How can I hide the Tools Pane when opening a pdf in Acrobat?

[jaystar1945]

Whenever I open an existing pdf document, by default Acrobat always includes the right-hand side "tools pane", which takes up about 1/3rd of the window pane.  To minimise it, I have to always go to >>View,>>Show/Hide,>>Tools Pane>> then toggle/click.  Or on my laptop shift+Fn Key+F4.

How can I change this to not include the Tools Pane in full and just have it in its minimised form, like icons on the right-hand side, which is how it shows when I manually hide it.

[try67 · Accepted solution]

Permanently close the Tools pane in Acrobat Reader DC

[jaystar1945]

Hello and thanks for your tip.  I followed your instructions and it worked! hurrah!

No more pesky large size "tools pane".

If I need a tool, I can choose it from the far right-hand side icon list panel.  Perfect.

Or, if for some strange reason I want the large version back, I can open it manually. (shift+F4, or on my laptop it is shift+Fnkey+F4)

Many thanks, Jackie

[Horrgakx]

I've tried this solution from the Adobe site, however it doesn't look the same as the current version of Acrobat Pro DC I'm using, so I still have this problem. The solution posted by yourself has a tick box "Remember current state of Tools Pane", however on my latest version they have removed this. The tools pane still opens.

[Horrgakx]

This doesn't work for me, I'm using version 2015.006.30033, this option to disable the tool bar doesn't appear.  I'm not sure if this is because I'm using a 2015 version (?) but there is no option to update because I'm in a controlled corporate environment.

[styledliving]

This feature was removed since the Adobe Product Design team determined that it was not useful for users.

[Tom221643634vq2]

@styledliving, your post is incorrect. This feature is still present in my latest version 2021.007.20099 and works just fine as described in the linked article.  Thank goodness the designers didn't make such a bone-headed move. This pane is a big waste of space, I have yet to use any of its tools. It just takes up space for the 99% of Acrobat users who only want to view/print PDF's, not do anything else with them. It should be "off" by default when the software is first installed, but that's a separate discussion. And Adobe could do a much better job of explaining how to hide it (like a checkbox on the pane itself).

[RobertKS]

Did you ever find a solution for this?  I also have 2015.006.30033, and this is driving me crazy.

[defaultnfn9zowomz6u]

the option mentioned/pictured in previous comments is also absent from my version.

turns out my issue may not have been exactly the same as the topic, i was getting the tools pane because the document had comments and i located this under edit>preferences>commenting that did the trick for me:

[Sofia32674719qz91]

I have version 23.006.20320 on Macbook Air, I both selected "Remember current state of Tools Pane" and deselected "Show comments pane when a PDF with comments is opened", and yet the tools pannel STILL opens everytime I open the application..... if anyone finds a solution to this please let me know

[Sofia32674719qz91]

After 30 minutes of messing around, I finally figured it out. Before changing preferences, go to View > Show/Hide > Tools Pane to hide it accordingly. Voilà!

[MARCELO33016176b6ib]

the show/hide tools pane doesn't show up in mine

[jholdsworth]

It's not there on mine anymore since the recent update where the whole look has changed.

[DeidreJ]

It does on mine since the last update with the new look - and all the suggestions listed don't work (they did before).  The tools pane opens EVERY time I open a document.  Please fix this.

[Tammy5D9B]

This is so annoying when your window is half screen size and you are working on 2 things.  Having to click to close the tools pane with 15 or more PDF's at a time is so frustrating.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE fix this.

[Sheldon33191444vh1q]

Opening a PDF doesn't necessarily mean that you want to edit the PDF. Viewing PDFs should be the focus & editing option a small icon or menu item - Adobe, please fix this!

[br1sj]

I accidentally found the solution to this issue.  Right click on the right side panel>>Unpin contents (or anything else being pinned)

[Eleph33205900tloj]

1. open one pdf document
2. View>show/hide>Tool pane
3. click "restart" application   

[DeidreJ]

As I said in my original post - this does NOT work anymore...


Thanks!
Dee

[DeidreJ]

As I said in my original post - this does NOT work anymore since the latest update last week.

[Rohan33255838ummq]

You'll find an option called 'disable new Acrobat reader' or something similar under the file/edit menu. Once I did that along with the preferences option, it worked for me

[Hugo Rupf]

"Disable new Acrobat reader" is the trick! Finally!

[Lulu_62]

Where did you find the Disable new Acrobat reader option please? I've tried everything else and nothing works so I'm hoping this will but I can't find the pesky thing! Thanks in advance 🙂

[Hugo Rupf]

Like Rohan said:
"You'll find an option called 'disable new Acrobat reader' or something similar under the file/edit menu. Once I did that along with the preferences option, it worked for me".

[Lulu_62]

I couldn't find 'disable new Acrobat reader' anywhere so ended up uninstalling and reinstalling the product and it's fine now.