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???

[sinm62317072]

Hi there, 

I replied below x

[mbrendler]

Adding my voice as I still find this difficult to use. 
Would love to hear the UX rationale for this.

[wayne_6168]

I agree. Regarding the feedback below from AnandSri • Adobe Employee , Sep 07, 2023, stating that "...we hope that as you get familiar with the new interface, you can be more productive & get more out of Acrobat", does Adobe realize that new interfaces that are way-too-frequently foisted on us can cause us to be LESS productive and get LESS out of Acrobat? Frustration levels continue to increase. The phrase "getting used to" anything means nothing anymore, since there's nothing that remains around long enough to get used to.

[wayne_6168]

Btw, I disabled it. And I'm thinking, is this why we pay price increases? To disable something we didn't want to begin with, yet it's costing us?

[Tiger_words]

@reginal79098089 

You have to understand something:  Programmers/software engineers are paid employees.  If they don't stop working, they'll get laid off.  They can never say, "Hey boss, we're done..."  So they create new features and "improvements" to keep busy.  It's an unfortunate reality. 

[Nancy OShea]

If they don't stop working, they'll get laid off. 

By @Tiger_words

=============

Makes no sense.

Decisions about product development originate with executives & bean counters at the very top of the food chain, not the bottom. 

[jilll47525288]

I recommend writing letters of complaint to Adobe's CEO, Shantanu Narayen, at Adobe's headquarters (345 Park Avenue in San Jose, CA 95110).  That's what I've been doing.  I received an email response from someone who actually read my complaints ... not that it has resulted in Adobe ditching the terrible version.  But I did implore him to pay attention to these discussion boards. 

While it hasn't made a difference yet with regard to the horrible new platform, I did get *some* assistance after complaining that Acrobat's redaction feature failed after a recent update to the older platform.  I could no longer redact documents and had to ask a coworker who uses a PC (versus my Mac) to help me.  Adobe finally fixed that. 

I'm not done raising my voice either.  I complained to the Better Business Bureau about the horrible Acrobat platform as well as other problems.  Apple and Adobe have conspired to keep customers from being able to view older clipart thumbnails either in Finder or in Illustrator.  (I have to open every individual file in Illustrator to see the images.  Some, not all, can be seen via Bridge, but the quality is horrible and doesn't reflect what the images actually look like.)  I've invested hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in clipart that I can't view.  It's exceeding time consuming to search images in a printed image catalog.  And viewing the 1-inch thumbnails in the printed catalog is giving me eyestrain.  Since neither Apple nor Adobe is willing to resolve this problem and restore the ability to preview thumbnails, I will file other complaints, such as with the Federal Trade Commission.  

Adobe is making other changes to harm customers.  I wanted to update an InDesign document the other day, but was immediately stopped by a warning that Adobe no longer supported the Zapf Dingbats font that I used for a symbol dozens of times in the document.  I didn't have time to mess with it and had to defer updating my document.  

I recently learned that Adobe's software no longer contains the Pantone color palette.  So I had to get help from the company that prints my books to determine the correct CMYK percentages to obtain the color I wanted.  

It's time that We the People make a lot of noise, not just here but in letters and complaints to Adobe's CEO and in complaints to the Better Business Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, and other resources.  

[JR Boulay]

Can you share the letter you sent to Shantanu Narayen, or a model we could use?

[jilll47525288]

I'd prefer not to, since it was personal to my experience.  But thank you for asking. 

[jane-e]

I wanted to update an InDesign document the other day, but was immediately stopped by a warning that Adobe no longer supported the Zapf Dingbats font that I used for a symbol dozens of times in the document.  

By @jilll47525288

This is the Adobe Acrobat forum, not the InDesign forum. Was your version of Zapf Dingbats Type 1 by any chance? Type 1 fonts from 30 years ago in 1984 are no longer supported. Please see this thread in the InDesign forum that provides a viable solution for you.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/zapf-dingbats-will-not-work-in-indesign/td-p/135...

I recently learned that Adobe's software no longer contains the Pantone color palette.  So I had to get help from the company that prints my books to determine the correct CMYK percentages to obtain the color I wanted.  

Pantone pulled out of Adobe in 2022 and now requires a separate subscription to Pantone Connect.

https://www.pantone.com/articles/faq/pantone-connect-adobe-faq

In addition, Pantone sells a CMYK color guide book if you don't want to get this information from your print shop.

https://www.pantone.com/products/graphics/cmyk-color-guide-coated-uncoated

Jane

[jilll47525288]

Hi Jane.  Thank you for the links to other resources.  

I understand that this is an Acrobat forum, not an InDesign forum.  However, the purpose of my including the additional information was to help inspire others to make their voices heard about not just Acrobat but also about any other problems that Adobe is causing by disabling features that we have come to rely on for decades or making changes that hurt our productivity.  

I'm tired of seeing people post that this forum is not the appropriate place to convey our concerns to Adobe.  It's an Adobe resource, so Adobe should be paying attention to it.  (I implored Adobe to read these posts when I communicated with them.)

Other people have posted links to the "correct" places for communicating our concerns to Adobe, but I've never been successful in sending messages that way.  I'm not sure why.  But letters to the CEO get responses.  And complaints to consumer protection agencies get Adobe's attention in a way that direct communication does not.  

I've been a loyal Adobe customer for nearly four decades.  Never have I been as frustrated with Adobe's products as I am these days.  

[andrewm70692279]

Oh thank god it can be reverted, this new version is total garbage, i'm sorry if that hurts anyone's feelings but really, I didn't know I could hate something so much until I tried using this

[toral_1234]

cuz they have nothing better to do!!! creating work for them and more work for us!!! Why fix then not broke... 

[Alex303537080cgo]

100% agree, and the new interface is so laggy too. Doesn't make any sense to me. 

[wayne_7502]

I agree with the dissappoval of the layout, my company pressures me to use the microsoft knock off but I get a lot more done with Acrobat but not if I have to chase useless changes and relearn the program.  Not a wise thing to do. 

[kglad]

just use the layout you want.

[Mica3739710536h1]

1 year later and this is still so relevant. Did anyone ASK for a forced AI-companion update? No? Then whyyyyyyyyyyy? lol

[Keith301688251h0v]

100% giving up on using Adobe's pdf products even for the slightest thing now that I have Bluebeam.  It's just endless stuff like this from them with Acrobat & Reader and I've had enough.

[jilll47525288]

Adobe did it again.  I was having trouble with Acrobat again this morning.  Now I know why.  Adobe tried to force the new version on me again.  

Fortunately, I quickly found how to extricate myself from that misery ... instructions that I now share with everyone here ...

For Mac:  Go to the View menu and select Disable New Acrobat.  After disabling the new experience, you can restart the app and it will open with the previous version. The keyboard shortcuts will still work the same.

For Windows: Select the hamburger menu in the upper left corner and choose Disable New Acrobat

[1963tigre]

Any sane company would track the number of people who did that and determine if they made a mistake like companies that change logos and end up reverting. OR ask users for feedback

[PDF Automation Station]

As long as you have the option to revert to the original, it's all good.   BUT, if they ever remove that option because they don't want to maintain 2 systems, it will be a HUGE problem.

[JR Boulay]

As far as I'm concerned, I'm prepared for it, in which case I'll opt for Foxit.

With a heavy heart.