Text in Comment box disappearing when I hit the escape button

Report · Jun 28, 2022

I am using Adobe Pro DC on Windows 11. I use single key accelerators. 'S' the command to open a text box works fine. However over the past several weeks, the 'Esc' button, which used to close the comment box (text intact), now causes the text in the comment box to disappear. I have spoken to adobe help on two occasions and although they have promised a call back (and have witnessed the problem themselves by sharing my screen), there has been no solution and the problem remains. Please help.

Report · Jun 28, 2022

Hello Douglas,

I hope you are doing well. I am sorry for your experience with Acrobat Reader.

Please share the below details with us to check on the issue further:

1. The Operating System and the complete version you are using

2. The application version you are using;

3. A screen recording of the scenario so that we can check.

Please check if there are any pending updates for the Application. To check for it, go to Help-> Check for Updates.

Also, since you mentioned that you have contacted our support channel, if you could share the Case Number with me, that would be great.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Souvik.

Report · Jun 30, 2022

Hi, I have the EXACT same problem. And is driving me crazy.

Could you fixed it?

Report · Jun 30, 2022

No. And this is despite two separate phone calls/screen shares with Adobe technical staff

Report · Jun 30, 2022

Its a real problem because it makes adding comments with single key accelerators so much more laborious and time consuming

Report · Jun 30, 2022

This is amazing, it was working fine before the last update. The problem was introduced with the new update. Is amazing how trying to exit of the comment panel with the fastest/logical/natural key just deletes you whole comment. Is a problem that creates a lot of additional steps just to comment on pdf files.

Please, if Adobe Technical staff gives you a way to fix it, could you kindly share it here?

Regards,

Report · Jun 30, 2022

Hello,

Sorry for the experience.

Please try repairing the installation from the help menu. Once done, reboot the computer.

Also, you might want to update the application to the recent version by going to Help-> Check for Updates.

If it still doesn't work, try resetting the Acrobat preferences and check.

[You may refer to the link to know how to reset the preferences: How to reset Acrobat Preference settings]

Let me know if it helps.

Thanks,

Souvik.

Report · Jul 01, 2022

Not only have I attempted a repair and a reset of the preferences, but I have reinstalled my entire desktop version of Acrobat Pro DC, The problem still persisted

Report · Jul 01, 2022

Yesterday I received the latest update of Acrobat Pro DC and since then I experience the same issue. It's a bad thing for productivity that this doesn't work anymore. For me, it recalls the update a few years ago with the tick boxes in the comments, where Adobe thought to improve, but in fact it was a major step back. And it's still not back at the same level al before the update (it doesn't jump automatically to the next comment, you have to click on it, but it's workable).

Report · Jul 01, 2022

To be more precise, I am working on a machine with Windows 10 Enterprise installed. The issue was caused by the latest update (received June 30, 2022), no new update available. Resetting the Acrobat Preference settings doesn't solve the issue. Please fix this!

Report · Jul 01, 2022

I have the same issue! I hope the Team will work out some solution, because it truly is time consuming and frustrating.

All the best!

Report · Jul 01, 2022

Hello,

I have shared the details about the issue with the team. I will update the findings at the earliest possible.

Regards,

Souvik.

Report · Jul 02, 2022

Thank you for your help. Just an FYI I am using version 2022.001.20142. I am using Windows 11 Home version 21H2 OS Build 22000.739

By the way, my experience with your telephone support at Adobe has been horrible. They keep emailing me that I "missed their call" eventhough there are NO missed calls on my phone from their number. Then when I point this out, they called my phone and let it ring once, then hung up (quicker than I could answer the phone), so that they could document a "missed call" but still without any possibility of them communicating with me. It is a real shame and very different than the support I am getting here, via messaging. Thank you.

Report · Jul 04, 2022

@Douglas250443993k1h Hi,

Sorry for the delay.

I have the details from you as well so that the team can look into it.

I will update the findings at the earliest possible.

Thanks,

Souvik.

Report · Jul 03, 2022

I have the exact same issue here, hitting the ESC button after writing a comment deletes the content of the comment. This has been correctly keeping the comment before (I guess this change in behavior came with the last update), but now it deletes it.

However, there is a workaround for this. I have realized that hitting ALT+ENTER after writing the comment closes the box and keeps the comment. These are now two buttons that need to be pressed, but it is still better than navigating with the mouse to the button.

For the developers: A good solution would be to have the action keys configurable in the settings.

Report · Jul 03, 2022

I tried that. It doesnt actually close the comment box like the Esc used to. It toggles off the comment box, but it doesnt close it. Thanks for trying though

Report · Jul 10, 2022

@Douglas250443993k1h Hi,

Sorry for the delayed response. The issue is already highlighted to the engineering team and will be fixed in the next update.

Thanks,

Souvik.

Report · Jul 11, 2022

Hi All,

Thank you for being so patient.

The behavior of Esc would be to discard any draft content typed in the comment box. To post the comment, either the Post button be clicked, or Alt+Enter be pressed. Further, a mouse click on the document will also post the comment. So, apart from the Esc key, all other ways to post the comment are retained.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

Report · Jul 11, 2022

I appreciate that information and your follow up however that is not what it is supposed to do. On the adobe website itself the Esc key (as a single key accelerator) should "Close or exit pop-up (or text field in the Comments List) for comment that has the focus" Prior to this glitch that is what it did. It no longer does that.

In fact, none of the suggestions you made actually close the comment pop up. Your suggestions essentailly just toggle the focus off the comment. That is not nearly as helpful as closing the pop uop without deleting the text.

And yes, clicking the x in the comment pop up does close the box but switching from your keyboard to the mouse is a Decelerator and signficantly slows down the workflow.

Report · Dec 01, 2022

Just restored account access to post on this issue.

This is a horrible design decision. Esc did not delete the comment box over years. Changing this behavior makes users delete their comment just because they use a key they are used to over years and creates a frustrating user experience.

I can understand a little bit why you want to change this function, but you're wrong: Esc should be the same as clicking the "x" box on the comment window. This is perfect for productivity, because you get the most common action at a single key press: you're done with comment writing, and you want to close away the comment (without deleting it, obviously). Alt+Enter is nice to have, and should, as you explain and as it does, behave like klicking the "submit" button (don't have the english version, so it might say a different word): exit the editing mode, but *leave the window open*. It is good to have a key combination for this, it's not what is typically needed so having a combination of 2 keys is fine. But it does not replace the Esc key. If you really want to delete the text you just typed, you can do that quickly (strg+a, del) in a combo that you will never press accidentally. If you want, you can also add a button for this.

But please: Keep Esc and "X" consistent - and don't make it delete anything. And if you really want it to,
1) give us a key for closing the window without deleting content
2) at least in the first half year of the change, maybe permanently, open an alert window that asks for confirmation if the comment really should be deleted.

Please don't frustrate your users - and don't simply ignore the activity in this thread...

Report · Jan 10, 2023

I literally just lost 4 hours worth of work writing a performance review on a PDF form. I typed and entire page worth into the form as needed, I couldn't click on the next field so I pressed the escape button and the entire document was instantly reverter back to a blank document. No way to undo or get what I just wrote back.

This is absolutely insane that they designed a PDF document to do this when the ESC key is pressed.

Fortunately, I'm in a position to completely cut all depencies we have with Adobe and this incident has now given me motivation to that. We'll be converting all of our forms to a different platform. I'm beyond done with the BS design flaws Adobe has been pushing out to users lately.

Report · Jan 19, 2023

Please le tme know what your experience on the different platform is (and what your alternative is). The non-response of the adobe hierarchy to what is clearly a mistake on their programmers' part is frustrating enough to motivate me to switch as well.

Report · Feb 25, 2023

Please vote as CRITICAL the request that has already been opened here:

https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/suggestions/45389335-hitting...

Report · Mar 15, 2023

I have the same problem. It is an ode to imbecility from whoever programmed this.

Report · Jul 17, 2023

I have the exact same problem and its driving me nuts. This happened after doing the latest update. the only way I can add text right now is using the edit text & images " add text" which is extremely cumbersome. I hope we get a resolution to the comment text soon.