Why change everything?

[reginal79098089]

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???

[Frans v.d. Geest]

@Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com And I marked them

as correct again. I can do this all day if needed Bevi ;-). Fully support your remark here by the way 😡

[jane-e]

Thank you @Frans v.d. Geest !

Bevi Chagnon @ PubCom , you looked at the posts more diligently than I did and found much to be disturbed by.

I did some exploring this morning and see that at least one other team member is posting the same reply on similar threads. The Roundtable is coming up soon.

Jane

[noggin nocker]

Anand Sri needs to be fired

Jim leben

[phone number removed]

[jane-e]

Anand Sri needs to be fired
Jim leben

By @noggin nocker

Anand is a good guy and is part of a team. Don't shoot the messenger!

Jane

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Anand is a good guy and is part of a team. Don't shoot the messenger!

Jane

By @jane-e

Agree. Anand is a good, talented engineer.

And I also recognize that the new interface wasn't created by just the programmers: Adobe's internal design team was involved, too, and probably the marketing department. That's how things work at major corporations.

The whole situation reminds me of a famous product fiasco that is covered in business and marketing schools called New Coke. If you were around in the mid-1980s, you probably remember it.

Coca-Cola company misinterpreted their user data and decided to come up with a new recipe for their famous mainstay product, Coke.  It just appeared on store shelves one day with the same name, label, and branding so customers were shocked when they popped open a can and...bleah! Very diferent taste.

Customers hated it and sales dropped even further.

But Coca-Cola reacted correctly, and that's the lesson taught in marketing classes today: respond to the users, apologize, and bring back the old product. Within a short time, they brought back "Coke Classic," reframed the new version as "New Coke" and kept both side-by-side on the store shelves. But within a couple of years, "New Coke" was discontinued — no one wanted to drink it.

And Coca Cola re-evaluated their user data, too. They discovered the original drop in sales was because baby boomers were moving to low- and no-sugar beverages across the board, not just for their regular Coke. So over the years, the company developed dozens of alternative drinks to sell, as well as the original Coke. That was smart.

Today, we see just "Coke" and it's the original recipe from 100+ years ago.

Wikipedia has a good write-up of this famous "learning moment." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke

Adobe, please don't make our beloved Acrobat the new "New Coke."

[jilll47525288]

Bevi, your "New Coke" analogy is priceless ... and right on.  I hope Adobe pays attention and learns from it.  

I dub this new version of Acrobat "New Poop."  Bring out the pooper scoopers.  

[therealoutsol]

Anand,

The problem is you can't find the familiar. Before functions were there, at your right hand and color coded. It is taking an extra 2 clicks to get to that function now. Then the floating menu would not attach and remained contantly in my field of work. Thank God there was a revert button. Whomever thought this was cleaner and more efficient UI graduated from the MS School of Coding and UI. Throw crap out there and have your clientele tell you what to fix. Poor form Adobe! I never thought I would see this from you folks or compare you to Microsoft.

[agundrum]

we hope that as you get familiar with the new interface, you can be more productive & get more out of Acrobat.  

By @AnandSri

Seriously???? You want users that have become familiar to the old interface over decades (with minor changes here and there) to "get familiar with the new interface" and "be more productive"  Again, seriously. Do you understand what you are saying?. You are asking professionals who have been productive to become unproductive and then become "familiar with the new interface" so professionals who have been productive, "can be more productive" again?

Seriously, do you understand what you just said to justify the complete change to the interface?

[Sue33409833iny1]

Maybe so many users including myself wouldn't be so annoyed if you hadn't removed the option to simplay save pdfs

[jilll47525288]

Anand, the new version of Acrobat is so horrible that I will NEVER try it again.  There is no "getting familiar" with the new interface as far as I am concerned.  There will be no second chances for this version of Acrobat to aggravate me again.  

And Adobe certainly didn't ensure that all tools and features "retained their familiar functionalities and workflows."  Basic functions like using the circle commenting tool didn't even work.  Did you guys even Beta test this version?  I think not. 

This was BY FAR the worst rollout of an Adobe product that I have experienced in probably 35 years.  I beg of Adobe to scrap this version and go back to the previous version.  Then make incremental changes, as appropriate, that aren't so drastic and disruptive.  There was no reason so swap the thumbnails panel and tools panel just to give the interface a new look.  There was no reason to hide tools in different locations just to give the interface a new look.  Why play "hide the ball" with customers?

Does Adobe even understand what customers want from their software?  We want software that increases productivity, not software that doubles or triples the time we spend on a project because we can't find familiar tools.  We want software that is intuitive and easy-to-use, not mystery problems that require going to a user manual, website, or community posts to troubleshoot.  We want upgrades that don't require a steep learning curve.  Give customers what they want.  Don't try to force feed us something we don't want.  

I've seen so many negative posts about the new Acrobat version that it's clear to me that most people don't like it.  Please stop trying to defend this ill-conceived upgrade and listen to your customers.  Go back to what worked.  PLEASE.

[Beckie33750687qbg8]

This change.... what a nightmare. Not sure what was accomplished here except for frustration by customers that PAY for this service. I tried to give this new program a go but geez everytime I spent MORE time trying to get my job done. My final straw was no longer being able to "add text" on top of the document. It stayed in edit mode and I could not easily add text to the PDF I'm editing. What a headache. Thank goodness someone shared how to get back to the previous version!! My anxiety leveled dropped tremendously. 

In the future, if you're going to make a change this big - please BETA test it first so you can find out if it's worth it!! Because this one isn't. 

[jilll47525288]

Better yet, Adobe should avoid making such dramatic changes ... period.  Once they Beta test, they have already invested a bunch of time and ego.  Now they are too invested to scrap this monstrosity.  

Adobe needs to understand what customers want.  When it comes to updates, we prefer incremental changes that  are easy to understand and use.  We don't want changes that disrupt the way we work.  We don't want changes with a steep learning curve.  We don't want changes to hamper our productivity.  Adobe gave us the exact opposite of customers want with this recent upgrade.  

Beyond these general guidelines, Adobe can gather information through customer surveys.  Why not ask basic questions like, Would you like the tool panels and the thumbnail panels moved to opposite sides?  Why not ask, How can we improve Acrobat?  Clearly, Adobe didn't solicit feedback on what they could do to improve Acrobat or increase our productivity with Acrobat. 

Adobe needs to scrap this monstrosity immediately.  

[julian33904821amid]

So many problems, not just arising from unfamiliar layout etc, but loss of functionality including around adding text markups to pdfs. This is something that I rely on and use every day. Until I found I could turn the awful new variant off, I was going to uninstall Acrobat and buy a different pdf client. Absolute garbage, especially given how expensive it is.

[Maryann3374830750id]

Wasn’t able to find any option to revert

[kglad]

@Maryann3374830750id 

what's your os?

where did you check?

[Maryann3374830750id]

I have an imac using chrome

[kglad]

@Maryann3374830750id 

in acrobat click view>disable new acrobat.

[jane-e]

@Maryann3374830750id 

Are you on an Enterprise account or managed subscription? If you are, your IT may have made the change and you need to talk to them.

If you have an individual account, follow the directions here under the heading "How to enable the new experience"

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

If that does not work, share a screenshot of your Acrobat interface.

Jane

[Zaniwoop]

Sorry, no.

Firstly, "we have tried to ensure all tools & features currently supported retain their familiar functionalities and workflows ... We are committed to addressing any gaps or issues users report ... If any of your current workflows are not functioning as expected, share them with us on this thread...". This is what the IT profession call "beta testing", Adobe - testing new interface designs with users BEFORE release, so the design can be changed and problems can be fixed BEFORE release.

"We appreciate your valuable feedback! We're always looking for ways to improve Acrobat ...". I'm very glad to hear it. Please refer to https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/suggestions/47082691-ditch-t... to hear our valuable feedback, and please listen to it and take notice of it.

If this interface change is made permanent, I will cancel my entire CC licence. Not because the new interface is clumsy to the point of being unusable (which it appears it is), but simply to avoid putting any further time into learning software produced by a company that can make a mistake this big.

[Martin24483200eus3]

Hi,

I would like to report that the Thumbnails formerly present in the PDF Portfolio are missing. The portfolio is now represented just as a list. 

After switching to the old UI, the thumbnail pan appears on the left side as it used to be, however, it shows only PDF icons, not the actual thumbnails.

Also notice that in the new "list" GUI the files are opened separately. When you switch to the old GUI you can browse through the files seamlessly. That is a crucial feature!

I will do a little investigation regarding this issue which impacts all of our customers who navigate themselves by the thumbnails in complex portfolios and subsequently I will refer then all to switching to the old GUI.

I hope I will be contacted ASAP regarding this inconvenience.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Martin Jezek

[DebralynnMedDev]

I've tried the new Acrobat for a week now and have not acclimated. It would be ok if we could personalize the toolbars as we did previously; however, many that are unnecessary for my needs are unmovable. 

[kglad]

@DebralynnMedDev 

did you disable the new acrobat?

[DebralynnMedDev]

Yes, I did.

[kglad]

@DebralynnMedDev 

ok, so all's well.

[Martin24483200eus3]

Not entirely, as the old Acrobat lost some of its glamour too...