Remove Acrobat from my ribbon in Word for Windows 10?

[Joe Needs Help]

How do I remove Acrobat from my ribbon in Word for Windows 10?  I didn't ask for it to be installed, but Adobe apparently thinks it knows more about what I want then I do.  It is rather useless as I can generate a pdf without using it.  It takes up valuable real estate on my ribbon.

Any help on this subject would be appreciated.

[John Waller · Accepted solution]

In Word, File > Options > Add-Ins,

At the bottom of the Word Options dialogue box, select Manage "COM Add-ins", click Go.

In the COM Add-ins screen which pops up, uncheck Acrobat to disable the Add-in. Click OK.

[Joe Needs Help]

This solved my problem. Thank you.

[Jonathan36197682lmsr]

It doesn't work for me, I am told I have to run as Administer to disable an Add-in. How do I do that?

[danielj4625684]

Hi, sorry to bump this again, but no matter what I do, this damned Add-In keeps reinstalling itself to my Word application. I work a lot with split screens, and when I shrink Word to half the screen size, I can't see any of the font information because it gets squeezed out by the Adobe add-in, which takes up all the space and doesn't condense. It's incredibly frustrating and is making me want to uninstall all Adobe products on my PC!!!

[marianne_2539]

Hello - I am not tech savvy and I was having the same problem.  I contacted customer service and they had me install the entire application, which worked.  I had to reinstall Adobe Acrobat Reader (the free version) without all the junk that comes with the trial "Pro" version.  However, be careful not to just click "Download Acrobat Reader" choose the grey small print "more download options" so you don't download the same junk as before.  If you don't want McAfee better make sure to deselect.  It fixed the problem for me.  Hope it works for you.

[S. S]

Hi @marianne_2539,

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for writing in!

You can disable the add-in using the below steps:

To completely disable add-in set, DWORD  LoadBehavior to 1 in the following registry key

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Word\Addins\PDFMaker.OfficeAddin

Hope this helps.

-Souvik

[SPM Adobe]

Same for me. Very, very, annoying and a totally unwanted feature.

[Test Screen Name]

Bear in mind that if you disable the add in you will no longer have Adobe PDF creation for Word documents in other ways.

[gudguy1a]

Sorry, but 'yes', they can still use adobe from Word.  

---- Removing that automatic ribbon add does not kill off pdf creation...

Hopefully that was not one of the things you were thinking of...???

[Doc Maik]

Wrong. Word has "Save as PDF" by default. Means, as Microsoft feature, not from Adobe.

[Abambo]

RMB->Customize the Ribbon

If, however, you want to remove the plug-in, proceed as indicated here: 11 hours ago​!

You can create a PDF without using it, but the PDF created via the plug-in keeps some of the Word formatting features (hyperlinks, TOC links, bookmarks, ...) that get otherwise lost.

You can test if "Save as PDF" from Word will keep those features.

Discussion successfully moved from Adobe Creative Cloud to Acrobat General Troubleshooting

[Joe Needs Help]

Got it, Thx.

[kgbf]

I've been having trouble with the latest version of Adobe Acrobat, and don't want it connected with Word at all. I followed the instructions from @John Waller, which removed the ribbon option, but my saved PDF still opened in Acrobat Pro, and I think Word still used Acrobat to convert to PDF. Does anyone know how I can go back to saving Word docs as Microsoft PDFs? (Like how people without Acrobat save to PDFs and can view it in IE (or preview on a Mac)? I really, really, want to avoid a formatting error I'm having with my version of Acrobat. Thank you!

[Dan28996837qegs]

You can use the Microsoft Print to pdf, works great!

[gudguy1a]

Yep, it is perfect for that.

We (me...) just have to remember to ensure we select print to Adobe PDF and 'not' the regular printer that is always selected...

pain in the butt b/c once in a while, I forget to to switch the destination.....

[Doc Maik]

No, it doesn't. It's better to "Save as PDF".

[gudguy1a]

Yep Dan28996837qegs - we have multiple options.
And as some pointedly want to insinuate, there is another option:
a) Save as PDF
primarily, it depends on WHO the user is AND HOW they wish to do this process:

b) Print to Adobe PDF (or whatever PDF software is installed on the users' PC/laptop/tablet - such as Nuance)
--- it is the USER's choice of which method they believe is more feasible for them and wish to use.

Both options work - I just did not include the second one in my response. After managing Nationwide Tech Support and doing Tier III International Tech Support - one learns to put certain content in responses - depending on the audience.
Plug in something works for most folks or plug in every option (which can be long sometimes).

So, again, it is up to the user to decide which route they find best for them....

[gudguy1a]

Yep, same here.
I was kind of pissed off because I was sampling Adobe Sign, which I had believed WAS a single product. But instead, I got the WHOLE FRIGGIN' adobe pro suite WHICH I DID NOT WANT...!!!
So I uninstalled it post-haste and canceled that subscription. 
I had not asked or checked a box to have adobe be  part of my office suite.

THAT is the decision WE make, NOT adobe....   Glad you (Joe needs help) brought this up when you did - even if it was 3.5 years ago.  Still useful.  Thanks.