A

Anonymous

Answered

How do I turn OFF the setting that automatically displays bookmarks when I open a file?

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
February 8, 2017
23 replies
124894 views

Every time I open a PDF file, the bookmarks panel is automatically displayed, and I have to take the extra step of closing it, because I do not use bookmarks. I see that there is an option to change how a particular PDF file opens, but most of the PDFs I work with are not saved, so I want to change the settings for Adobe so that it does NOT open every PDF with the bookmarks panel displayed. Please help!

Correct answer S_S

Hi @peterriva,

Hope you are doing well. Sorry for the trouble.

Unless the file has been created as such that it will open the bookmark panel at launch, you can try the below steps and see if the layout you are working with stays intact.

Could you please try deleting “Exchange-ProMesaages” DB file after closing Adobe Acrobat.

The file is located at “C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\LocalLow\Adobe\Acrobat\DC.”

Once this file is deleted, open Acrobat and continue with the workflow.

Let me know if this works for you.

-Souvik

Participant

Participating Frequently

You have got to be kidding me. The first post in this thread was eight years ago, and my first post here was three years ago. My Adobe Acrobat is now a hundred times worse and completely unbearable: now, the pages ALL open with bookmarks, and the File/Properties route to Layout and Magnification/Navigation Tab will no longer work because the DEFAULT is PAGE ONLY (although as I mentioned, every file now opens with the Bookmarks Panel open). I have tried every fix mentioned here, and none of them have worked for me. This is obscene. I'm going to use another .pdf application.

J

johngPSfan

Participant

I found what worked for me. I also needed to re-apply it recently, when Reader was updated, but it does save me a lot of frustration.

Before trying this, you may wish to search to verify others have used this, successfully. It works with (free) Adobe Reader - may or may not work with other Adobe products. Requires permission to modify Windows registry. I use it in Windows 10 - unknown if the same for Windows 11. I can't take any credit for this fix, other than posting it here - I found the solution at acrobat.uservoice.com

ALWAYS backup your registry, before making ANY changes!! Be VERY careful you have spaces and double quote marks where shown below.

Update the value for Default, of Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Acrobat.Document.DC\shell\Open\command

Add this, in front of the "%1": /A "zoom=100&navpanes=0"

The resulting key value (key Data) should look similar to this (your Reader path may be different - leave whatever is currently there, unchanged):

"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe" /A "zoom=100&navpanes=0" "%1"

Please note there are different/similar registry keys. I saw someone else updated their startup command that referenced AcroRd32.exe, instead of Acrobat.exe, so you may need to find the correct registry key for your Adobe Reader version, and again, it's unclear if this command line switch works for other Reader versions.

To narrow down the key you need to update, find the path/name of where your Reader is located (for example, mine is located in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe). You can then search your registry (you already backed up your registry, right?) for any keys that point to starting up this program. Hopefully you find a key that includes "shell\Open\command" in the path, like mine. I only updated the key shown above, and I no longer see the bookmarks pane, when the document is opened. The button to open the Bookmarks (right side of the screen) still works, when needed.

S

shannon_9725

Participant

This worked for me! Really doesn't make sense that you have to go into you platform's registry to fix an Adobe product though.

G

gabrielleflo

Participating Frequently

ADOBE! EVERYONE DESPISES THIS FEATURE! FIX IT ALREADY!!!!!!

J

JAYPRAKASH22400091l6th

Participant

Hi, I think this is a bug in the newer interface.. The older interface version does not have this issue. Please check which version you are using. If you have only Menu on the top left, you are using the newer Acrobat version. If you click on the menu, you will see Disable new Acrobat. If you find it, just click on it, it will ask you to restart Acrobat.. please click on the Restart button. It will open Acrobat in the older version. If you open the same file that had a bookmark screen popped up. It will not show the Bookmark screen.
I had called the Acrobat. The technical support team member tested himself, and agreed with the bug. He was going to report the issue. I talked to the technical support team member yesterday only. If you go back to older version , you will resolve this issue.

B

Blissful_Wave6673

Participant

I went through all the settings, went into the "initial view" preference, etc. to undo this default and nothing worked. Eventually, I right-clicked on the bookmarks icon on the right of my screen, clicked "Pin Bookmarks" and then went back in and "Unpin Bookmarks" and it worked.

M

Merc63

Participant

Worked exactly that way for me. Opened a file, right clicked the bookmarks icon (top right), clicked on Pin Bookmarks, closed the bookmarks pane, right clicked the bookmarks icon again and clicked on Unpin bookmarks. Closed the file. Files now open with no bookmark pane, regardless of whther they have bookmarks in them or not. SAVED!!

K

Katrina34465000kpe5

Participant

Why is this setting not able to be permanently removed?!? I tried all of the suggestions I could find. No one wants to see bookmarks on EVERY. SINGLE. FILE. If they do, there should be a setting to turn it on if so desired. It messes with my entire work flow every time. It didn't used to be like this, no one likes this feature. Please fix it, the cost of living is high enough, we are paying for a platform that makes life a little easier, not harder!

J

Jennifer28337676zwkd

Participant

Agreed. Ready to switch platforms. I have used NitroPro and Bluebeam at different offices and am starting to enjoy those better.

J

john_4983

Participant

Problem solved at last.

I was within moments of chucking out Adobe Reader permanently because I am absolutely fed up with the Bookmarks and Tools panes opening every time I opened ANY PDF file. The “Exchange-ProMesaages” DB file mentioned above is wrong for me but ReaderMessages is in the same place so I deleted it.

To keep Bookmarks pane closed:

On Windows 10

1. Close Adobe Reader

2. Navigate to C:\Users\John\AppData\LocalLow\Adobe\Acrobat\DC\ReaderMessages ..., where John is your username. It is about 150kB. You may need to switch on Windows' View Hidden Files - Google it.

3. Delete ReaderMessages

4. Open any PDF and the Bookmarks pane stays closed. The Reader Messages file is recreated but the pane stays closed with the new file.

To keep Tools pane closed:

On Windows 10

1. Open a PDF

2 Go to Menu > Preferences > Documents

3. Tick Restore last view settings when opening document.

That works for me.

L

lindak29005588

Participant

I have the same issue. All PDFs open with the bookmark panel open, but only on my Mac, not on Windows. This is incredibly annoying. I have changed the individual document settings but when I reopen the document the bookmarks appear again. There needs to be a global setting for this. I get dozens of PDF every day from many different vendors and sources and this is happening with all of them.

I

IT-eDesk

Participant

Disable Automatic Bookmark Display When Opening PDF Files

https://youtu.be/rHAMdIbBY2Q

M

MWMc61

Participating Frequently

Thank you for this tip and video. I tried it in the past but tried it again today. The same thing is happening.... the file, Exchange-ProMessages, keeps recreating itself every time a new session of Adobe is opened- even though I permanately deleted it more than once time. :-{

I

IT-eDesk

Participant

Disable Automatic Bookmark Display When Opening PDF Files

G

gabrielleflo

Participating Frequently

Need Mac instructions.

D

default3167393607xeik

Participant

To set up Adobe Acrobat to not open the bookmarks panel when opening a PDF file, open the document properties, navigate to the "Initial View" tab, and then select "Page" from the "Navigation Tabs" dropdown menu instead of "Bookmarks Panel and Page.

When you open any file, righ click on it and you can see the document properties on the dropdown menu.

S_S

Community Manager

Hi @default3167393607xeik,

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for writing in!

While I understand that it would be the best solution, it cannot be always possible to make changes to the initial view, as they can be locked by the creator.

-Souvik

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