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Gil UR
New Participant
April 8, 2015
Answered

Hiding the tool bar / showing page thumbnails by default

  • April 8, 2015
  • 25 replies
  • 177943 views

Hi there

Does anyone know how can the right side tool bar be hidden by default on Acrobat DC?

Likewise, how can the page thumbnails show up everytime a PDF is opened?

Many thanks

Gil

    Correct answer AshuMittal9644438

    Hi all,

    The right side panel behavior has been fixed in the DC update that was released on 14th July (Release Notes). If you close the panel once, Acrobat will now remember that and will not auto-open it.

    For Adobe Reader, go to Edit > Preferences (or press Ctrl+K) and under “Documents” section, uncheck “Open tools pane for each document”.

    1.   Launch Reader
    2.   Uncheck this preference
    3.   Collapse the RHP
    4.   And relaunch Reader  =>> Now RHP will appear as collapsed for every doc

    Hope this helps.

    Thanks,

    -ashu

    25 replies

    E
    Electric_Smile9504
    New Participant
    April 15, 2025

    It's now impossible to get rid of the right pane.

     

    [abuse removed by moderator]

    AnandSri
    Community Manager
    AnandSriCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    April 18, 2025

    Hello!

     

    I hope you are doing well, and thank you for reaching out.

     

    Could you please share more details about your question/issue? Can you please share a screenshot of the right pane you are referring to? If you are using the latest version of Acrobat with the new user interface, the right-hand pane that includes page navigation options, zoom in/out, and other tools cannot be removed or hidden. For more details, you can refer to this article: https://adobe.ly/3GauahJ

     

    If you wish to share your feedback, you can use the Adobe Wish form to raise a new feature request or request changes to any existing features with the product team.

     

    If you have a different question, please share more details, and we're here to help.

     

    Thanks,

    Anand Sri.

    M
    Marlama
    New Participant
    January 19, 2016

    Previous versions of Acrobat (not addressing Reader here) had the word "Tools" on the top of the right panel.  Clicking that opened or closed the panel- simple.  I have to check accessibility for files in Acrobat and use this panel every day, however I also had issues trying to figure out how to close it when I needed the real estate.  I appreciate being able to use <shift><F4> now, but why remove the feature at all, and then bring it back with a set of keystrokes instead of the simple click I have used for years?

      AshuMittal9644438
      Adobe Employee
      AshuMittal9644438
      Adobe Employee
      January 20, 2016

      Hi Marlama‌,

      You can still collapse the Right Hand Panel using a single click in Acrobat DC (just click on the small triangle in the RHP strip). Moreover, Acrobat DC remembers your chosen state for RHP and stays expanded/collapsed across sessions unless toggled again.

      Thanks,

      -ashu

      A
      Anonymous
      January 15, 2016

      CALL TO ADOBE:

      NEED:

      Default view capabilities to open to see page thumbnails w/doc.

      Also, IMHO, the bates-labeling has become a nuisance tool when it was previously a godsend.

      Why do techies try to "fix" things that aren't broken?  Wish I'd kept earlier version, but as a result of your READER not playing nice with Pro, and all the Electronic Records service providers playing footsies with both... "upgraded".  Any comments, Adobe personnel?

      AshuMittal9644438
      Adobe Employee
      AshuMittal9644438
      Adobe Employee
      January 18, 2016

      Hi,

      You can configure thumbnails to open on a per document basis, such that thumbnails will appear on subsequent accesses of the file. Go to Edit > Preferences > Documents and check "Restore last view settings when reopening documents".

      Also, please send across details about improvements to Bates Numbering functionality by visiting: www.adobe.com/go/wish

      Thanks,

      -ashu

      A
      Anonymous
      January 18, 2016

      Thanks; I'd figured the per document thumbnail feature, but wanted it globally to open all that way...

      Appreciate your response!!!

      S
      Sulaco1337
      New Participant
      January 12, 2016

      Does anyone have any more advice on the thumbnail view issue? It is a pain to keep having to bring it up every time I open a new PDF. Thanks!

      briand27936898
      briand27936898
      New Participant
      September 15, 2015

      I'm replying to vote for the removal or at least the option to toggle the sidebar. It takes up a ton of space and it's full of options I will never click. This is Adobe *Reader* so please let me just read.

      trungnghiatn
      trungnghiatn
      New Participant
      September 14, 2015

      Only two steps, you can hide tools pane forever

      Step 1: Go to Preferences (Edit >> Preferences or press Ctrl + K). At the left column, click on Documents. You see the contents at the right pane. Uncheck "Open tools pane for each documents". Press OK and exit Preferences windows.

      Step 2: Go to View >> Show/Hide. Uncheck Tools Pane. Done. You never see that pane


      Good luck

        amyt4977
        amyt4977
        New Participant
        September 14, 2015

        Thank you – this is done! Now I wonder if there is a way to have the Navigation Bar, therefore the thumbnails, always OPEN when I open a PDF……………ideas on that one?

        Thanks again, Amy

        trungnghiatn
        trungnghiatn
        New Participant
        September 15, 2015

        I don't know how to do that. Sometime, you open a .pdf file that include bookmark, Adobe reader will show automatical all bookmark at Navigation Bar.

        amyt4977
        amyt4977
        New Participant
        August 29, 2015

        this is now nearly September.  is there an update/fix I have missed?

        C
        cdhooning
        New Participant
        August 29, 2015

        Sorry. I hit send by mistake. I'll start over. Here's the file map:

        C Drive\Program Files (x86)\Acrobat\Acrobat Reader DC\Reader\AcroApp\ENU

        In this file, (ENU) create a file and give it a name (I called it "Disabled") and move the following files into it:

        AppCenter_R.aapp

        Home.aapp

        Viewer.aapp

        No More Sidebar!!

        From: amyt4977 <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

        To: Calvin Hooning <cdhooning@yahoo.com>

        Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2015 4:25 AM

        Subject: Hiding the tool bar / showing page thumbnails by default

        Hiding the tool bar / showing page thumbnails by default

        created by amyt4977 in Acrobat Reader - View the full discussionthis is now nearly September.  is there an update/fix I have missed? If the reply above answers your question, please take a moment to mark this answer as correct by visiting: https://forums.adobe.com/message/7911560#7911560 and clicking ‘Correct’ below the answer Replies to this message go to everyone subscribed to this thread, not directly to the person who posted the message. To post a reply, either reply to this email or visit the message page: Please note that the Adobe Forums do not accept email attachments. If you want to embed an image in your message please visit the thread in the forum and click the camera icon: https://forums.adobe.com/message/7911560#7911560 To unsubscribe from this thread, please visit the message page at , click "Following" at the top right, & "Stop Following" Start a new discussion in Acrobat Reader by email or at Adobe Community For more information about maintaining your forum email notifications please go to https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1516624.

        A
        Anonymous
        January 13, 2017

        Hi all,


        Acrobat update containing the functionality to pin the Page Thumbnails is now available. Please update to the latest release by opening the application and going to Help > Check for Updates.

        You can read about the feature here: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/whats-new.html#RetainLHPState


        Release notes for today's release are here: http://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/ReleaseNotes/DC/dccontinuousjanuary2017.html

        Please try it out an let us know your feedback.

        Thanks!

        -ashu


        I've downloaded the update.

        Nope. There is no option to close the left hand thumbnail flyout.by default.

        Can you please just give us the option?

        Is it so hard to do?

        Regards.

        Stuart.

        AadeshSingh
        Community Manager
        AadeshSinghCommunity Manager
        Community Manager
        July 16, 2015

        Hey,

        The issue has been fixed in the latest update, please refer to this release note Hide the Tools panel permanently in Acrobat and Acrobat Reader DC.

        Regards,

        Aadesh

          AshuMittal9644438
          Adobe Employee
          AshuMittal9644438Correct answer
          Adobe Employee
          July 16, 2015

          Hi all,

          The right side panel behavior has been fixed in the DC update that was released on 14th July (Release Notes). If you close the panel once, Acrobat will now remember that and will not auto-open it.

          For Adobe Reader, go to Edit > Preferences (or press Ctrl+K) and under “Documents” section, uncheck “Open tools pane for each document”.

          1.   Launch Reader
          2.   Uncheck this preference
          3.   Collapse the RHP
          4.   And relaunch Reader  =>> Now RHP will appear as collapsed for every doc

          Hope this helps.

          Thanks,

          -ashu

            ben_261
            ben_261
            Participating Frequently
            July 16, 2015

            Thanks for the heads up ashumittal . Confirmed, it works! If you haven't received your update yet you can go to the help menu and click "check for updates..." to check manually.

              S
              sambul31
              New Participant
              June 11, 2015

              The workaround is given here:

              1. Backup and open XML file Viewer.aapp from folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 2015\Acrobat\AcroApp\ENU or similar in Notepad++

              2. Comment out the block of lines by adding <!-- before the first line that is not needed and --> after the last line that is not needed. Save the file to that folder. Or save to My Documents and drag to that folder:


              <Application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/acrobat/app/2014" title="Viewer" id="Viewer" majorVersion="1" requiresDoc="true" minorVersion="0">
              <!--   

                   <Layouts>       

                        <Layout name="Default">           

                             <RHP>               

                                  <Component name="AppShortcutListView" type="Custom"/>          

                             </RHP>       

                        </Layout> 
                   </Layouts>
              -->
              </Application>

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