The current grey-on-grey UI with grey toolbar icons has been terrible from the day it was introduced. Acrobat had become very bloated with features, so Adobe's response was to add a poorly designed and unpleasant looking UI to try to organise the mess... but in doing so layered on an equally bloated UI that makes it virtually impossible to find or remember where your required tool has been hidden (much like Microsoft's ribbon) thus destroying the fast sub-conscious muscle-memory access to features that is a sign of great software. At some point they added a hideous blue Share button to the toolbar. It was such a bad idea people complained, so what was Adobe's response? Add - yes ADD - yet *another* toolbar menu option to switch to a less hideous icon, rather than simply make that the default! I will never understand why Acrobat was given this terrible toy UI, instead of being made to look exactly like all their other "flagship" apps, like Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign. Those apps have far more features than Acrobat, but remain useable by having a standard UI design.

Please Adobe!
Notice that most people do not use touch devices at all... Maybe for such monitors could be special big, finger friendly interface etc...

Now all are forced to use 'bigger' UI coz, assume it is easier to make one then bother with two...

Using soooo big menus, icons, tabs, bars etc is just waste of space. And it is also ugly.

Please take a look at Acrobat 9.5 interface... All was clear, easy to find and in its place...

I've upgraded to the newer CC & immediately see that the Acrobat DC user interface is horrible. All the comments here are accurate. The redesign is awful! As a professional designer, this is so sad to see.

Could not agree more. I *literally* just pulled my hair out trying to figure out a PDF signature. How is this even possible coming from Adobe? Signed, a UX designer.

I did a search just now for an Old Reliable, Adobe Photoshop CC because I'm frustrated with Software that can bring you to Mars and back with textures and effects but fails miserably when you want to work with layers and make your own photo border!! WTF. In my search for my 'Old Reliable' I saw my search of a few days ago, where I expressed betrayal, shock and disappointment with this greedy contrivance 'TOUCH'. I haven't been VACCINATED AGAINST ADOBE TOUCH and I don't intend to. I haven't been VACCINATED AGAINST ADOBE PHOTOSHOP either so I'm holding off 'till I find out how much ADOBE VACCINES are going to cost.

The new UX is infuriating. I want to select my tools from a regular menu. I'm really hating this unnecessary learning curve that's never going to get me to the efficiency I had with previous versions.

Why do the tools on move position depending on document? Muscle memory speeds up use of the software. If the buttons (cloud, print, zoom, cursor, hand, move page controls out of toolbar) change location depending on the document it interferes. And if I had vision problems between this and the grey icon on grey bar would be a nightmare.

Not only is the new interface confusing and more time-consuming to use than the old one, but it does not comply with Section 508 of the Americans With Disability Act, which requires that the federal government is supposed to be following in its software procurement process. Very few commands can be accomplished with keyboard shortcuts (or even with a series of them, as in Microsoft applications). As a result, it cannot be used with voice recognition software. Being forced to use the current version exacerbates my repetitive stress injury.

Adobe Acrobat DC is HORRIBLE! The UI makes it almost impossible to use to work with PDFs. Please, PLEASE, PLEASE! give us a way to go back to the UI of Acrobat Pro (Vers 8, 9 , 10 for Mac)... I thought Microsoft set the bar for HORRIBLE software back when it introduced "Mr. Clippy," but Adobe broke what was otherwise a great product. HELP!

I have to agree that the Acrobat DC user interface is horrible. OTOH, the app now performs so poorly that perhaps managers decided to match function and form in a "creative" way. I recently tried to create a form, but had to give up--Acrobat would not let me save the created form (after numerous odd behaviors along the way--it's clear very little testing was done).

Asterion, I am sorry, but I think you are absolutely correct. I think many of the programs that are made these days are designed for looks and to entertain programmers--with NO consideration of how they are or will be used. I often wonder what programs the people at Adobe and Microsoft use. If they used their own programs, I don't think they would design them this way.

This is just another example of why the software industry is largely broken, from a customer perspective.
They don't give a sh*t about users — they no longer have to. They are a monopoly. Look at what Adobe did to Macromedia and Freehand. You have competition? Buy them up and shut them down. Who has the option NOT to use Microsoft Word these days? And they know it. So the days of the big software companies giving a toss about what users think are over. They can tinker and dabble and mess around with 'neat' UI designs all they want. These companies now exist to entertain their overpaid coders. (and they are 'coders', not 'designers'. No trained designer would have come up with the abortion that is the current Acrobat interface).

I completely agree. The UI is awful, uses up far too much space. And why, oh why did they add more bars at the top, reducing our vertical viewing space. If I have comments open (OMG, it takes AGES for comments panel to open) then I can no longer view a full size A4 page on my 27" monitors.

It is also very unintuitive to use and navigate. The whole programme is SO SLOW as well, what have they done?

Please get rid of this useless UI and move back towards the simple (and quick) UI of 9.5 or X.

Please bring back Acrobat 9.5 interface!

Acrobat has almost always had a bizarre interface but yes, this current one is the most absurd ever. It is baffling beyond belief.

I agree. Acrobat DC is horrible. It seems like a web page instead of a full, professional application. I am only using it now because Catalina no longer will run the previous versions. It never has been a very convenient program to use (very dated, for years...decades?) and now even more heinous.

After being a long time Acrobat 11 user, I bought Acrobat 2017 because that's the last 64 bit version that does not require a subscription and I wanted to upgrade to macOS Catalina.

And now I'm stuck with this nightmare of a childish UI.

Whenever I'm using it, I'm reminded how bad UIs can get and why I will refrain from spending any money on Acrobat in the future...

What a terribly backward move, Adobe!
It is counter-intuitive moving up and down a document using left and right arrows.
The arrows only move one page at a time. I need to move multiple pages at a time in long dox.
How to I navigate to the beginning and end of a document instantly?
Where did the TOC go?
It only minimally responds to the scroll bar on my Microsoft mouse

Things are at their very worse with Abobe currently. Think you're getting away with murder? You guys are going to pay for blooding your customers.

I have to click on 3-4 things to do simple operations like crop. Using Acrobat for 20 years this has to be bar far the least usable version. I cringe everytime I know I have to use it.