How to display File Name instead of Title

[chriss70743742]

Hi everybody,

I was surprised seeing that Adobe Reader DC is showing the "title" of a PDF in the top bar (above the menu). But actually, nobody is using this functionality when creating PDFs out of Word for instance. (Used Version: 2019.10.20069)

How can I change it back in Adobe Reader DC to just see the "filename" of the currently opened document?

Thanks, guys, for your thoughts and help

Cheers, Chris

[Test Screen Name]

Reader has done this for more than 20 years. If there is a title it wins. Many people quite like it. But apparently you can stop Word filling in the title.

[try67]

This is a setting of the file, not the application. You can change how it behaves in Acrobat (or maybe in Word, before exporting it), but not in Reader.

[dwight95]

This is really annoying in a lot of cases. For example, all the credit-card billing PDFs I download from my bank have the same "document title".  Obviously I have no control over the PDF creation. So when I have 2 or 3 of them open, picking the one I currently want to view via Alt-tab or whatever is impossible.  I don't see why there isn't a Preference setting for viewing title vs filename.

[try67]

There is, but it's a property of the file, and Reader can't set it. You should ask your bank to change it on their end when creating the files.

[natrab]

It should be a feature of the program. No matter what the file says, the program should be able to display the file name along with the title (it really should do both to begin with).

[natrab · Accepted solution]

Adobe is aware of this and they say they will fix it if enough people request it. Please go to this link and vote for the feature: https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/suggestions/36475057-add-opt...

[First5EE7]

@adobe, please remove this double naming of filename AND title, it creates so much confusion. And what is very irritating is that most people do not know about it or DO know, like me, but do not take the effort to populate both, resulting in NOT knowing which file is which when several tabs are open simultaneously ; or having funny names, one of my contractor had MOST OF his documents titled "financial template": who is the bozo: them, or you?

Or put BY DEFALUT the filename inside the title, still keeping the possibility to retitle manually

Adobe Acrobat Reader v2021.001.20135 is its name.

[rheakoch · Accepted solution]

Don't know if anybody said it already, didn't read all responses, but this is the sollution.  Go to edit, open preferences, Choose documents and under open settings click "Always use filename as document title".  

[jenniferw4052293]

I did this but it isn't working. Does this only work when creating a pdf? If so, is there a way to "create" a pdf that's already created so it will use the filename as the document title?

[Sarah27129818a3i4]

This worked!  thank you, rheakoch!!!!  So helpful!!!

[peterg56332809]

Thank you, you win the Internet for the Day Award.

[Claudio31124307z3hz]

It works for Adobe Acrobat XI Version 11.0.23
Go to drop-down menu "File", under Properties > Initial View > [Windows Options] Show(Select): "File Name" and then Save.

[Richard3713971682up]

Claudio, this "Title" issue has been nagging at me forever in Acrobat XI. Thanks for the fix.

[defaultetz5551221r4]

Great fix. But does this mean that if another user doesn't have this preference set that they may see some old doc title and not the most recent file name when they open the doc on their system?

[try67]

Yes. You should make sure the files have a correct Title, or none at all.

[kathleeng78122097]

You made my day! Thank you

[sajit63]

I see the same issue with Foxit also. 

[sajit63]

I am not able to edit the previous reply.

I think Foxit has the answer, https://kb.foxit.com/hc/en-us/articles/360061571672-Why-cannot-get-file-name-displaying-when-open-a-...

But I cannot check it off. There must be a similar option in Acrobat.

[Christopher37531147yekk]

It's annoying, and I'm not computer savy. None of the suggestions here worked for me.  I went around it an old fashioned way, but I only had to do it for one document.   I printed out the document, then scanned it as a PDF,  and renamed it.  As a result, the file and tab matched.