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.