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Answered

Understanding and customizing the current Acrobat interface

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
April 19, 2023
335 replies
127320 views

Hi,

I am trying to write a complaint email but of course, no contact details in this regard, so here I am:

what on earth is going on with this new update of Adobe Acrobat Pro that normally it's supposed to be more user friendly - news flash, it's not - and appart from this, there is this new awful feature that blocks the app whenever I try to handle documents, the app blocks, I can't close, I can't do anything, it just freezes. The only thing that gets me out of there is task manager, and then starting over again.

I did this 3 times, making me losing around 10 minutes for an edit that normally, before this horrible update, it was taking me few seconds... Come on guys WAKE UP!

Correct answer BaniVerma

Hi all,

How do I switch between the current and previous Acrobat interface?

Acrobat includes both the current and previous (classic) interfaces for supported versions where the option is available, so you can choose whichever fits your workflow.

Switch to the previous (classic) interface:

Windows: Menu > Disable new Acrobat
macOS: View > Disable new Acrobat

When prompted, select Restart to relaunch Acrobat with the previous interface. To return to the current interface, select View > Enable new Acrobat and restart Acrobat.

Reference

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/desktop/get-started/preferences-and-settings/switch-new-acrobat.html

What's different about the current Acrobat interface?

Previous (Classic) Interface	Current Acrobat Interface
Traditional menu and toolbar layout	Reorganized menus, toolbars, and panels
Frequently used tools available through the classic interface	Workflow-based tool organization
Standard toolbar layout	Customizable toolbar with frequently used tools

The current Acrobat experience organizes common PDF tasks by workflow and provides a more consistent experience across desktop, web, and mobile.

References

Can I customize the Acrobat interface?

Yes. To customize your toolbar:

From the Quick action toolbar, select Add, remove, or reorder tools, then choose Customize toolbar.
Select a tool category, then click the plus icon to add a tool to your toolbar.
Use the arrows to reorder tools, or the trash icon to remove them.
Select Save.

For the latest interface improvements and feature updates, see the current What's New documentation and Acrobat Release Notes.

References

Thanks,

^BS

BaniVerma

Correct answer

Community Manager

Hi all,

How do I switch between the current and previous Acrobat interface?

Acrobat includes both the current and previous (classic) interfaces for supported versions where the option is available, so you can choose whichever fits your workflow.

Switch to the previous (classic) interface:

Windows: Menu > Disable new Acrobat
macOS: View > Disable new Acrobat

When prompted, select Restart to relaunch Acrobat with the previous interface. To return to the current interface, select View > Enable new Acrobat and restart Acrobat.

Reference

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/desktop/get-started/preferences-and-settings/switch-new-acrobat.html

What's different about the current Acrobat interface?

Previous (Classic) Interface	Current Acrobat Interface
Traditional menu and toolbar layout	Reorganized menus, toolbars, and panels
Frequently used tools available through the classic interface	Workflow-based tool organization
Standard toolbar layout	Customizable toolbar with frequently used tools

The current Acrobat experience organizes common PDF tasks by workflow and provides a more consistent experience across desktop, web, and mobile.

References

Can I customize the Acrobat interface?

Yes. To customize your toolbar:

From the Quick action toolbar, select Add, remove, or reorder tools, then choose Customize toolbar.
Select a tool category, then click the plus icon to add a tool to your toolbar.
Use the arrows to reorder tools, or the trash icon to remove them.
Select Save.

For the latest interface improvements and feature updates, see the current What's New documentation and Acrobat Release Notes.

References

Thanks,

^BS

A

Alonzo27361229kce3

Participant

Does anyone know of an alternative PDF maker? Adobe Acrobat Pro is unusable right now.

V

VENCESJM

Participant

Hi there, I completely agree with your sentiments regarding the new Adobe Acrobat Pro. It's incredibly frustrating and counterintuitive. Whoever is responsible for the recent changes really missed the mark. I'm encountering the same issues as you and it's impacting my workflow significantly. Hopefully, they'll address these issues soon and bring back the user-friendly experience we all expect.

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

I agree the new interface is challanging--but you can change it back. See my post of July 26 above.

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

surf119

Participating Frequently

You can change it, but it doesn't go back far enough in my opinion. Some of the functions I use most (like a horizontal scroll bar) are not included and the extremely irritating pop-up tools are still included. I want a version to goes back before all of that nonsense to the one that was actually user friendly.

A

Angela3883742208v3

Participant

I just installed Adobe Acrobat Pro and it makes me want to cry. I've never used it before, but use other programs easily. Trying to change the color of a line, or insert a text box. It was actually easier BEFORE I installed Pro. Want to go back to free version, but could really use the Pro features of Adobe for a lot of the work I do. The suckiness of Adobe makes my life worse.

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

See this thread:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/how-do-i-go-back-to-the-old-acrobat/td-p/14032104

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

robins44927806

Participating Frequently

As I look at the 13 pages of complaints about this horrible update, I see that I'm not alone in my hatred of this update and Adobe hasn't fixed anything. Even worse, with CC you cannot even go back and grab a version that does work (unlike every other program in my subscription). What's up with that, Adobe? Worried that everyone will just ditch your ridiculous "update" and go back to a version that works? Seriously, what is the deal? Do you want everyone to stop using Acrobat for some reason? So frustrating!

W

Weekend_Shootr

Participant

Funny you bring this up. I spent an hour the other evening trying to create
a PDF and gave up in utter frustration. I went to Canva and made my PDF in
minutes. When I tried to cancel ADOBE they tried to hit me with an early
cancel fee!

C

Caitlin377619135g2h

Participant

Does Canva have the ability to mark-up PDFs? I'm so over Adobe. I had to mark up a file on there that should have only taken me 20 minutes and it took me an hour and 15 minutes. It freezes, crashes, and the features are so stupid now. I'm over it.

M

markk8929962

Participant

Use pro to combine PDF tax scans. Tax time I open a folder of collect scans through out the year so a 20-50 documents at time. Last 2023 tax season this work a charm. 2024 Pro version, not so pro, more like a lite. select all files, offers to combine, but nothing happen. Before that, offered to Cloud me. on the combine feature. start posting nasty stuff in google search, and low an behold the combine option showed up in the menu. The after a few fails of auto combine, I went 10 files at a time till all were open, then select combine from withing the toolbar.

Today, same setup, except folder had a few more, an got Max folder open message. Ok, so I combine these, then do the other half, welp says can not create another file, to many open. Welp ok I will delete a reciept. NOPE, no delete option. Really, ADOBE-- you've rendered your software away?

M

Muhammad37873325w9vc

Participating Frequently

Hi,

I'm really sorry to hear about your issues with the new Adobe Acrobat Pro update. It sounds incredibly frustrating. Have you tried reaching out to Adobe support directly through their website or social media? They might be able to offer a solution or rollback to a previous version. Hope this gets resolved soon!

R

richardl21680839

Participant

I just want to add my voice to the discontented posts on this thread.

What a disaster this app has become.

+20 years in design and print experience and use of PDFs from their infancy.

I have never experienced such regressive ‘development’ of an industry standard piece of software.

I has become a slow, unusable pile of steaming waste.

I am finding I am veering to open pdfs in Apple Preview vs bothering trying to view in in Acrobat!

PDFs take an age to load and display, then the more complex PDFs (architects/technical drawings) spend the rest of the time constanly refreshing and lagging out until I am compelled to trigger the dreaed forced quit option.

How have Adobe managed to do this? I am at a loss trying to understand why they punt out sub satandard software under the guise that it is an ‘upgraded’ version!

W

Weekend_Shootr

Participant

Exactly….i can’t believe i bought the full version. It’s unusable for my
work.

J

JasonWBarlow

Participant

I was hoping I wasn't the only one experiencing this! How does one mess up what has traditionally been such a reliable work horse of an app. The latest version is a complete disaster. Actively looking for an alternative (to Acrobat and the new Express).

[abuse removed by moderator]

B

Bridget37390741bu1i

Participant

I AGREE! I use the feature to add text to pdfs the most and now it makes it like you are trying to edit the entire pdf and you can't just type a text box anywhere. It took me over 15 minutes to try to add a text box and I accidently found the revert to old pdf by mistake trying to figure it out. I am back to the old version and it is SOOOOOO much better! This new version is NOT user friendly at all!

C

Cody34480884whtd

Participant

On top of all the crashes and errors and unusable tools, now I have to take time to write complaints too. I've been using this newer version for months now and productivity has not increased. I thought I might learn efficient methods over time, but the program is just bad.

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