Remove Adobe Acrobat Create PDF Toolbar

[Caleb Kerby]

I am currently experiencing an issue with a toolbar that occasionally shows up when i use file explorer on Windows 11. most often i see this toolbar when i log in after locking the computer or it sits long enough to log out by itself. the toolbar is non-functional and clicking the different buttons does nothing. the only thing i can do is right click on it which pulls up the menu shown above. when opening a new file explorer window, the new window does not have the toolbar. please help me know how to remove this completely.

[ROOB]

same issue, anyone has a solution to remove this stupid bar? (@dev please stop this, nobody uses this and its anoying)

[petrw77151267]

Same here. Gets me quite frustrated when a "new feature" which is useless and non-functional appears.

[Samboss7]

STILL NO SOLUTION?!?! Argghhhhh things like this....... stupid looking bar with no function.

[default22359600sh0t3o]

same issue. But I came across this:

click on manage add-ons and disable acrobat toolbar

I'm still testing, so I'm not sure if this fixes the issue or not. Maybe do a restart. GL

[default22359600sh0t3o]

Oh, just search for internet options in windows search

[Caleb Kerby]

i have tried this, and it is not working. the toolbar is still showing up

[Louis Hong]

restart computer after, or for power users: go to task manager, restart explorer.exe.

[Caleb Kerby]

i tried restarting when i made my previous reply, but i have since restarted a few more times and i restarted explorer through task manager as well, it did not work.

[Louis Hong]

I have found the solution, replied to the top-level post. 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/remove-adobe-acrobat-create-pdf-toolbar/m-p/15303...

[Philippe22811442jhgl]

Unfortunately, same boring issue on my side  (but in french, as I'm in France), with no way found to get rid of this useless toolbar.
Looking forward to any advice to fix it.

[BG7951]

same issue here after win11 upgrade, extremely annoying. Adobe your software is like a virus, please stop infecting my machine with useless and broken "features".

[wonderful_workmanship7892]

Same issue - brand new computer, installed Adobe Acrobat Pro DC and got the same thing.  Can't use the buttons, can't remove it and stands out as shown in the screenshot as it doesn't follow the dark theme...  Any help would be appreciated.

[Louis Hong]

I found it! this is the solution!

The "Adobe PDF Toolbar for Internet Explorer" exists as an Windows Internet Explorer Autorun registry.

Adobe Acrobat Create PDF Toolbar Adobe PDF Toolbar for Internet Explorer Adobe Systems Incorporated c:\program files (x86)\common files\adobe\acrobat\wcieactivex\dc\x64\acroiefavstub.dll 2025-04-24 12:59

You can check if you have this registry using Sysinternal tool named "Autoruns.exe". (Google to find this tool, be careful.)

Go to the "Internet Explorer" tab

Right click, delete it

Restart your computer, it'll be gone for good.

Otherwise, you can also manually check the registry location using:

1. Win+R

2. Type regedit.exe (launches the registry editor)

3. Navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar

4. Delete the entry, using best judgement if you're deleting the right one. For me, it's still easy, Adobe is the only entry here.
without Autoruns, it's extremely hard to identify, because it's using a UUID representing a Windows COM object (if you're a C++ developing applications since 1990s, you might know what that is, you can wikipedia it.)

[Louis Hong]

sidenote: Absurd that Windows Explorer's still supports Internet Explorer tool bars. You know those Yahoo tool bars you might have installed back in the day?

[BG7951]

@Louis Hong  thanks for posting this, unfortunately it did not solve the problem for me. I deleted those keys from the registry and restarted but the toolbar came back. Then I downloaded and used sysinternals/autoruns and deleted 4 instances of the gd toolbar and restarted. The toolbar is back. this is infuriating.

[Louis Hong]

unfortunately, this reveals the issue is within Windows itself. The toolbar will still appear, except the right click Adobe Create PDF will be gone.

[BG7951]

actually the right click Adobe Create PDF is still there and I like that feature, I just want the toolbar gone.

[BG7951]

also why is your reply above marked as "correct answer"? the entire purpose of this thread is to rid everyone of the awful toolbar that nobody wants. unfortunately your answer does not solve the problem, at least for me.

another point, while Windows should ideally prevent this kind of tampering or at least allow a user to disable it, I place the blame squarely on Adobe for this intrusion. No other app corrupts my file explorer.

[Louis Hong]

what I mean is: The white toolbar appearing is likely a Window's bug. Not Adobe's fault. We only think it's Adobe's fault because Adobe Create PDF is the only right click option. 

The fix for removing the toolbar option does not remove your right-click option. They're unrelated.