Why change everything?

Report · Jun 22, 2023

Why? Why do you "creators" feel a need to completely change the layout of toolbars, etc. in a program?! Do you have nothing to do so you just search out what you can do to aggravate us? Adobe Acrobat DC is now TOTALLY different in the toolbar layouts! WHY???

Report · Jun 24, 2023

@reginal79098089 wrote on 22 June:

Adobe Acrobat DC is now TOTALLY different in the toolbar layouts!

Hi Reginal,

I have yet to hear from someone who likes the "new experience" in Acrobat, but it is easy to turn off!

Steps to enable [and disable] the new experience

To enable the new experience, go to View > Enable new Acrobat and click Restart.
To disable the new experience,
- Windows: Click the hamburger menu ( 3 lines ) at the upper left corner and choose Disable new Acrobat.
- macOS: Go to View > Disable new Acrobat.

Details about the New Experience here:

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

Does this help?

Jane

View solution in original post

Report · Feb 24, 2024

Was this even tested before it was released to the public?
By @Jerome DCProud Lewis

Adobe has pre-release testers for all the Creative Suite programs and Acrobat. Occassionally I see Adobe announce for people to join the testing program.

Many of us community experts here in the forums are testers for Adobe, and many of us have been doing this since the 1980s and 1990s.

I can't recall much positive feedback from the testers before the "modern" Acrobat was released to the public. I know my comments back to the engineers were fairly extensive. Some things were improved (darkening the icons from a light gray to a dark gray, for example). But for the most part, the comments have fallen on deaf ears.

Over the past 18 months, I personally have continued to use and test the newest beta releases, but I often have to abandon them and switch to another computer that runs the "classic" interface. I have only so much time to donate to Adobe to dignose problems (and provide detailed bug reports and comments to the engineers). I, like most folks here, have a job to do. Working for free for Adobe is not on my to-do list.

3 suggestions:

Disable the new Acrobat and revert back to the "classic" interface. I believe that all of the old functionality is still active there.
Join the Acrobat beta testing group. I don't know where to direct you to join, but try searching for a public page in the Acrobat section of Adobe's website.
Consider another brand of PDF editing software. The PDF file format was placed into the public domain about 15 years ago and since then, other companies have developed competing programs. Wikipedia has a decent list of other brands. One of our favorites is ABBY Fine Reader/PDF.

But note that none of these competing programs have all the features of Acrobat, so if you're in certain industries, you're really stuck with Adobe Acrobat. These industry-specific features include:

Accessible PDFs and documents
PDF forms
Printing, graphic arts, and preflighting for print
Security
Digital signatures
Automated PDF documents (aka, stuff like bank statements created from a database a on grand scale)

So see if any other alternative brand gets the job done for you. Be careful of the company's country of origin: you might not be able to install software from certain countries, which is the case here in the US for government computers. Example: FoxIt is a Chinese company and usually is not allowed on our government clients' computers.

As always, don't forget to voice your comments on UserVoice and click the button to VOTE. That is the only place where Adobe takes notice of customers.

Let Adobe know:

You can voice your opinion about the new interface at UserVoice: https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/suggestions/47082691-ditch-t...

Be sure to leave a comment about your experience with the new interface. They need to hear from users. And don't forget to click the VOTE button.

FYI, UserVoice is Adobe's official website where it reads and takes into account suggestions and complaints from users of its various products. On the other hand, this community forum is a user-to-user help forum.

View solution in original post

Report · Nov 07, 2023

The old UI stays until the new one is stable and provides all the functionality of the old one. It is clear that the old interface will not recieve new elements and will not be further developed.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

Report · Nov 09, 2023

Could not agree more. i use 2 different CAD software packages and 4 different programming enviroments all with user interfaces that are different. i do not need to learn a new enviroment for Adobe reader. i just view datasheets i have no need for anything else. STOP STOP changing the interface, it is not appreciated! Bored programmers are becoming a major problem. if it arn't broke don't fix it.

Report · Nov 19, 2023

I can see some others got as upset as myself. Thanks for the option to revert to the old interface! I couldn't find anything in the new one, which is very unproductive.

Report · Nov 19, 2023

@Augusztina33718433g078

effective understatement.

Report · Nov 19, 2023

I can see some others got as upset as myself. Thanks for the option to revert to the old interface! I couldn't find anything in the new one, which is very unproductive.

You're welcome, @Augusztina33718433g078 .

I think that the reason many users got so upset is that the New Experience was sprung on them suddenly and without warning and they couldn't find things or get their work done. Some who have moved over after the initial shock are reporting that they like it.

Jane

Report · Nov 20, 2023

My bad, prolly a simple upvote was best here !

Report · Nov 20, 2023

@~ Gil

that's one of the scenarios anticipated by adobe justifying users to keep older versions (and also reinstall previous versions)

Report · Nov 20, 2023

I respectfully suggest that when you do a major change like this you offer a beta version first to see if people like it. I have to tell you I HATE this new tool bar version, There was no need to change it. IT's made everything more difficult to work with now

Report · Nov 21, 2023

About Acrobat's brutal updates: https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/crazy-and-brutal-update-bis/m-p/14248473

Report · Dec 01, 2023

New version is intolerable.

Persistent floating mini-toolbar that you absolutely cannot dock on the right side (even though most of the right side is completely empty) to get it out of your way.
Controls that used to be next to each other are now at opposite corners of the UI (because reasons). The extra time wasted on suprefluous mouse movement alone is ridiculous. (WHO designed this layout?)
Oh, and the best new "feature" of all: the app lags horribly trying to read files and hangs itself to death on files that previously opened and read with ease (and THAT new quality feature persists even if you turn the "new experience" off). My ability to work with PDFs for my job has taken a complete nosedive.

This is the opposite of improvement. It's pure regression.

Report · Dec 01, 2023

@mikem30577428

restore the "old" acrobat.

Report · Dec 01, 2023

@kglad Would love to, trying to figure out how.

Report · Dec 01, 2023

oh, sorrry.

some people just like to move posts without thinking. for

win: click the interface upper left lines (hamburger menu > disable new acrobat

mac: click view > disable new acrobat.

Report · Dec 01, 2023

Yeah, I know how to do that. Does not fix the lag issue at all. Files that previously read no problem now lag the program to death (and I have 64G of RAM).

I meant how to just revert to the previous version of Arobat itself. That actually functioned. This is a nightmare.

Report · Dec 01, 2023

sorry, again. sheesh bad start to the morning for me.

1. you can install the latest and 1 version prior versions using the cc desktop app. you must have a subscription because previous versions are not available with trials. other versions are revealed after clicking file preferences>apps>tick show older apps (at panel bottom).

2. for versions cc 2019 and older, use prodesigntools.com*.

~~3. for versions newer than cc 2019 but older than one previous version, contact adobe support for links~~**.

---------------------------------------------------------------
* most (but not all) adobe download links are available from prodesigntools.com. https://prodesigntools.com/adobe-direct-download-links.html

follow the directions (esp, step 1)

save the install file. it may not remain online.

thank jim @ prodesigntools.com
-------------------------------------------------------------

** this support is currently not available. ie, there's a significant gap (between 2019 and last year) in the available previous versions.

opposition to this decision (to limit available previous versions) has been conveyed to adobe officials who are therefore aware of the problems caused by this policy. however, unless/until changes are made, nothing can be done to legally access these files.

Report · Dec 01, 2023

The significant performance problem in the new version is related to the terrible implementation of what Adobe calls "Security (Enhanced)". You need to disable the entire mess.

Go to Menu /Preferences. Click on "Security (Enhanced)" in the left column. Uncheck everything except "Protected View (off)".

Report · Dec 01, 2023

@kglad Thank you for the follow-up! This is a work computer so I have to work with IT on the particulars of manually downloading and installing an older version (I notice the CC app has older versions of Acro disabled).

@dswallow Thank you so much! Actually found this workaround after my previous comment (had to search *outside* of Adobe forums for it because their mods seem obsessed with hiding answers like this on their pages). This did fix the problem (at least enough so I can read the PDFs I need). In a serious time crunsh at present so this really helped me out.

Report · Dec 01, 2023

you're welcome.

Report · Dec 01, 2023

I meant how to just revert to the previous version of Arobat itself. That actually functioned.
By @mikem30577428

You might also try the downloads from Adobe here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/acrobat-2020-downloads.html

or try resetting your preferences first to see if that resolves the lagging. What is the exact number of the version you have?

Your post is not about the New Experience and needs to be branched to its own thread.

Jane

Report · Dec 01, 2023

I totally agree. People answering by saying “just use the old interface” do not understand that when you do that, the program does not work well. Even small files have issues.
Adobe needs to address the many complaints we are sharing. Does anyone there even read this thread? I doubt it.

Get Outlook for iOS<>

Report · Dec 01, 2023

@merrittmck

the forums have lots of problems. not the least is the tendency of some administrators (especially on the photoshop and lightroom forums) to amass all similar topic posts into one massive thread.

this acrobat thread is one of them, and it quickly became large and unwieldy like all the agglomeration threads.

Report · Dec 01, 2023

Mike, you are so right about the lag time. It's not just the new version. It's the older version too, which thankfully I was able to restore. At least once a week, my computer chokes so badly that I have to reboot. Often it's because Acrobat is trying to do some kind of update in the background. Every function on my computer hangs up, and everything takes so much time that it drives me crazy.

Report · Dec 02, 2023

I am amazed that no journalist has reported on this awful “improvement “. It is so bad.

Get Outlook for iOS<>

Report · Dec 12, 2023

Indeed, why ruin what was otherwise a very good User Experience? Adobe traditionally has a very good UX team, but clearly something has changed!

Adobe, if you're reading this: it's about clicks. If it takes me 3 more clicks to accomplish the same task I used to do in 2, then you're design is awful.

3 clicks

X number of times per day task is performed

X number of work days using Acrobat DC Pro

-------------------------------------------------------------

PERSON WEEKS of time wasted.

Seriously, I do this math all the time when designing tools. The hours really do add up.

Report · Dec 12, 2023

@MtnLiam

Have you disabled the New Experience yet? The instructions are repeated throughout this thread, but here they are again:

Steps to enable [and disable] the new experience

To enable the new experience, go to View > Enable new Acrobat and click Restart.
To disable the new experience,
- Windows: Click the hamburger menu ( 3 lines ) at the upper left corner and choose Disable new Acrobat.
- macOS: Go to View > Disable new Acrobat.

Details about the New Experience here:

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

Jane