Skip to main content
jimm30680722
Participant
April 7, 2015
Answered

How do I stop the side toolbar from appearing every time I open a pdf in Acrobat DC?

  • April 7, 2015
  • 25 replies
  • 132277 views

Right side tool bar is annoying in Acrobat DC . How can this be fixed?

Correct answer JonPerera

Hi there,

The new "right hand toolbar" in Acrobat DC is always on by default, proving instant access to frequently used tools. That said, we're definitely hearing a # of customers that want Acrobat DC to "remember" the last state. So if you close it, it'll remain closed when you open it next.   Looking to have a fix in place in next ~3 months here. 

Thank you for the feedback.

Jon Perera

Vice President

Adobe Document Cloud

25 replies

Known Participant
April 3, 2022

Why is this toolbar on the right, when it's been on the left for years and years.  Why would you do something so ingorant to the users??

 

1) the toolbar MUST be returned to the left side where it has been for years

 

2) it was always available as needed, not forced on us like now.

 

3) IF IT'S NOT BROKEN, DON'T FIX IT

    ---  So now that you did break it - fix it.

 

4) HOW can I go back to a version before this nonsense came to be?

 

 

Adobe doesn't care about real users.  That's clear.

Participating Frequently
October 15, 2016

It's been well over a year now, and that useless tools pane keeps opening, even though I close it every time.  Who uses these tools?  The number of people reading PDFs dwarfs the tiny number who actually have Acrobat, so these tools are useless for 99% of your users.  Just stop it!  There are other PDF readers and I'm switching to one of them until Acrobat gets its act together.

Bernd Alheit
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 15, 2016

The most users of Adobe Acrobat needs the tools.

Participating Frequently
October 15, 2016

That's probably true, but most users of Acrobat READER do not.  There are many, many times more Reader users than the Acrobat users, as evidenced by the pages & pages of Google search results in how to remove the tools sidebar. 

In any case, you said well over a year ago, that there would be a fix for this.  Where is it?

June 23, 2016

Here's another issue I can't resolve, and I can't find an answer.  I once selected "Search Tools," and now every time I click on (just) Tools my entire document is covered with all tools.  How can I disable this?  Have rebooted, of course, to no avail.  Selecting "Document" restores the pdf to view, but once I need a tool, this odd little occurrence happens again.  Thanks for any suggestions.

dprawel
Participant
February 11, 2016

NOTE EVERYONE: THIS IS NOT THE CORRECT ANSWER.

Why is this considered the correct answer? Who decided? I thought this was our (as in "user") forum, not some place for marketing geeks to tell us the company line. And BTW - he promised a fix in three months. Today marks 10 months from the promise.


"Correct" means helpful and solves the problem, not . The "correct" answer is below from jerryANDtom. It actually solves the problem.

Participating Frequently
January 13, 2016

Has this been fixed as yet?  It is driving me crazy!1

try67
Community Expert
Community Expert
January 13, 2016

Yes, it is. Go to Edit > Preferences > Documents and tick off "Open Tool pane for each document".

Participating Frequently
January 13, 2016

Are you able to see the picture below?

Participant
October 2, 2015

Jon, it is now October 2, 2015, and I don't believe it has been fixed.  What is taking you so long?  Everyone I talk to finds DC extremely obnoxious!  Make the default without it with a simple click to pull it up when needed!

hgvenom
Participant
September 14, 2015

the still there every time I open it.

AadeshSingh
Community Manager
Community Manager
August 2, 2015

Hey,

The issue has been fixed in the latest update, please refer to this release note Hide the Tools panel permanently in Acrobat and Acrobat Reader DC.

Regards,

Aadesh

Inspiring
August 11, 2015

Just minimizing the RHP closing Acrobat and reopening does the job in the current version as mentioned.

AadeshSingh
Community Manager
Community Manager
July 16, 2015

Hey jimm30680722,

The issue has been fixed in the latest update, please refer to this release note Hide the Tools panel permanently in Acrobat and Acrobat Reader DC.

Regards,

Aadesh

Participant
July 23, 2015

Aadesh,

That partially solves the issue, but there is one change that is still needed: one must be able to either disable the sidebar completely, i.e., remove the stripe n. 2 (in blue on the picture below); or at least move it to the left of the window instead of the right, since the right edge is historically reserved to the scroll bar (stripe n. 1 in blue on the picture below) and moving the scroll bar away from the edge and inserting something between them certainly downgrades the usability: users are used to move the mouse completely towards the right to reach the scroll bar, but that isn't possible anymore, because if they do the same and click they'll activate unwanted sidebars(!), and that doesn't happen in any program, but only in Adobe Reader!

Don't you think that should be changed or, at least, customizable by the user?

Participant
July 15, 2015

It's being more than 3 months already. Where's the change all the customers are asking for?

And not only regarding closing the sidebars, but also removing them, or at least moving them to the left of the window. After all, the right edge is historically reserved to the scroll bar, so how can one not think that moving the scroll bar away from the edge and inserting something between them would make the design and usability worse?