How to make scrollbars always visible in Acrobat

[Derek Williams Music]

I find I cannot see the vertical scrollbar unless I wiggle the trackpad to make it appear and then try to grab the scroll handle before it vanishes again. I have set scroll handles in macOS to be 'always visible', but Acrobat overrides this setting and hides them.

I have not a clue as to why anyone at Adobe thought I would not want to see one of the most essential attributes of screen nagivation, but I would like to be abe to choose, and ideally, for developers to stop hiding things, thereby sending me to google forever and a day to find out how to see them again.

Same goes for obscure icons that are supposed to represent things like printers and so on, that I always have to mouseover to figure them out. Please assume I can speak English, and understand words like 'Printer'[.

[absethi · Accepted solution]

Hi All,

The issue has been addressed and now we have a preference to enable the scroll bar in Mac.
Please find details for the fix here:- https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/scroll-framework-upgrade-macos.html

Thanks,
Abhinav Sethi

[thibavo]

Tried your above Honor recommendation, didn't work for me, seems each time I do it and restart acrobat/cache and I recheck the file, its back to its original script with out your code above. Hope Adobe fixes this, Im impressed they made such a simple scroll feature with out staying visible the whole time and Im a UX designer, and this is bad accessibility as I use tablet to draw with and no scroll wheel on a mouse.

[Robert32791995iguo]

I find the same behavior as thibavo.

No matter how I try to edit com.Adobe.Reader.plist my edits are discarded whener I restart Acrobat Reader (I am not using Acrobat -- only the reader thus I edit the file described and not com.Adobe.Pro.plist)

[jalyn_9645]

PS you need to co create a new plist (with on filename v1), make the original v2 for future issues, then name the new one as per orignal name (remove v1). Otherwise system ignores when saved (protected likely)

[jalyn_9645]

Tee Hee it works - thanks very much.

PS you need to co create a new plist, make the other one v2 for future issues, then name the new one as per orignal name. Otherwise system ignores when saved (protected likely)

[MikeMac966]

The same problem has been driving me nuts for months.

The vertical scroll appears only when you adjust the window size, and then disappears quickly. It often takes several tries to 'catch' it successfully.

I'm often working on multiple page documents with extensive markups in the comments pane, so it's infuriating and counter-productive.  Super easy to miss individual comments, which is potentially harmful to my relationship with clients.

Why on earth would this be considered an improvement? I've been working with Acrobat and other Adobe products for over 30 years and it's the dumbest 'upgrade' I've ever encountered. Please fix it!

[absethi · Accepted solution]

Hi All,

The issue has been addressed and now we have a preference to enable the scroll bar in Mac.
Please find details for the fix here:- https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/scroll-framework-upgrade-macos.html

Thanks,
Abhinav Sethi

[MikeMac966]

It doesn't. It addresses split view and the horizontal scroll. It's the vertical one that's at issue.

[chitahunter]

I see that the fix works (and with Thumbnails pane) for the vertical scroll bars. Except, if you have your 'Fit Width" menu set to "Fit One Full Page" you will not see scroll bars on the vertical at right.  See attached screenshot. Is that what you are experiencing?

[chitahunter]

More accurate screenshot

[MikeMac966]

So here's the thing - when I click on the Adobe link it tells me my location doesn't match the page (see screenshot). If I click on 'New Zealand', the vertical scroll fix isn't there. When I click on the US site, it is. 

So Adobe needs to ensure that important information is rolled out globally, to match their subscriber base, not just the US. Fixed now, not sure why it had to be so difficult.

[J. M. S.]

I'm having the same problem

[Joshua5CA4]

I AGREE - THIS DOESN'T FIX ANYTHING RELEVANT TO THE THREAD.  I'm not happy with Acrobat. If the UI change is to make them not visible (for what reason?) then the scroll bars need a simple preference setting (and not some binary file hack).  Please understand that if a users don't use a mouse or track pad that there isn't a way to access the vertical scroll bars.  Personally I use a tablet.  So I can't access the scroll bars.  So please give users a way to return them.  geeez.

[Joshua5CA4]

This went to the wrong thread - which seems off-topic to begin with (apologies if it is not).
With respect to solution provided by Adobe regarding a preference check box and splitting document window in order to get scroll bars to appear - this does appear to work  on my Mac after getting the scrollbars to re-appear for the first time. This is after checking preference box, and then splitting a window, and then scrolling to make them re-appear and then unsplitting window.  thank you

[tlmurray23]

Regardless of the fact that the "fix" does not work, I have to smirk at the mention (in the details link), ". . . eliminates extra space needs." Yes, thanks, Adobe, that you realized how those 18 pixels soaked up SO much valuable on-screen real estate.

[andyd13592988]

This solution is useless and this change still makes my job harder every day.

The scroll bars are not visible in View/Page Display/Single Page View or Two Page View.

At what point did users ask for scroll bars that are visible in some views but not others? Why make something so simple - a basic UI concept like scroll bars - so stupidly complicated?

I guess we'll wait a couple more years to see if this basic functionality will be added back to all views from which it was pointlessly removed. 

[fierce_play3843]

These steps do not fix the problem.

[Tariq Ahmad]

Hi all, 

Thanks for bringing this up — you’re not alone in noticing this change.

There have been a number of changes, as you have already noticed with the new design. 

In recent versions of Acrobat, scrollbars are designed to appear only when scrolling or hovering near the edge of the window. 

You may try the following Preference: 

How to Always Show Scrollbars in Acrobat

1. Go to Edit → Preferences (or Acrobat → Preferences on macOS).

2. Select Page Display from the sidebar.

3. Check the box labeled “Always show scroll bars.” 

This setting keeps the scrollbars visible at all times when viewing documents, rather than only appearing when hovering or scrolling.

Let us know how it works. Sorry for the trouble, and delayed response. 


Best regards,
Tariq | Adobe Community Team

[Joseph362029418peq]

My scroll bars, within Acrobat Reader, dissapear when I'm not scrolling. This is extremely frustrating and a waste of my time. Furthermore, I have no ability to scroll side to side. How can I zoom and navigate!?

These instructions assume the issue is with my Mac computer. The issue is within the Acrobat Reader app.  Please tell your product team to get user feedback before releasing features like this to production.  Classic product management failure.