Latest update of Adobe Acrobat Pro is an absolute disaster

[Bianca29482777pvwb]

Hi, 

I am trying to write a complaint email but of course, no contact details in this regard, so here I am:

what on earth is going on with this new update of Adobe Acrobat Pro that normally it's supposed to be more user friendly - news flash, it's not - and appart from this, there is this new awful feature that blocks the app whenever I try to handle documents, the app blocks, I can't close, I can't do anything, it just freezes. The only thing that gets me out of there is task manager, and then starting over again.

I did this 3 times, making me losing around 10 minutes for an edit that normally, before this horrible update, it was taking me few seconds... Come on guys WAKE UP!

[mark31875053rca0]

I agree, the new Adobe totally sucks, my employees are revolting. 

[FriendlyChap]

But when they go to File -> Disable new Acrobat, they will feel so happy.

[Albert28319672iwek]

I absouletly agree the new update is a total nightmare. Quick edits that used to take ne 30 seconds now take 10/15 mins. Depends on how mant times the app crashes. Even the smallest edit will crash the app. In addition ever since the update when ever I try editing a document it randomly deletes a ton of stuff on the page and does not even let me undo or fix it. Have to close out the doc and start over. Its just a shame becuase this app used to be great.

[default9k5m3tkwup03]

Mine freezes as well and the escape doesnt work! Just pull this revision and revert the community to the Adobe we purchased. You might wish to reassign or retrain the team that thought that this mess was better and would  be well received! 

[joneichorst]

The Adobe Acrobat New Experience is very, very, very bad. It feels as if this new expeirence was born of a fever dream.

To put this into context, it isWindows Vista bad, Apple Maps bad, Google+ bad, Quibi bad, and Tesla Full Self-Driving bad, all wrapoped up into one heaping pile of counterproductive UI/UX that users are abandoning as quickly as possible. 

[FriendlyChap]

Is there anybody who finds the update any good?

One good thing is that when you disable the update and revert to the proper version you feel great. It is such a relief to get rid of that update. 

[Tim32088249hw4l]

While I like the fact that we can currently revert to the old UI, the fact is that whenever a company provides that option it will eventually be removed and we will be stuck with some form of the new UI at some point in the future if Adobe doesn't scrap the new UI. The UI reversion is in essence a temporary band aid to suppress user dissatisfaction while they can get the customer based used to the objectionable new product.

[JB78626]

This upgrade August 2023 has been disruptive and that is being kind. Glad we could revert but when it is snuck in during a meeting and causes a meeting to be removed and hours to do work that takes just 15 minute, BAD JOB ADOBE

[John32052636td5e]

I totally agree.  What a Fing waste of valuable time.  Get a Clue Adobe.  You are not God and never will be.  Stop asking your software engineers what makes a great program and talk to the people.  We don't have time for the software spinheads to play their "keep me employed games"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Very pissed off

[FriendlyChap]

Well said!

[Coorlas Architecture]

It's really a terrible "update". Meanwhile their drawing/editing/commenting tools are still complete trash with inconsistent editing menus that take forever to load. How did we arrive here, paying annual subscription fees on a program that should be so simple and straight forward. I'd prefer you to start from scratch and reprogram the entire software rather than release these cosmetic bandaid updates that uproot our workflows anyway. But, this is what happens when you focus on the wrong agenda, with internal encouragement by an ecochamber of cushioned corporate heads. 

[FriendlyChap]

Simply disable the Adobe update and you're good to go.

[Horatiowise]

How do I disable the update? It's so bad...

[AnandSri]

Hi All!

We appreciate your valuable feedback! We're always looking for ways to make Acrobat better, and we appreciate the time and effort you have taken to share your feedback with us.

We acknowledge that the new Acrobat represents a notable change, however we hope that as you get familiar with the new interface, you are able to be more productive & get more out of Acrobat. With the new interface, we aim to:

1. Provide a simplified viewing experience that helps reduce clutter & optimise it for most used PDF actions that are relevant while viewing a document.
2. Easily allow users to discover PDF tools they need by ensuring tools are intuitively grouped and a click away,
   • For example, all tools that allow content, page & file level edits can be found under one action-based verb called “Edit”; tools that allow converting files to & from PDFs can be found under “Convert”; tools that allow filling & signing documents or requesting signatures from others under “Sign”.
3. Most importantly, the new interface enables users to effortlessly move between different PDF tools to complete their document related tasks.

• For example, someone viewing comments in a PDF should also be able to easily edit the text of it without interrupting their workflow.
• A user can seamlessly perform page level edits such as reordering, inserting, extracting, rotating or deleting pages while editing content and/or commenting on the file.

We would also like to highlight that we have exhaustively tested these changes with users over the past 12 months, keenly monitoring user behaviour & addressing top user issues before gradually rolling out the new interface to the Acrobat user base.

A point to note is that as we made these changes in the interface, we have ensured all tools & features that are currently supported, retain their familiar functionalities and workflows as they did in the previous version. We are proactively addressing any gaps or issues reported by users related to any break in current workflows.

We will follow up on this response with a detailed article explaining the changes, a guide to help familiarise you to the new interface, along with regular updates on upcoming changes.

Thank you once again for your feedback and do look forward to our upcoming releases!

~Anand Sri.

[Tim32088249hw4l]

AnandSri: "We acknowledge that the new Acrobat represents a notable change, however we hope that as you get familiar with the new interface, you are able to be more productive & get more out of Acrobat.

With the new interface, we aim to:

1. Provide a simplified viewing experience that helps reduce clutter & optimise it for most used PDF actions that are relevant while viewing a document."

The only thing this response tells the community is that "we know you don't like the new interface and aren't taking your feedback into account so you'll have to get used to it". If you haven't understood the crux of the vast majority of the feedback/complaints here on the forums it's that the user base doesn't want to become familiar with the interface because it's a bad, an inefficient, and a convoluted UI representing a significant departure from a usable and efficient PC UI resulting in delays and interruptions for current business workflows. BLUF the new UI impedes us from doing our jobs. A simplified interface is understandable for a mobile or tablet application but is unacceptable for a PC program interface since the simplified UI typically removes labels, and re-arranges icons, menus, and toolbars from where they should be in a PC program to accomodate a single small screen which creates inefficiency. For the PC version you must maintain a complete/full PC user interface even if you have a mobile/tablet interface for other products.

AnandSri: "We would also like to highlight that we have exhaustively tested these changes with users over the past 12 months, keenly monitoring user behaviour & addressing top user issues before gradually rolling out the new interface to the Acrobat user base."

This is frankly difficult to believe given the current user reaction. I suspect it was an internal focus group of Adobe employees who have already bought into the concept rather than a genuine  group of unbiased Enterprise product users providing feedback. Regardless of which group it was you must use a better group for feedback in the future.

[Paul T3211247266y5]

Adding my 2 cents. The new interface is awful. Don't know who you got to test it, but I have trouble believeing that they thought is was good. I have been using this product for as a long long long time, and words are poor way to express my profoujnd disappointment. You offer an option to customise the Toolbar on the right, but it does not work. I really don't want to uninstall and reinstall Acrobat 2020. I have no idea how your business people would handle that. Plese, Please, Please(!) offer us better options!!!!!!!

[dona56558947]

Other Adobe apps offer Workspaces. If a user wants a "simplified viewing experience," let them choose it. Those of us that actually use this software want our buttons to stay in the exact same place they have always been.

[Michele34669196tq18]

Will Acrobat be going back to the last version with so many complaints?  I have been trying to work with this one and took into account the learning curve for the new version.  I find it more difficult, tedious and fustrating to with.  It takes twice as long to create and fill in a PDF than before.  This new version most definitely took a step back.  Please, please, please take note of what everyone here is saying and go back to the past version and just work on the bugs.

[Weekend_Shootr]

I just wasted an hour of my time to edit a PDF with the latest update, and I have to agree.....it sucks so bad. For the money I spent on this, the value is not worth the headache. 

[karena1212]

AGREE 100% with this feedback....it is TERRIBLE. It takes me so much longer to mark up documents. you have completely made things more difficult

[MisterTee]

Dear Anand,

Thanks so much for your detailed explanation of the development and implementation of the new Acrobat interface. However, despite Adobe’s apparently vigorous and well-meaning efforts, simple text editing and data entry are difficult at best, among the other serious problems highlighted by contributors to this forum.

Sincerely,

Steve

[JB78626]

The problem is that some of the functionalities VANISHED and many of us were on deadlines and having to stop to learn something entirely new without notice. And some of us were presenting in a meeting. Disgraceful

[mckeem1]

This does not address that a huge number of us are not happy and Adobe seems to have the line that "you on the only ones with the problem so get over it."  I had to revert to the old version because it was IMPOSSIBLE to fill out forms and edit text. So how about you take the comments here seriously because if not, this is what happens when big companies start to falter. They become arrogant that they know better. So go back and report these problems and don't make it as if it is our problem and we are too stupid to figure it all out. 

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

...

We would also like to highlight that we have exhaustively tested these changes with users over the past 12 months, keenly monitoring user behaviour & addressing top user issues before gradually rolling out the new interface to the Acrobat user base.

By @AnandSri

As a beta tester for Adobe, I know we've had the beta version for about a year+.

And I can't recall anyone on the beta team saying it was a good idea or a viable, stable release candidate. But there are a lot of complaints and documentation of technical issues.

So it's difficult for me to understand who it was you tested these changes with. The Acrobat beta testing group is made up of the world's most experienced experts in the industries that use and create PDF files. Many of us have been with Adobe since its beginnings in 1980s and have helped develop and launch so many Adobe products, including Acrobat.

The most commen comment from the beta testing group: why do this? current interface is fine. work on the bugs, please.

[NDA information removed by moderator]

[JB78626]

Thank you Bevi!