Enable Single Window Mode in Acrobat 9

[Guest]

Please re-enable the Single Window (MDI) Mode in Acrobat 9 as it is an un welcome user experience of having dozens of Acrobat windows open in the taskbar. I can suggest to have either of the following:-

1. Give an option to the user whether to open the multiple or single Acrobat windows as is the case with Acrobat 8 with "Preferences->Documents->Show Each document in its own window"

2. Introduce tabbed browsing in Acrobat similar to the one implemented in IE 7.0 to have multiple PDFs opened in a single Acrobat window.

Thanks,
Atin

[Electroscribe_2023]

First of all, I use both Macs and Windows, and leaving out a Windows feature because a Machead can't use it defies the imagination. Secondly, am trying to edit a form in Acrobat Pro X  and not 9, on a Windows laptop docked in a dual monitor setup (laptop screen and external monitor). Would love to move the Tasks/Fields panel onto the laptop screen so I could see the tab order of my form elements on a different screen from the form itself. While Adobe InDesign allows this, Acrobat does not. Not a happy camper. Will have to take this project home and hook up to a widescreen monitor to get done in a timely fashion without scrolling all over the screen. 

If there is a different forum for that, let me know and I will go there.

Thanks.

[tomkreutz]

I'd like to add my voice to this chorus of pleas for MDI.  Some time ago I installed - and then immediately uninstalled - Acrobat 9 when I discovered this obvious design flaw; it essentially ruins the Taskbar.  Today I repeated this insanity with Acrobat X; it never occured to me that Adobe wouldn't have fixed the problem in the new version.  Incredible...

[maxwyss]

One problem with this issue is that it is not recognized to be a bug…

Max Wyss.

[HomeDad8]

Just upgraded from Version 7 to X.

I was really scratching my head as to why MDI was not working!

Where is that paramater, am I going mad!

Alas no, a failure of Adobe to understand my job workflow environment.

Very frustrating, please bring back this feature.

The reasons published for ditching this feature appear flimsy on the surface!

Please bring it back!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest]

Same here. Why on earth did you not keep an option to enable Single Window Mode!! This is highly frustrating! I hate to have 20 independent pdf pages open on my computer all the time, and zero convenient way to switch between them. Ofter, I resort to creating a Binder with the documents I need to see together, but it takes time.

Why not have:

a buton for single window mode

a pop op asks you to select the documents to gather for viewing (with ALL as the default)

when you hit ok, all documnets that were selected for singel window mode get closed from the individual pdf mode.

[cpalexander]

Allow me to add my voice to the growing chorus urging Adobe to reinstate the MDI mode of version 8 and prior, or similar capabilties (tabs?).

My company transitioned from AA8 through AA9 and now AAX (Pro versions).  When we transitioned to AA9, the loss of MDI was horrendously detrimental to my and my colleagues' productivity.  (So was the bug in AA9 for loss of viewing all thumbnails for large documents, but that's another story.)  I was disheartened that MDI was not restored in AAX.

Like many others, I keep several applications running to efficiently accomplish the tasks I'm paid for.  My OS is WinXP.  I normally have available a few Explorer windows, Office 2003 (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) windows, and several other programs' windows.  Most work with MDIs so I can switch between applications quickly and easily work with same type documents.  Removing MDI from Acrobat has reduced my efficiency since I now have to use more brute force keystrokes/mousing, instead of using my brain for analytical tasks.  My company is very large (about 155,000), so our office worker corps is very large.  Not all of our office workers use the full Acrobat (Pro) in any version, but the Reader is installed as a standard load on all PCs.  The loss of MDI in the full Acrobat and Reader versions for all these workers has to frustrate them and reduce their productivities.

Mr. Merchant's work-arounds are good, but they require more brute force effort than the MDI.  I could be wrong, but the work-arounds appear to assume that all Acrobat users have a vast and intimite knowlege of their operating systems (Windows or Mac), other programs' capabilities, and have at least one relatively large monitor in a dedicated office environment.  Obviously, this is not true.  The vast majority just want the computer to accomplish a purpose for them.  Many are mobile and use notebook computers with 15" or smaller screens.  For easier visibility, many use lower resolutions which reduce their monitor's effective real estate.  They also don't want to lose features they expect to retain.  When updating programs, removing well-thought-out features without  customer input can lead to customer dissatisfaction.

[mike63]

I have had to register on this site... just to express my amazement at the arrogance of Adobe in this regard.  OK- so it might make some advanced functionality hard to implement... but what about the basics.

I couldn't believe it when M$ appeard to drop MDI from Office back in 2003 (I think)... how is this better for anyone with a job to do?  It might be slightly easier to teach octogenarian morons how to use Office for the first time...Fortunately even though 2007 and 2010 is also a backward step in usability... (why change all the keyboard shortcuts... how helpful is that??  Why?????) at least it allows MDI.

For Adobe to do something like this just shakes my confidence in the common sense of professionals and developers....

I live in hope.  But not much.....

Mike Kay

[OppfinnarKnullare]

This doesn't bother me anymore. I have moved to Google Chrome for pdf-viewing and for Nitro PDF for more advanced pdf stuff. Thank you Adobe...

[nypr010125]

The forced SDI in Acrobat 9 is a big disappointment and my experience transition to CS5 is definitely smudged by this.

I do not feel better noticing how patronizing Adobes community professional are when responding to this user reaction. Jeff Moran states that “some of our customers have noticed a change”. When discussing this issue with colleagues in the office I can’t see other than this is a huge understatement. And reality is for sure that very few uses multiple monitors… or even large desk top monitors…. Many have gone mobile and have a laptop as their main work tool.

Unfortunately most of these people won’t raise their voice in a forum.

Adobe, please stop using technical challenges as a reason to compromise on user friendliness, thank you!

[CampingKev]

Wow, just wow.  I am an IT rep working to rollout Adobe Reader X, and I'm still being asked by users to rollback to version 8 for this MDI malarchy.  I am astounded that Adobe has not figured out business processes and needs of users that process large amounts of documents.  How many years has this gone un-fixed?  I suspect they merged the coding for Mac and Win versions and don't want to go back to separate versions...

[CampingKev]

I read the Adobe explanation at http://blogs.adobe.com/acrobat/2008/09/mdi_vs_sdi_in_acrobat.html  -- it is funny to note that in my company each user has between 4 and 8 screens, 19" or larger.  PDF processing wants to be done in one screen, one window, one application.

[cool16v-k84wzY]

Wow- Feb 2012 now and I'm just now catching up again with this feature request.  When will we get a single window for all my PDF files in my Acrobat X PRO?

[akioo9]

I gave up waiting and spent some time evaluating alternatives. I'm now happily using PDF-XChange Viewer (the name is somewhat misleading, as it's more than just a viewer). Sure, there are some rare instances in which I go back to the old version of Adobe Acrobat to run some prepress tasks etc., but otherwise PXCV is it.

[oregoner12]

just gave up on acrobat and started using Foxit reader. Tabs!

[Bernd Alheit]

just gave up on acrobat and started using Foxit reader. Tabs!

Info: Foxit reader can't create PDF files.

[mats_h]

I wonder sometimes if Adobe is aware of how their products are used. For me as an architect, having a whole set of drawings and other documents in PDF format open, Acrobat 9 is a major step back in the evolution of the software. I wonder if the staff at Adobe have tried having the complete Alt-Tab menu filled with PDF-files?

I've read the blog post that was posted at the top of this page, but I think the reasons were rather weak for dropping MDI. Removing useful features is a big no-no if you ask me.

Hope the next version - or better yet: a hotfix - makes Acrobat behave the way us users want it to.

[Dave_Ainaire]

It seems obvious that not enough customers have been affected by the loss of the MDI environment.

I've finally had to upgrade from WinXP and my Adobe 7 software.  I'm now running Windows 7 and Adobe 9 Pro.  I am also taking advantage of Win7's support for more than two displays.  I've got the laptop display and two external monitors going.  The screen arrangement is somewhat unique in that both monitors are rotated to portrait mode and are side by side. (The laptop is _not_ rotated)

The SDI environment makes the Windows Alt+Tab feature nearly useless when I am working with PDF files.  In addition to this, each document I open with Acrobat seems to open on a different screen, in a different position, often with the Menu Bar off-page (beyond the established Windows desktop size).  This forces me to use keyboard shortcuts to move the window back to usable screen space.

As a result my productivity drops considerably when I need to work with Adobe files, which happens to be all the time.

Is anyone at Adobe watching these community pages?  Can I downgrade my license to an older version please?

Sincerely,

Dave Ainaire

Electrical Engineer

P.S.  I don't use Mac products and don't plan to.  On the few occasions that I've been asked to help somebody else with theirs I've found the 'alternate reality' user experience to be frustrating.  I have no desire for the software I use to have a similar user experience with anything related to a Mac.

[Guest]

No further updates since Adobe indicated they heard their users "Loud and Clear" and then promptly closed the website from further messages. Messages started on 9-11-2008 until the last post by Adobe on 10-7-2008 -Look here:  http://blogs.adobe.com/acrobat/2008/09/mdi_vs_sdi_in_acrobat.html. Seriously this issue has been going on since 2008 and Adobe has YET to provide a fix for us Windows Acrobat users. What "best way we can make this issue better" has happened? nothing that is what.

If you go to this link:  http://blogs.adobe.com/acrobat/how-you-can-influence-the-future-of-acrobat/  you will see users have been complaining about this since April 24 2009 from that website as well.

There are plenty of business users who do not want multiple PDF's opening in multiple windows for no rhyme or reason. I prefer and have also preferred one Acrobat window with multiple PDF's. IF I want another window (side-by-side) I can open another Acrobat window manually. Taking away the MDI from Acrobat starting with v9 is outrageous claiming that Mac users cannot use this function. I'm sorry, but since when does MAC users influence what Business users of Windows have always used?  The fact that Adobe is trying to save programming by only using codes that are compatible with both systems (Windows and MAC) is the worst excuse I've seen.

There are STILL issues with Acrobat Pro v9.5.4 and not having MDI is becoming more and more of a Pain-in-the-butt! Adobe please Wake Up and see that users since 2008 HAVE been complaining.  Fix this MDI problem and no more excuses. Your continuation of ignoring your users makes me think you are like Congress and will DO what You want not want the people want.

Time to look for another alternative to PDF creation and editing in the Windows environment.

In my opinion, Adobe has become too large and customer service has been degraded. (The Left-Hand does not know what the Right-Hand is doing mentality)

[Guest]

I recommend anyone and every Business user who are fed up, go to this website to fill out the Bug report.

Feature / Bug Report:

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

Let us bombarb this website with business users who are tired of using the Acrobat Pro line (since v9) with MDI support disabled/removed.

Adobe i'm sure reads their own forums (since they run it) but have not indicated when they will be fixing this. I think if more of us use that Feature/Bug report and let Adobe know they really screwed the pooch on this one!

Bring Back MDI support in the Windows Acrobat Pro 9+ line!

[cpalexander]

Adobe won't restore MDI into versions 9 and X.  They want everyone to upgrade to XI, which has a feature called Merge and Combine Files.  It may be a suitable alternative:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/merging-combining-pdf-files.html

There are demo videos on that page.  I'm waiting for the go-ahead from my company and department that the program is compatible with the rest of our enterprise OSs and specialized software before I load the program.

[BendersonMath]

We've been able to merge and combine PDFs for several versions now. What does merging and combining have to do with window display?

[letsbuildebooks]

Dunno. The post was a few years ago.

[maxwyss]

First and foremost, Acrobat 9 will be dead mid-June (Adobe declared "End of life", which means that there will be no more update, no more official support, nothing).

Feature requests posted now, might be considered for implementation with the next major release of Acrobat (whenever that may be).

It may be helpful to ask for MDI (where you can be sure that it will be rejected), or "tabbed view" (which has a slightly better chance).

Max Wyss.

[akioo9]

Trying to get Adobe to do anything is a lost cause. The company has gone terminal, and it's just waiting for the one thing that will kick it off the edge. I switched to PDF-Xchange that works much better, faster, and more reliably. And it hosts all the documents I want in one window. Interestingly enough, I began using PDF-Xchange after switching to 64 bit Windows where Acrobat (Pro) didn't support the creation of icons that show the content of the document. (I don't know if Acrobat even now supports that very basic feature, but it's just another case of don't care at this point.)

[PallaviMane]

This is really terrible idea.

I was not really intended to upgrade to Acrobat XI PRO but i had to because Framemaker 12 does not support older PDF versions. even if you have installed 7 or 8 version it uninstalls automatically and i left with only one option than upgrading to XI PRO. getting rid of MDI is a terrible idea Adobe. Please listen from someone who works 18 hours in Acrobat PDF.