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???

[morrisonvp9]

For what it's worth, I HATE the layout changes Adobe made to Acrobat Pro, and I find it incredibly stupid to not give users the flexibility to choose their own layout. 

Did I mention I HATE the layout changes?!

[JobMcKee]

I already didn't care for these changes, but they're especially confusing to older folk who might use computers. One user thought they were still in Firefox, presumably because of the prominent tabs lining the top of the window, you know, like a BROWSER. Thank you for the option to go back to the old Reader.

[SevniIllo35332796pwha]

I generally like new versions in every apps but really dislike this new Adobe reader. I really appreciate developers effort to bring us something new, but after some time trying it I happily reverted back.

[Miguel Medalha]

On top of the new horrible interface, Acrobat is now crashing when we try to open a linked PDF file. Again. After disabling the new interface, it doesn't crash anymore, so it's definitelly connected to the recent changes. This happened on ALL computers at my workplace, which means that it's not a problem with a specific machine. Also, some important functions for the production of our newspaper suddenly disapeared in the new version. Sometimes, Adobe seems to hate its professional users.

[kglad]

@Miguel Medalha 

disable the new acrobat if you don't like it.

[try67]

It's not just a question of "not liking the new version", as if it's an issue of personal preferences. The new version is riddled with bugs. We keep finding new ones every single day. It should never have been released in this state for public consumption. It's barely a beta version at this point. Adobe needs to first fix all of these issues, and then start thinking about whether it's a desirable change in the first place. For many people it's not, even if it worked perfectly.

[Martin24483200eus3]

@kglad 

My concern is how long we will be able to disable the new Acrobat interface. At what point might this workaround be discontinued?

[kglad]

@kglad 

My concern is how long we will be able to disable the new Acrobat interface. At what point might this workaround be discontinued?

By @Martin24483200eus3

that, i do not know.  and good suggestion for adobe:

to report bugs or ideas or wishes to adobe: for applicable apps, use https://helpx.adobe.com/ie/x-productkb/global/how-to-user-voice.html

for createive cloud assets:

bugs, https://community.adobe.com/t5/adobe-collaboration-experiences/ct-p/ct-adobe-collaboration-experienc...

requests, https://community.adobe.com/t5/adobe-collaboration-experiences/ct-p/ct-adobe-collaboration-experienc...

for others, use https://www.adobe.com/products/wishform.html

if neither show a place to report the issue, just leave it here. that's the best you can do.

[JR Boulay]

At what point might this workaround be discontinued?

Nobody knows, I asked the development team a few weeks ago and they promised me an answer... Soon.

[jilll47525288]

That's not all that Acrobat "crashes."  Every time the Acrobat undate installer runs, my computer bogs down so much that I can't function.  I end up having to shut down and reboot my computer.  

[Miguel Medalha]

For example, the "Manage Actions" tool just disappeared. There is now a button for something called "Use guided actions" but when we try to use it, a window pops up saying "The new Acrobat experience does not support this feature yet". Meaning, they decided to completely change the thing and realease it without even having completed their work.  This is very serious for our workflow. If Adobe continues on this path we will start searching for a new PDF editor, made by someone who doesn't hate its users.

[Miguel Medalha]

Another issue is the background color. It's too light, resulting in a very poor contrast between the displayed pages and the window background.. This issue had already appeared when Acrobat DC was first launched in 2015 and it was heavily criticized. Well, there it is again!

[Ellie Nowels]

View/disable new Acrobat causes the program to crash on my Mac. So I am stuck with searching for my tool bars!

[JohnnyValkonian]

Try uninstalling and reinstalling. I know it's a pain but it may work.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

ACROBAT TOOLBARS:

The problem was just corrected with today's release. From Adobe's notice:

The issue has been resolved and is available in the application version 23.008.20533 and above.
We now have a preference to enable a scroll bar.
Details can be found at:- https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/scroll-framework-upgrade-macos.html

[Melissa Luce]

Some things are better left alone.

[Atlantic Print]

I've come to this thread because I've had enough to the new format. I've had to go back to the old version. Why move everything? It's so buggy and crashes all the time. Like someone has said in this thread already... "Why? Just why!!"

[Brad360778959bnx]

The ability to revery back to the "old" layout has disappeared in the latest version of Acrobat Pro.  I hate that page numbering and document zoom are on the side & can't be moved back to the top.  Stop changing things that aren't broken !  If you're going to move layouts, at least give users the ability to move the bars back where we want them . . .the users !

[Frans v.d. Geest]

It is still here after the latest update...

[Karen3321586214yx]

Regina, I couldn't agree with you more! I was able to disable the new Adobe!

[Mark25055654fwx5]

If developpers don't dream up more and more changes all the time, there will be no development to do, and they'll have to go find different jobs.

I forget which program it was I was using recenlty (don't think it was Adobe though), and the 'x' we have all come accustomed to finding in the top right corner of the page, they now have it situated in the centre top of the page. Really? After decades of it being where it was, it working just fine, and everyone knowing where it was, someone decides it should be somewhere else.

There should be a number of people (programmer, development project manager, middle managers, and a VP or two) out of a job for doing these things.

[Nancy OShea]

If developers don't dream up more and more changes all the time, there will be no development to do, and they'll have to go find different jobs.

By @Mark25055654fwx5

=======

That's such a silly remark.  There's no shortage of jobs to do.  Adobe makes changes to software to keep pace with what Microsoft and Apple are doing.  If Adobe didn't make changes, your software would be incompatible with your computer's operating system.  Full stop. 

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

2 things to note:

1) Adobe's developers don't make the decisions about what goes into or gets changed in the software. The marketing department does that, which is why comments at https://acrobat.uservoice.com/, which is overseen by marketing, have greater weight than those in the volunteer user-to-user Community Forum where this post resides.  Today, programmers are just code jockeys who are told what to do. They even have to get approval to correct bugs.

So don't beat up the developers for this fiasco of a revamp. They were just doing what they were told to do.

It's the design team that did this, but again under management's instructions. They threw out 40+ years of research on human behavior and GUI / UI / UX design and created a mess that doesn't even allow access to some of Acrobat's widely-used utilities — tools that many businesses and industries need to run their businesses every day.

2) I've been a beta tester/advisor for Adobe and hundreds of other companies for nearly 40 years. I've been through a lot of operating system changes for all OSs.

As a beta tester, I'm starting to see the new features and utilities planned for Acrobat-Sometime-in-the-Future (and I'm very excited about them)!  But none of those features, or the current features, or their operating systems require changing icons, or designing 2 icons to look nearly identical but have polar opposite functions, or leaving lables off icons so users play "WTF is THIS icon for", or superimposing tool panels on top of content, or hiding some long-standing tools altogether, or making the scroll bars invisible on Mac OS, or flipping the location of tools left-to-right and vise versa, or...?

Operating systems generally don't control functions or GUI design, just behind-the-scenes coding requirements. When it comes to the cosemetic interface appearance, they recommend certain overall design aesthetic or theme, but don't require it AFAIK.  When a change like that is made by Adobe, I haven't seen it change functionality, just merely a facelift of what's there already, like the movement to a simplified less-cluttered interface design but not the elimination of a function.

As far as I can tell from Adobe's beta/prerelease comments, nothing in this last GUI overhaul was caused by a change or requirement in either OS. (And if it did, think a little stronger about that idea — which OS would Adobe comply with, Windows or Apple? Mobile or desktop?)

Something positive:

If you'd like to contribute an idea of what would make Acrobat work better for you (no complaints — Adobe has heard enough of them!),  hop over to an Acrobat Wish List post https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/suggestions/48153893-new-acr...

Let Adobe know what's missing from the new version, what you need to have restored, and what new features you'd like.

We might actually see some progress on this!

[jilll47525288]

Adobe needs to pay attention to this resource.  I've tried providing feedback through other sources when people like you post different website addresses.  I've never been able to actually post anything.  And by now, I'm so aggravated by all the problems that Adobe has created that I can't even remember all of my complaints.  

The information Adobe needs to know is well documented throughout these community discussions.  If Adobe really cared about user input, they would look here instead of ignoring this resource.  

The latest version of Acrobat was so horrible that I reverted to an older version and will never go back to the new one.  Nonetheless, Adobe continues to cause problems for me on at least a weekly basis.  At least once a week, my computer chokes because of Adobe updates, making it necessary for me to reboot my computer.  Sure, I could turn off automatic updates, but that would create other problems.  

You say you're a beta tester.  Why don't you let Adobe know that they need to look here for customer complaints?  You clearly have a way to communicate with Adobe that most of us don't.  

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

... You say you're a beta tester.  Why don't you let Adobe know that they need to look here for customer complaints?  You clearly have a way to communicate with Adobe that most of us don't.  

By @jilll47525288

Why do you assume that I and other beta testers haven't tried?

Adobe's honchos don't listen to us any more than they listen to customers like you.

Like most software companies today, they are owned primarily by private equity investor groups who get to stack the board and management suites with their people. Unlike the original founders who came out of the then brand-new digital publishing industry, current management doesn't have a clue what any of us do with their software.

And I wonder how much they really care. After all, don't we all still let Adobe take hundreds of dollars a year out of our bank accounts — whether the software works or not?  If you're a professional, what other software can you use?The competitors have all been bought out by now.

It's a lousy situation for us customers, whether we're talking about Adobe or Microsoft or Canva or any other software company.