Adobe Acrobat Pro layout is different

[default50ljj8fby8k4]

Hi there

Thanks in advance for any support.

I had Adobe Acrobat Pro installed on my old work laptop last year, and it looked like the first attached image, called old version. It looks more like your traditional installed program with the menu bar.

My IT department* just installed Adobe Acrobat Pro on my new laptop, and it looks like this, see image attached called new version. This gives more of an online vibe which I'm not keen on, and no menu bar. 

Is this how it should be? Did Adobe redesign it? I preferred the old version. Maybe people familiar with the 'new version' can tell me if this is a good thing and I just need to get used to this drastic new layout. Am I missing any features from the old version?

Many thanks in advance for any help that can be affored to me.

Thank you.

Paul

*I'm asking this forum because I don't think my IT department knows much about Adobe Acrobat, only how to install the programme so they won't be able to answer my query.

[Tina7008]

Thank you so much that new version was messing me!!! Thanks 🙏🏽 

[Gabriela31394796q2fg]

THANK YOU!!!! I hate the new layout it was driving me crazy!

[Timothy31847109m2gq]

Thank you helped a ton!

[Amy28800233pvak]

Thank you.  The new version is terrible.  I am now converted back!! Appreciate this  post. 

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Many users don't like the new Acrobat user interface.

You can revert to the previous traditional user interface with the instructions here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/acrobat-2023-how-to-revert-to-classic-gui-user-in... 

[Jennifer32120490fija]

Thank you for telling me how to go back to old version.  I hate the new layout and agree with others here.  No one has time for a steep learning curve and I'm not just stuck in my ways.   I've used Adobe Pro for decades and this new version hides the basic tools I need. It's maddening.  I also have Adobe stock that I may sell because this was poor judgment.

[kishoreg52817171]

Hi, I too am disappointed  with the new look. Have been using adobe over 10 years now.

I want to revert to the old look. Else  if this is not possible then i would want to discontinue my subscription . Please , always  consider the  ease of usage before implementing changes. 

[AnandSri]

Hi All!

We appreciate your valuable feedback! We're always looking for ways to make Acrobat better, and we appreciate the time and effort you have taken to share your feedback with us.

We acknowledge that the new Acrobat represents a notable change, however we hope that as you get familiar with the new interface, you are able to be more productive & get more out of Acrobat. With the new interface, we aim to:

1. Provide a simplified viewing experience that helps reduce clutter & optimise it for most used PDF actions that are relevant while viewing a document.
2. Easily allow users to discover PDF tools they need by ensuring tools are intuitively grouped and a click away,
   • For example, all tools that allow content, page & file level edits can be found under one action-based verb called “Edit”; tools that allow converting files to & from PDFs can be found under “Convert”; tools that allow filling & signing documents or requesting signatures from others under “Sign”.
3. Most importantly, the new interface enables users to effortlessly move between different PDF tools to complete their document related tasks.

• For example, someone viewing comments in a PDF should also be able to easily edit the text of it without interrupting their workflow.
• A user can seamlessly perform page level edits such as reordering, inserting, extracting, rotating or deleting pages while editing content and/or commenting on the file.

We would also like to highlight that we have exhaustively tested these changes with users over the past 12 months, keenly monitoring user behaviour & addressing top user issues before gradually rolling out the new interface to the Acrobat user base.

A point to note is that as we made these changes in the interface, we have ensured all tools & features that are currently supported, retain their familiar functionalities and workflows as they did in the previous version. We are proactively addressing any gaps or issues reported by users related to any break in current workflows.

We will follow up on this response with a detailed article explaining the changes, a guide to help familiarise you to the new interface, along with regular updates on upcoming changes.

Thank you once again for your feedback and do look forward to our upcoming releases!

~Anand Sri.

[Dianne at Allegra]

Ummm thanks - BUT...

If I have to search for the functions I use daily, how is this an improvement. I don't mind the Edit tools being easier to find/use, but moving the navigation tools for changing pages, zooming in and out and page functions doesn't speed my production. I have not switched back to the new interface to "get familiarized" with it and likely won't unless forced to and even then I may simply install an older version. Relearning interface is not assisting my productivity.

[defaultu2z2bas48bn1]

By my own experience and the coments of others on here, it looks like the new version is NOT a simplified experience.  For me, things that were easily seen and found with colored symbols, are now just verbiage that you have to look for in odd places.  It's not just "new" to me.  Tt is not a simplified process by any means.  Look at all the likes for the instructions on how to go back.  If adobe actually means the words "We appreciate your feedback", and respects our preferences, then they will always keep the option to revert back to the old format.

[defaultu2z2bas48bn1]

And for someone that closes and opens adobe 50 times a day.  PLeeeaaaase, stop popping up and asking me a hundred questions and suggestions like "shiny something something, or new look blah blah.  With trying to meet deadlines, this is just annoying, distracting and in the way.

[Andy32135617u8w4]

While I appreciate the thorough answer, Anand, I find that the new interface *increses* clutter and is quite non-intuitive (counter to your comments.).  I *really* wish software developers would quit tryijng to make things "better" all the time.  If it's a new feature, or enhanced capability, I'm all for it, but to just make something "shiny" and "new-looking" when the interface has been working well for users for years is just work for wqrk's sake.  I am *very* glad the old interface is available, and sincerely hope thast the option to use it remains permanently available.

[Amal.]

Hi there,

Hope you are doing well and sorry for the experience.

We acknowledge that the new Acrobat represents a notable change; however, we hope that as you get familiar with the new interface, you can be more productive and get more out of Acrobat.

We are actively working on all the feedback provided and will address them with the highest priority.

As you get more comfortable with the new interface, please contact us with specific questions on tools, features, or functionalities. We’re happy to provide helpful resources and answers to your questions.

If your critical workflows are impacted, you can switch to the old UI from the “Menu” on the top left corner of Windows and View Menu on MacOS.

We will follow up with a detailed community-featured post, guiding you to familiarise yourself with the new interface and regular updates on upcoming changes.

Regards

Amal

[Andy32135617u8w4]

Hello, Amal.

I don't intend to use the new interface unless there is, at some point, no
choice; however, I hope Adobe is not so short-sighted as to force its
long-time users like myself (I've been using Adobe products since the
initial release in 1993) to make the change, and will allow us to continue
to be productive in the current one.

Thank you,

Andy Shemo

[Michael26723024pkrf]

Thanks for the instructions on how to switch back to the old UI.

Absolutely the worst 'upgrade' of a UI I have ever seen. And I thought Microsoft was bad....

[Jonathan32238358vt3z]

When a developer has to "convince" the end user that an update is "good" the developer has failed.  This is super common in the tech industry. I am here searching for a way to revert the changes back to the previous version. This update is so horrible that I'm actually looking for a method to go backward. 

[Andy32135617u8w4]

"When a developer has to "convince" the end user that an update is "good" the developer has failed."

I could not agree more!!! 

[karen33044065oltb]

I agree with the other comments. I was working on combining 80 separate documents & saving them as a new file on my computer. That took some figuring out, but then all of a sudden when I opened the file from my desktop the second time I kept getting this new interface format. Thank goodness I found how to shut it off. This new format is not easier. For us windows users we are used to our programs having a toolbar at the top & perhaps a side bar, but this new format is counterintuitive. 

[I.J.32352930n5f5]

Anand Sri,

If one day you get up and find that someone has moved things from your kitchen, bedroom, living room etc here and there and you dont know where to find your stuff! How will you feel? 
There are better ways of making improvement rather than changing the basic platform and layout. It seems some new employee joins an organisation and to prove his worth, he just makes changes to his liking without realising the effect on millions of users.

Cheers

[Andy32135617u8w4]

Great comparison!

[lukesnyder]

I agree. Acrobat's UI team or manager aren't productivity users, and this UI isn't an upgrade. It's change for the sake of change.

[William33559949bbvj]

The interface was so bad that I simply cancelled my subscription after several years of buying/subscribing to Adobe products.  The change was a severe downgrade from what I was used to and it came without explanation.  I didn't know about the option to go back to the older view -- and since I didn't have the choice in the first place to opt out of the crappy new version, well, I cancelled.  The new version's functionality is several steps back.  

Sincerely,

A truly peeved former customer.

[Nancy5CD8]

Re new changes and recently pinned comment, read the room! I don't feel that you are listening, how can our feedback be valuable if you ignore it and tell use we will like the totally different thing you created without asking?

[Loren321580818tpa]

A freaking life saver! Thank you 

[Icebox9456]

OMG THANK YOU WONDERFUL HELPFUL PERSON.

I don't know why Acrobat decided for today to be the day for it to switch to "new" Acrobat, but I just spent about 20 minutes losing my mind trying to figure out what happened. I thought I might have broken my computer mouse click-smashing "Disable New Acrobat" so hard. This is just... this is the worst. THE WORST. It is the most monocrhome, non-user friendly, impossible to navigate, impossible to use, labor-intensive UI garbage of any PDF edit I have EVER USED Christ almighty. And the tiny toolbar that you can't remove from over your document (I think) that is just IN THE WAY no matter where it is, that has different icons, that does not have even half of the things that were on my old toolbar and I could not even FIND most of the tools I normally use - but if I have to click through 7 things to get there for a simple tool, even if it has them, that is just stupid. And to do that without any warning? (Or if there was warning, I missed it) I seriously thought my teenage son had download some free garbage online and set it as my default again as a joke (the Chrome extension that changed all the images on every web page to random photos of Nicholas Cage was a lot funnier, tbh). I'm IT at my job and honestly I cannot wait (kidding - I dread) when this updates on all our PCs there, because people are going to LOSE THEIR MINDS. These people are not tech savy and do not like change nor do they have time to learn ENTIRELY NEW "REDESIGNED" CRAP. There will be mass hysteria in the office streets. Wailing. Gnashing of teeth. All that.

Have I mentioned I hate this? I hate this. This is awful.