How to prevent the Comments pane from automatically opening every time I open a PDF with comments?

Report · Aug 13, 2024

Another screwy thing that's started recently - whenever I open PDFs that have anything (and I mean ANYTHING) noted in the comments pane (including highlights, underlines, and yes, comments) DC insists on opening the comments pane. It never used to and it's doing it all the time now - very annoying. How do I make DC stop doing that? I'm guessing that there's another option that turns this on & off buried somewhere deep within DC's endless list of options. Which one do I check or uncheck to make this stop?

Thx!

p.s., has Adobe ever considered releasing a retro version of Acrobat, one with the old user interface before DC's cartoonish interface with simple menus and without the endless list of options (most of which relatively few people ever use)? I bet such a version would be incredibly popular as compared to the endless searching to figure out how to do (or make DC stop doing) things.

Report · Aug 16, 2024

Hi @L23370334ofdk ,

You can uncheck the "Show comments pane when a PDF with comments is opened" prefernce and then when you open any file with comments, Acrobat would not open the Comments pane.

You can open the preference by pressing ctrl+k. In the categories, select commenting if not already selected, then look for preference "Show comments pane when a PDF with comments is opened" , uncheck it and press ok.

Report · Aug 22, 2024

I've seen this issue risen time and time again throughout this entire year. I assure you, this solution does not work. The comments preference will immediately re-check itself once you navigate away from the commenting preference menu in any way. This includes navigating to a different preference menu, on the lefthand scroll bar. The preference pane doesn't save the box being unchecked. It may remember for that specific PDF document you unchecked the preference, but never for any future PDF documents opened.

I think this is a bug in the program, or there's another setting / preference quickly overriding this checkbox. If this preference is supposed to work for all PDFs opened from that point onward, it's not applying the rule this way, if at all.

Report · Aug 22, 2024

Hi @Rainy_Days ,

It means that your preferences are getting synced across devices. You must be using the same account across devices.

In order to stop prefences being synced, please open preferences, In the category, go to Adobe Online Services. In the sync settings, uncheck the checkbox "sync prefernces across devices and document services".

Once unchecked, Go to commenting preference, and un-check the prefernece "Show comments pane when a PDF with comments is opened".

Press ok to save the preferences.

Report · Aug 22, 2024

I'll chime back in since I created this thread. As Rainy Days noted, the comments pane has decided on its own to open everytime a PDFs that had highlights, text boxes or other forms of "comments" added was opened. I am NOT synching across devices - - I am only using Acrobat on my work computer because I am orced to use it (I detest the DC's cartoonish interface and convoluted menus, so I only use it on my office computer).

So Prashant's theory that the crazy behavior was caused by synching is simply wrong.

If Adobe has no clue why this has been and keeps happening, it would be appreciated if you all would just admitted it because we waste so much time tracking down all these obscure theories on why the problem keeps happening (but ultimately never is the cause). Its bad enough having to put up with DC's horrible interface created back when Adobe, Microsoft, etc., all thought everyone would be switching to laptops with touchscreens.

Report · Sep 17, 2024

Hi @L23370334ofdk @Rainy_Days,

Sorry for the troubled experience.

I understand how frustrating it can be. We truly appreciate you bringing this to our attention and sharing your experiences.

Please know that we are fully committed to addressing issues like this and ensuring the app functions smoothly for all users. Your feedback is invaluable in helping us improve, and we’re actively working to resolve this problem.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to make things right.

~Tariq