How to open pdf's in separate windows? [2016] [Locked]

[tomasw96402913]

Note from moderator: this post is from 2016 and things have changed. If you have a

question about the current version, please start a new post. This post is now locked.

Two answers are marked Correct. One is how to disable the "New Experience" and the other is

from 2016 and tells you how to disable tabs and see the PDFs in separate windows.

Separate Windows are not available (yet) in the New Experience. The first step is to disable it.

When I open different pdf's I want them to open in separate windows.

It is possible to manually separate the different documents after opening them by dragging the tabs.

But it doesn't seem to be possible to set as default that the files open in separate windows.

How do I do that?

[Dave__M · Accepted solution]

Go to preferences (Edit>Preferences - on Windows), or faster is control-K (cmd-K on Mac).  Select the General category on the left, and look for the setting labelled 'Open documents as new tabs in the same window', and UNCHECK this.  You will need to restart Acrobat for this to take effect.

My best,

Dave

[Nik30814584bgbh]

Hello. My Adobe PDF just updated and I can't find the 'Open documents as new tabs in the same window' option in the settings anymore. Where has the option gone?

[mariahweyne]

You probably now have the New Experience.  You can disable it .

[alexag58792606]

When I open PDF files with Adobe Acrobat Reader on Win 10 they all open in the same window but different tabs. OK you can split them using Cascade, but I want to open directly in separate windows, as it was for past versions.

Thanks

[Bernd Alheit]

You can change this in the preferences of Acrobar Reader. Look at the category General.

[alexag58792606]

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean by category General? And where I can change the preferences of Acrobar Reader?

[Bernd Alheit]

Open the preferences: menu Edit > Preferences

On left side you will see the categories.

[alexag58792606]

Thank you so much!

[Jody23905773ac45]

I have Adobe Acrobat Pro and I don't have an Open documents in separate window under Edit.  How do I open them in separate windows for Acrobat Pro

[Bernd Alheit]

Look at the preferences of Adobe Acrobat.

[Jody23905773ac45]

Thanks for your reply.  There is nowhere in my Acrobat Pro settings that let's me open pdf documents in separate windows.  What am I missing?

[Bernd Alheit]

What can you see in the preferences?

[Bernd Alheit]

What version of Adobe Acrobat does you use?

[Jody23905773ac45]

It is Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro, Version 9.0.0

[Bernd Alheit]

The option is not available in this old version.

Acrobat 9 can't display documents in tabs.

[Jody23905773ac45]

Great!  I used to be able to drag to my other screen to view two pages at a time, but it doesn't let me do that anymore either.  Thanks for all your help.

[default1n8zu74052hs]

Ive seeb you have answered alot around here, But acrobat pro 2022 doesnt ahve the opention for seprate windows.

Do you have a soultion?

[Test Screen Name]

You might have the "new Acrobat experience". It seems that in the future there will only be tabs. But for now you can disable the experience. Check out https://helpx.adobe.com/in/acrobat/using/new-acrobat-experience.html

[default1n8zu74052hs]

Thats really annoying, you have to disable a new feature (no asked for) to get a box to uncheck for a deafault setting thats really not that usefull. Sounds like coprate, change the UI because we make too much money

[Tirtharenu30015446xfdk]

this link has the solution finally and it worked. just checking if anyday I want to enable back new acrobat, how do I do that ?

[Test Screen Name]

You might find another menu to undo it. Or, you might have had your chance until this is released to everyone.

[Tirtharenu30015446xfdk]

Understood. Thanks 'Test Screen Name". Appreciate your reply.

[Elsie27631336pqpp]

Hi:  in my version of Acrobat Reader (Version 11.0.23 on  a 2016 macbook) there is no option to choose "open in separate windows" in the General tab of Acrobat Preferences as other people have posted.  HOWEVER, the following trick worked for me:  

Go to "System Preferences"  on the mac, and then "Dock".  To the right of "Prefer tabs when opening documents" select "In Full Screen Only."   Good luck, this caused me hours of frustration but was finally fixed by this trick.

[Test Screen Name]

Yes, this option was not in the ancient Acrobat XI either. It was added a while after Acrobat SDK was released. Why would you keep using such an old version (about 8 years old?)