setting to just have them open in new windows by default. (If you manually separate the PDF tabs into separate windows, each PDF shows up in the task bar as a unique file.)

    Thanks.

    L
    L23370334ofdkAuthor
    Inspiring
    January 23, 2024
    Thanks for your reply. If you're right, which I'm guessing you are,
    its another oddity with AD. I used to be pretty good with Adobe when it was
    Acrobat Pro. but confess I've struggled ever since they transformed it into
    Adobe DC. Now it has way way too many settings that I have to figure out.
    Not good for a casual user.

    I'm hoping someone will find out a secret menu option that will get Adobe
    to follow Windows' settings so I can get back my cluttered taskbar. Took
    Microsoft 3 years to figure out that a lot of people find that useful and
    restored the "Never combine" option.
    try67
    Community Expert
    try67Community Expert
    Community Expert
    January 22, 2024

    This is a general setting of Windows, not related to Acrobat. To change it follow these steps:

    1. Open the Settings app.
    2. Navigate to Personalization > Taskbar.
    3. Scroll to the bottom and click on Taskbar behaviors.
    4. Under Taskbar behaviors, look for the setting that reads "Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels" In the dropdown menu, select "Never".
    L
    L23370334ofdkAuthor
    Inspiring
    January 23, 2024
    I tried to make it clear in my post that I had already done that. It
    worked, except for PDFs, so I'm guessing that Adobe may have decided to
    override Windows (why, don't know, but then there are tons of things in
    Adobe DC after they redesigned it I don't understand too - such as its mini
    floating window that no one can seem to figure out how to get rid of). So
    now I'm trying to figure out how to get PDF's to also open separate icons
    on the Win 11 taskbar.

    Thanks.
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