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James30818644amb9
Participant
June 30, 2023
Answered

Hide "All tools" pane?

  • June 30, 2023
  • 19 replies
  • 162517 views

Same problem as everyone else under the sun: I cannot figure out how to permanently hide the "All Tools" menu on Acrobat Pro 2023.003.20215.

 

Preferences > Documents > Open Settings > Remember Current State ... is just missing for me (and apparently for others, too.) And, depressingly, the registry keys bRHPSticky and bExpandRHPinViewer don't seem to affect Acrobat Pro.

 

Having to close and re-close the "All Tools" menu every single time I open a new PDF, all day every day, is exhausting and I hate it. Does anyone know a fix for this (aside from switching away from Adobe)?

Correct answer Marvelous_soul6483

Here’s what worked for me:

Disabled New User Experience

Running Adobe Pro version 2025.001.20435 (64 Bit) on Win 11

To disable the new experience,

  • Click the hamburger menu ( 3 lines ) at the upper left corner and choose Disable new Acrobat

Tools Pane

To prevent the Tools pane from opening by default in Adobe Acrobat  go to: Menu > Preferences > Documents and select "Remember last state of All tools pane when opening documents," then collapse the Tools pane, and save. 

Navigation Pane / Bookmarks etc (Global Hide)

Right click on open pdf file. Navigate to: Document Properties\Initial View(Tab)\Navigation and change Bookmarks Panel and Page to Page Only.  Then save .  However, only works for that single document when opened in future.

If you want to turn off panes or all pdf files opened regardless of what set by creator and not have to change initial view and save then edit the registry.

 

Launch %windir%\regedit.exe
Navigate to:  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Acrobat.Document.DC\shell\Open\command

String to be modified is similar to this:
"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe" "%1"

Change to: "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe" /A "navpanes=0" "%1"

 

Every pdf file from every location now opens up without the panes. Been annoying me for years.

19 replies

Inspiring
July 3, 2025

Ich habe das gleiche Problem und bin froh, hier in der Community von gleichen Problemen anderer zu lesen. Es nervt, immer aufs neue "All Tools" schließen zu müssen. Offenbar ging ein Update voraus, da es vor einigen Tagen noch nicht war. Stellt es bitte umgehend ab. Es ist ein großes Ärgernis.

Die Version lautet 2024.001.30254 64bit

Participating Frequently
January 17, 2025

On the new Adobe Acrobat Classic (no one wants/needs the DC features) it's not possible to hide the All tools pane. Tested with latest release 2024.001.30225 x64.

 

Setting -> documents  --> "Remeber last state of all tools pane when opening documents" and "Restore last view settings when reopening documents"

 

Exists but doesn't change anything on Acrobat Classic. Version installed in READER_MODE without subsciption Features. I have also tried the suggestion from James to untick the boxes, close the pane and then activate the boxes. Same result.

Marvelous_soul6483Correct answer
Participant
March 23, 2025

Here’s what worked for me:

Disabled New User Experience

Running Adobe Pro version 2025.001.20435 (64 Bit) on Win 11

To disable the new experience,

  • Click the hamburger menu ( 3 lines ) at the upper left corner and choose Disable new Acrobat

Tools Pane

To prevent the Tools pane from opening by default in Adobe Acrobat  go to: Menu > Preferences > Documents and select "Remember last state of All tools pane when opening documents," then collapse the Tools pane, and save. 

Navigation Pane / Bookmarks etc (Global Hide)

Right click on open pdf file. Navigate to: Document Properties\Initial View(Tab)\Navigation and change Bookmarks Panel and Page to Page Only.  Then save .  However, only works for that single document when opened in future.

If you want to turn off panes or all pdf files opened regardless of what set by creator and not have to change initial view and save then edit the registry.

 

Launch %windir%\regedit.exe
Navigate to:  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Acrobat.Document.DC\shell\Open\command

String to be modified is similar to this:
"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe" "%1"

Change to: "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe" /A "navpanes=0" "%1"

 

Every pdf file from every location now opens up without the panes. Been annoying me for years.

Participant
October 5, 2025

I tried this, but to no avail.

  • this regedit fix didn't work
  • the "disable new acrobat" restarts and does nothing
  • Preferences > Documents > Open settings are NOT saving

And to press SHIFT+F4 each time you open a document is just plain annoying too.
Any other suggestions?

Participant
November 11, 2024

This worked for me.

Thanks

 

Abambo
Community Expert
Community Expert
November 11, 2024

@MVH32363373jn0p wrote:

This worked for me.

Thanks

 


When saying "this" you really should specify what "this" is, so that we all know what solution of the many did work for you. Remember, this thread is 2 pages long, and I've read multiple suggestions for possible solutions. 

 

(check also here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/hide-quot-all-tools-quot-pane/m-p/14881529#M480128)

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
Participating Frequently
November 13, 2024

Hey Y'all.  Sorry for any confusion and the pain in the ; )
Call me if you need help through any of this - (773) 993-1000
But, I am pretty sure this is your solution: Menu > Preferences > Documents > (5th checkbox) Remember last state of All tools pane when opening documents > Check on > Click OK at the bottom of the window

Participant
October 25, 2024

I have version 24.3.20180.0

There is no 'Remember Current State..." option within the preferences.

 

Participating Frequently
October 25, 2024
Yeah, that's why I made sure to put which version I used at the time, but
they change everything so often it makes it hard for everyone to help each
other.
Participating Frequently
October 21, 2024

You can do this with the New Reader.  Just go to Menu > Preferences > Documents > (5th checkbox) Remember last state of All tools pane when opening documents > Check on > Click OK at the bottom of the window.

Participant
September 25, 2024

this does not work in September 2024

Charlie Arehart
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 26, 2024

When you say "this", what are you trying, among the 50+ replies in this thread?

 

If you prefer not to answer, then it's not a very helpful comment to have made. Someone reading it can't know which offered solution didn't work for you, and we can't suggest what else might work. And before you say "I tried them all", I hope you're sincere about that. Otherwise we'd have no choice but to say "oh, well". (Remember: we're not Adobe. We're users helping each other.)

/Charlie (troubleshooter, carehart. org)
Participant
August 2, 2024

Menu -> Preferences -> Documents; check "Remember last state of the All tools pane when opening documents" seems to do the trick in v. 2024.002. 

Participant
August 23, 2024

To make it work the All tools pane has to be hidden --"collapsed" -- before the PDF can be the most recent for purposes of the setting (i.e., to learn what should be done when opening. So how do you hide the pane to begin with?

Participant
August 1, 2024

Menu -> Preference (or ctrl + k for windows)

Then select documents then check Remeber last state of all tools pane when opening documents

 

Participating Frequently
August 1, 2024
That works for some versions of Adobe but it didn't for mine.
Charlie Arehart
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 1, 2024

James, in saying that what Bibhu proposed didn't work, did you happen to see my post before that (from Jul 10), where I offered something for those who might say that change "doesn't work"? I'll point to my comment rather than repeat the key points here, but it would be helpful if you might confirm whether that, too, still does not get things working for you.  It did, for me.

/Charlie (troubleshooter, carehart. org)
Charlie Arehart
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 10, 2024

I know there a smart bunch of people here, and many are really incensed over this issue. But I'd like to offer a suggestion if like me you found one of the simpler solutions offered here "did not work".

 

I preferred NOT to solve things by turning off the "new" reader. But I DID find that enabling the setting for "Remember last state of the All tools panel" works for me, in July 2024 (on version 2024.002.20895 64-bit on Windows).

 

That said, if it "doesn't work" for you, here's something I experienced at first: don't miss that you MUST click the "ok" button at the bottom of that menu>preferences>documents window. If you just click the "x" in the top right of the window to close it, that will NOT save the setting.

 

If you might presume "nobody would make that mistake", note that on an HD resolution monitor (like my laptop or in a remote desktop session as one might experience it) the "ok" button does NOT appear on screen unless you scroll down to see it! (I experienced this problem and felt at first the setting change "wasn't working for me" either, until I realized what was amiss.) So I wanted to share if they may help someone else. It would also apply for any other settings changes done in that preferences window.

 

Still, I appreciate that there may be some other situations where somehow this setting really "does not work" for some.

/Charlie (troubleshooter, carehart. org)
Participant
March 27, 2024

You can press F4 do disable right panel and shift+F4 to disablem left panel.