Disable "Bookmarks" Side Panel whenever opening a PDF

[Gregg36436373lk5u]

I would like the "Bookmarks" panel to NOT open when I first open an Adobe PDF.  How do I accomplish this?

[BarlaeDC]

HI,

If you go to the properties of the document and select "Initial View" then you can set what should happen on the PDF opening.

[Nasib36431047rban]

1. open one pdf document
2. View>show/hide>Tool pane
3. click "restart" application

[VladNJ]

This recommendation does not turn it off permanently, but only for that instance (might as well click on the x box)

[Tariq Ahmad]

Hi @VladNJ,

Thank you for reaching out with your question. 
Sadly, it can be turned off permanently. This panel is driven by app preference and document property. 

Here is the app preference you may want to check:

1. Launch Acrobat 
2. Go to Preferences> Documents. Keyboard shortcut (Cmd + K) Mac and (Ctrl+K) Wins.
3. Select "Restore last view settings when reopening documents"
4. Click "OK"
5. Open a PDF file.
6. Close the bookmarks panel.
7. Save and close the PDF file.
8. The next time you open the same document you should have the bookmarks panel closed

Let us know if you have further questions.

~Tariq

[VladNJ]

I appreciate your suggestions @BarlaeDC @Tariq Ahmad but this inquiry is to disable Bookmark window from appering for all documents and not just one specific document.

[Tariq Ahmad]

Thank you for sharing the feedback, @VladNJ. 

Please ensure your copy of Adobe Acrobat is updated, to check for any pending updates, launch Acrobat > Help > Check For Updates.

You may try resetting Acrobat Preferences, ensure Acrobat is closed: https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/how-to-reset-acrobat-preference-settings-to-defau... 

If possible, please record your screen while trying to reproduce the issue upload the recording to any Cloud drive, and share the link with us.  

Also, Help us with the Acrobat version installed on your machine:   https://adobe.ly/4jLLoBu

Thank you for your continued feedback, patience and support.

~Tariq 

[rumah indah]

I agree with VladNJ - the bookmarks panel should dispay by option, not by default. When the bookmarks displays the document displays smaller. I'm in the design trade, when I open a PDF I wan to see the document, not an unused navigation panel.   

And why no spell check on this page 🙂 ?

[Tariq Ahmad]

Hi @rumah indah 

We hear you—having the Bookmarks panel open automatically when you don’t need it can be frustrating. Thanks for bringing this up!

To better understand this experience issue, could you share more details about your setup? Specifically:

• Which version of Acrobat (or Reader) are you using? (e.g., Acrobat Pro/Standard, Reader, and the exact version number)
• Your operating system (Windows/macOS and version)
• Does this happen with all PDFs or only specific ones?
• If possible, please record your screen while trying to reproduce the issue upload the recording to any Cloud drive, and share the link with us.  

Your input will help us investigate this more thoroughly. We appreciate your patience, and we’ll keep you posted with any updates!

Best,
Tariq

[rumah indah]

Hello Tariq

Thank you for the follow up. Here is cropped screenshot of the "about" pop-up for my AAPro program. I just opened 10 existing PDFs and 2 newly created PDFs and the bookmarks did not open with the PDF 🤷‍♂️ 🙂

[Tariq Ahmad]

@rumah indah, if you have tried responding to this thread via email, we have lost the attachment(screenshot).  When you click on the Reply button there is an option to attach screenshots(please check the screenshot attached):

[VladNJ]

As requested by Tariq, I am attaching a screenshot of the Bookmarks example and the About (to show you the Reader

Your operating system ==> Windows 10 Pro
Does this happen with all PDFs or only specific ones? ==> Most of them

version)

[thanay_1780]

Hi,

Any update on this, I spend half of my day on this only to realize it cannot be done.

Regars,

Thanay

[Tariq Ahmad]

Hi, @thanay_1780 - currently, there are no updates. 
I have reported this issue to our product engineering team as a bug. However, Acrobat is, by design, built to open the Bookmarks panel if it is set to open the panel in file properties > Initial view settings. 

Also, I have considered @VladNJ and @Gregg36436373lk5u's comments that even if they close the Panel, it will still launch next time, considering "Restore last view settings when reopening documents" is in place. This preference will be overridden if the document "Initial view" is set to launch the Bookmarks panel. 

Could you shed some light on whether your documents have "Initial View" set to launch the Bookmarks panel? 

To know more about the Initial view, please visit this page: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/viewing-pdfs-viewing-preferences.html

Thank you for your patience and support

[Cheryl McCurdy]

It has not always done this.  It seems to me it came with an update possibly.  Annoying.

[S. S]

Hi @Cheryl McCurdy,

Hope you are doing well. Sorry for your experience with the bookmarks panel. 

AS of now, the option to permanently disable it is being worked upon, as mentioned by Tariq.

Meanwhile, if the panel is too much of a bother, please feel free to review the correct answer marked in the given thread: https://adobe.ly/3T50MfZ.

It has a discussion similar to yours and might be helpful.

Let us know if this works.

Regards,
Souvik.

[angelo_7661]

Any update? It's already been 2 months. It's a simple code editing job as far as I'm concern. Make it a default option to always close bookmarks and all tabs. Thats it.

From what I'm seeing, this problem is way back 2019. 

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Your preference setting will affect documents that have their settings at default. 

If the PDF is set to open the bookmarks pane, it will open. As long as the document does not have password protection, you can close the panel, change the Document Properties, and save the PDF. You should you be able to set up an action for this if you deal with a lot of PDFs.

If you have control over the PDF settings in the original program, turn off the option to make bookmarks or at least, not to open the pane by default.

[lilbitx_9544]

I can’t fill the forms out

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

I can’t fill the forms out
By @lilbitx_9544

Is this post even connected to the original problem of disabling the bookmarks pane?

[S. S]

Hi @Creamer Training,

That was the entire point. 

Tariq already referred to the same, where this is not possible natively, and also not advisable to do.

However, if it's absolutely necessary to keep the bookmark panel closed, the steps mentioned in the given thread link can be performed.

Regards,
Souvik.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

I must have missed the post where Tariq suggested disabling bookmarks in the originating program. 

Sorry about that. Did you try the registry hack?