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A
Aaron29456127wk5g
New Participant
April 18, 2023
Answered

Open documents in separate windows.

  • April 18, 2023
  • 15 replies
  • 14592 views

My Acrobat Pro must've just updated, and I am no longer able to choose to open documents in seperate windows.  This option appears to have disappeared from the preferences.  Does anyone know how this can be switched back on?  I cannot stand having to view docs in tabs within the same window.  the version is 2023.001.20143 for MAC.

    Correct answer Tariq Ahmad

    With Cascade, you'll need to select it each time as opposed to the documents opening in separate windows as before? Thanks.

     

     


    Hi all, 

    This is to update you that the feature is available in Acrobat now. If it is disabled, please check this preference.

    The preferences settings control how the application behaves whenever you use it; they are not associated with any particular PDF document.

    1. To access the Preferences dialog, choose the hamburger menu(Windows) > Preferences or Acrobat / Adobe Acrobat > Preferences (macOS).
    2. In the Preference's dialog box's left pane, select General, then uncheck the "Open documents as new tabs in the same window(requires relaunch)"

    3. Click Ok

    4. Relaunch Acrobat

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    To know more about opening documents: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/opening-pdfs.html 

     

    Let us know if that helps.


    ~Tariq

    15 replies

    J
    jared_3337
    New Participant
    November 12, 2025

    I just bought a new computer and am using Adobe Acrobat 2024 and this option to default open PDFs in a new window is not on here.  It is forced to open in the same window and tabs.  It is a pain to separate.  Is this option somewhere else in 2024 version?

    R
    Ruth35283386lq1d
    New Participant
    November 12, 2025

    Hi,

     

    Here's a solution posted earlier.

     

     

    R
    Ruth35283386lq1d
    New Participant
    November 12, 2025

    To know more about opening documents: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/opening-pdfs.html 

    W
    William Ellet292449406562
    New Participant
    July 3, 2024

    Same issue. 

    W
    William Ellet292449406562
    New Participant
    July 3, 2024

    Doing a cascade opens in seprate windows.....

    E
    erin_5635
    New Participant
    August 8, 2024

    Can you elaborate? Where do I find the Cascade?

     

    A
    andret56848566
    New Participant
    June 3, 2024

    Urgent attention to this please

      Meenakshi Negi
      Community Manager
      Meenakshi NegiCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      April 23, 2024

      Hi All,

       

      Thank you for reaching out, and sorry about the trouble. 

       

      The feature is still not available. However, this has been reported to the team, and they are looking into this. It will be provided in a future update. We will update you once the option is available again.

      In the meantime, you can drag the tabs opened in Acrobat out of the application to open them in a new window. 

       

      Thanks,

      Meenakshi

        D
        deborahwork
        Participating Frequently
        April 23, 2024

        Thank you, Meenakshi, for the follow-up. It is a mystery to me that a feature that was long available in earlier versions would 1) not be included in a new version and, 2) would apparently be so problematic to restore.

        K
        kascb
        New Participant
        April 17, 2024

        It's not perfect, but I found even if they open in one window, you can drag the tab out of that window and it will then be in it's own.

         

        Steve Sulkin
        Steve Sulkin
        New Participant
        April 17, 2024

        PLEASE PLEASE ALLOW US TO OPEN DOCUMENTS IN SEPARATE WINDOWS. I'm a pro and have many screens and I want to look at multiple PDFs on different screens. I can NOT do that if they are all in one tab. PLEASE this is really ridiculous to not allow this. Thank you 

         

        pamelar7132095
        pamelar7132095
        New Participant
        February 20, 2024

        It's amazing that this has been almost a year with absolutely nothing from Adobe on this!!! They sure do care about their customers!

          J
          Joao M S Biscardi
          New Participant
          January 21, 2024

          I am also supporting the request from @d3s1gnjet 

           

          "Adobe Acrobat 2023 ("New Acrobat") needs the option to open each document in a new window.

          This should be possible without disabling New Acrobat."

           

          How come it's been SO LONG without Adobe fixing it? Seriously thinking about SUSPENDING MY MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION PAYMENT while this VERY IMPORTANT and LARGELY REPORTED issue doesn't get fixed!

            K
            kascb
            New Participant
            January 19, 2024

            It's now January 2024 and the version it just made me upgrade to in order to continue working is STILL doing the same thing. REALLY don't like working this way.

             

              V
              vashnin55946369
              New Participant
              January 6, 2024
              quote

              My Acrobat Pro must've just updated, and I am no longer able to choose to open documents in seperate windows.  This option appears to have disappeared from the preferences.  Does anyone know how this can be switched back on?  I cannot stand having to view docs in tabs within the same window.  the version is 2023.001.20143 for MAC.


              By @Aaron29456127wk5g

              Any luck with this? I can't believe how badly Adobe has stuffed this up. 

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