New Adobe Acrobat UI is terrible

[Gdub775]

I've never felt the need to make a post or complaint like this for any software in more than 25 years of using Windows and Macintosh personal computers. But the new user interface in Acrobat is just awful. It is counterintuitive, illogical, and imposes a huge productivity hit. I am thankful the new UI can be deactivated but concerned that at some point, that will no longer be an option.

[Chris 486 · Accepted solution]

Adobe would love to hear your specific feedback on what you do and don't like about the interface for sure! You can leave feedback by opening your acrobat program and click on the feedback icon in the top right:

If you don't see it there: You can use this link:

Acrobat for Windows and Mac: New (8715 ideas) – Share your feedback on Acrobat DC (uservoice.com)

I hope that helps give you the opportunity to voice your thoughts on the matter.

[AkanchhaS]

@Gdub775 

As suggested, your feedback is valuable to us. So please fill out the feedback form.

Meanwhile, you can disable the New UI for the time being. 

• Click on the hamburger icon in the upper left corner.
• Click on Disable New Acrobat

If there's any specific feature that you are missing in Modern UI, then please refer to this article to learn more about it:

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/new-acrobat-experience.html 

Thanks,

Akanchha 

[Stanley_W]

Hi Gdub775,

How do you deactivate it?   I dislike it too.

[_087C]

I COMPLETELY agree with Gdub775. I was not able to find "Save as" in the new inteface. Had to switch back immediately. The new UI is motivating us to embrace open source solutions. Just wondering if anyone in the community can offer /make any open source suggestions or recomendations?..

Thanks in advance!

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com · Accepted solution]

You can revert to the classic GUI interface by following the instructions here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/revert-to-classic-interface-from-new-acrobat-gui/...

And you can voice your opinion to Adobe engineers & marketing here:

https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/suggestions/47082691-ditch-t... 

Don't forget to vote at that webpage. It's our only way to let Adobe know what works, what doesn't.

[Sylvio @ GRICS]

I created an account on Adobe UserVoice for the sole purpose of voting and adding comments on this request. Anyone who is concerned about the new UI design in Adobe Acrobat / Acrobat Reader should do the same. I'm a desktop user and I despise the mobile-oriented interface that Adobe is trying to shove down my throat.

[zachandbecky]

It seems as if the folks who were behind the new design never actually used Acrobat? Or have we been using it inefficiently and incorrectly all along? What a nightmare this has been.

[Jeffrey316603381b7a]

Agreed! The new UI is not very intuitive and I find that many of the tasks or actions I used to perform have changed. Very frustrating 

[JR Boulay]

This drawing is a perfect illustration of the new Acrobat interface.

😉

[Sylvio @ GRICS]

Totally agree that the new UI is bad. Placing the navigation tools on the right-hand side of the screen is a horrible, horrible idea. Who does that??? This is counter-intuitive and couter-productive, and I find it appalling that anyone could think this was a good idea to begin with. Tools and menus belong to the left of the screen. It's been like that with pretty much every software out there for over 30 years. Even MS-Paint has its tools on the left, and there's a reason for that: A) It just works, and; B) we read from left to right, so we intuitively look to the left of the screen when an app comes up. The vast majority of languages on this planet are read from left to right, so tools on the left is a no-brainer and should always be the default.

If Adobe wants to flip menu placement on the screen for whatever reason, at least make it an option that can be changed by the user. Also, make the traditional layout (tools on the left) the default.  That way, someone using a language that reads from right to left will be able to change it up if they need to. 

Thankfully, I was able to revert back to the old version of the UI, and the navigation and tools are where they used to be. If the new UI change becomes permanent with no way of reverting, I will have to look for alternatives. Simple as that. Yes, it's that bad. I simply could not put up with this.

[Sustainable Investment]

I agree ... new UI is terrible. I can't believe a firm with an amazing reputation for design released such a pathetic UI.

I have licensed Acrobat Pro for years (as an individual and for my company).  I am canceling all of our Acrobat subscriptions.

[Sarah364232279tjl]

YES! I just googled adobe acrobat design terrible - because i am sitting here STRUGGLING to download a document, and thinking - am I losing my mind? Why is this so difficult? Honestly. How is it this bad, Adobe is such a huge company, the UX should be mindblowingly awesome....right? 

[Abambo]

YES! I just googled adobe acrobat design terrible - because i am sitting here STRUGGLING to download a document, and thinking - am I losing my mind? Why is this so difficult? Honestly. How is it this bad, Adobe is such a huge company, the UX should be mindblowingly awesome....right? 

By @Sarah364232279tjl

Well it is. But the interface does not help you to download a document. That's more part of your browser, no?

Please tell us (best supported with screenshots) what you are trying to do.

[Sarah364232279tjl]

No, its not the browser - I'm using the desktop application. I couldnt possibly screenshot the experience I'm having, but I'll tell you every time I have to go into adobe (its part of some of my standard workflows) I get stressed because I know I'm going to have struggle through steps. I use it routinely, but only a few times a month, so I haven't yet memorized the weird and non intuitive locations of things. If adobe really wants to address the thematic concerns expressed in this lengthy thread, I think actual UX research is warranted. I would suggest this wasn't done given the types of comments in the thread. I'm not expert in UX, but I've been a product owner for fintech projects and developed wireframes, brought software to life and then all the UX testing/research/design that flows after the initial concept...it's a lot, but that's i think how you produce highly discoverable and intuitive UI. 

Adobe is not alone here, lots of major saas vendors fail at this, particularly when developing UI/UX across ... platforms? I mean don't even get me started on the wild deficiencies between browser and desktop experiences for Office. Just sayin, given all the comments here, it looks like some fundamental UX design work just wasn't done well, or needs to be redone. 

[Sarah364232279tjl]

also - i dont understand what you mean that download is not part of the software - when i manipulate a file in adobe, and then want to download the edited file to send/store etc., i need to do that from the adobe application. I won't invest energy to screenshot etc. just to be told - remember where the buttons are. (I am not trying to sound sassy, just sayin there's no payoff here as nothing will change.)

[Daniel27296501xl5b]

I'm so happy someone else feels similarly to I do.  I've been struggling this past year to utilize Adobe effectively and this just got amplified with some recent PDF work.  I'm glad that one can revert to the old interface and this reminds me that I really need to research an alternative bit of software for the minor PDF editing I need to do.

[Francois370021717fl2 · Accepted solution]

It looks like this update has been thought only about tablet users. But not everybody uses a tablet, especially the core professional users of Acrobat. I had a hard time figuring out where is the page number so I could switch pages quickly, and another figuring out how to switch the page view. All of this because it is located on the bottom right. Nice for tablet users, next to your hand. But the last thing you'll see on a screen.

Then comes the floating tool panel. Why can't we pin it somewhere?

Please, give us the possibility to adjust the location of those toolbars. Even for tablet users, left-handed people will have a hard time. Every Adobe software is very good for personalizing the UI, why not the new version of Acrobat?

[AKS666]

I totally agree. my UI just changed recently, so I wondered that this already happened nearly a year ago...

I'm glad this can be changed, the new UI is utterly terrible.