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April 20, 2015
Answered

How do I remove the Tools Pane Permanently in Adobe Reader DC? [2015]

  • April 20, 2015
  • 20 replies
  • 74848 views

I have just installed Adobe Acrobat Reader DC version 2015 Release and it has a very annoying

bug/feature that I don't like.

 

I have to keep removing the Tools Pane using using SHIFT+F4 every time.

 

Is there a way to make this pane dissapear permanently by making this setting stick?

 

This hasn't been a problem in previous versions of Adobe Reader.

 

Please tell me how to remove this annoying pane or issue an update to make this setting stick when opening PDFs.

 

Thanks in advance.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer AshuMittal9644438

Hi @dan400man,

You'd have to follow the steps in the below mentioned sequence:

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,

-ashu

20 replies

Bernd Alheit
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 17, 2020

Look at Edit> Preferences

Participant
April 17, 2020

It is already 2020, but the problem with useless right side window in Adobe Reader still remains!

I cannot close it by using instructions, becasue I have nothing what would look like "Preferences" in my menu. 

Is there any way to close the right side window forever? I mean: for all documents which I open in the future? 

I also have an issue with opening files: it always suggest either Check and Open or Open when I click on the file. I tried to follow instructions on Internet to turn off this feature, but it did not work, and I still have to click Open in the additional window which appeares after I already clicked on the PDF file... I wish to return to ald PDF reader from 2010 - it worked much better and was much more convenient, but I cannot install in on my office computer. All these new features are useless and very destructive - they are absolutely not helpful, and I cannot understand why there is no option to turn them off forever on my office PC? I use Adobe for work, not for wasting my time, but these useless features only are for wasting my time and they are absolutely not helping in my work.

Known Participant
January 21, 2017

This does not exist in the latest version. GRRRRRRR

AshuMittal9644438
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
January 22, 2017

Hi kage6565

The option does exist, it has been slightly reworded to clarify the behaviour a bit more.

Please uncheck “Remember current state of Tools Pane” in the Preferences (as seen in the screenshot above).

1)      Launch Reader

2)      Uncheck this preference

3)      Collapse the RHP

4)      And relaunch Reader  => Now RHP will appear as collapsed for every doc


Thanks,

-ashu

Known Participant
January 22, 2017

Ah that works, thanks. ( have to check "“Remember current state of Tools Pane”)

But I hope they make it easier to get rid of in the future, or adobe is going to lose a lot of users I would imagine.

Participant
January 29, 2016

Answer:

Click the arrow, or sideways triangle at the left margin of the "annoying" panel that indicates what action to take. The panel closes. And will expand the same way.

February 18, 2016

Does anyone know if there is a way to set the "open tools pane for each document" check box to off through group policy? My organization uses Reader DC on every machine and this sidebar is driving everyone nuts. I could run around and do it manually but it would be a huge waste of time.

AshuMittal9644438
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
February 19, 2016

Hi jonm1138‌,

You can do that by pushing the following registry key in your organization:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\AVGeneral\bExpandRHPInViewer=dword:00000000

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\AVGeneral\bRHPSticky=dword:00000001


Thanks,

-ashu

Participant
January 25, 2016

Found it!

wrooot
Inspiring
January 26, 2016

Yeah. But it still opens the Tools Pane after you uncheck that. So one actually has to hide the Tools Pane once, for it to remember not to show it again. From this point it won't show it for any other document. Good. I also see that Menu fonts are darker and readable now.

There is no Updates section in the preferences. So i guess i have to disable scheduler task for Adobe Updater to get rid of update notifications (our users don't have admin permissions, so notifications are only a distraction). We have one app (VPN client) which only shows update notifications when you login with an administrator account. Which is a good practice (not annoying regular users).

Participant
August 9, 2015

I find ctrl+h is also very useful.  It removes not only the stupid tools pane but any bookmarks, leaving nothing but the document, which is why I opened reader in the first place.

AadeshSingh
Community Manager
Community Manager
July 16, 2015

Hey JMG876,

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

July 16, 2015

I will install it and give it a try.

AadeshSingh
Community Manager
Community Manager
July 16, 2015

Hey JMG876,

Sure you can do that.

Just let me know if you still experience any issue.

Regards,

Aadesh

AshuMittal9644438
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
July 16, 2015

Hi,


With our latest release on 14th July (Release Notes), you can now control Right side bar behavior with a preference.

Go to Edit > Preferences (or press Ctrl+K on Windows) and under “Documents” section, uncheck “Open tools pane for each document”.

You can either get the update by going to Help > Check for updates or download the installer from: https://get.adobe.com/reader/

Hope this helps.

-ashu

wrooot
Inspiring
July 17, 2015

It's one step closer to better usability. But it still shows Mobile Link is Off popup every time you open a document. And the menus could have a sharper look (darker font) so they won't look as disabled.

AadeshSingh
Community Manager
Community Manager
July 18, 2015

Hey wrooot,

You can click on the blank space with in the grey box of Mobile link to disable it.

Regards,

Aadesh

June 22, 2015

first use Adobe DC customization wizard to generate your own preferences

then delete from Acrobat Reader DC\Reader\Acroapp\enu\

home.aapp

viewer.aapp

Appcenter_r.aapp

bernta61560227
Participant
June 10, 2015

This annoyed me so much I even registered here. I downloaded another PDF-viewer all together and uninstalled the Adobe Reader DC. Sorry for a poor response to your problem, but I won't do code to remove a toolbar or a "cloud-app-thingy" that I don't need in a pdf-viewer

wrooot
Inspiring
June 10, 2015

I went back to 11 version for now (as i had to work with lots of pdfs lately and it was too annoying to disable this pane all the time).