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Acrobat for Windows and Mac: User Interface

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Ditch the 2023 User Interface in Acrobat

There are so many shortcomings and problems with the new 2023 GUI interface. Here are just a few:

  1. Swapping left and right-hand panels for no reason. This does not improve anything for users. It just forces users to change everything about how they work in Acrobat every workday.

  2. Functions are indicated by random icons. In the 90s, we learned that icons in software and websites don't work across different populations. Users have a difficult time figuring out what the heck they mean. Give text labels.

  3. The left panel is permanently positioned on the screen and obscures part of the document below. Seriously Adobe, WTF.

  4. The entire menu/panel system can't be customized, moved, or docked. Another WTF.

  5. Hamburger menus (those obscure 3 horizontal lines) are used on mobile interfaces to collapse menus. They are totally unnecessary and inappropriate on desktop interfaces — where working people spend most of their time working. Give people real menus with real names. "Menu" is not accurate, either. What is the name of the other menu to the right? Menu 2? Cheeseburger Menu?

  6. The new interface is inaccessible for those with disabilities who use assistive technologies, especially screen reader users. Adobe has seriously violated its VPAT with governments and corporations worldwide who are required by law to provide accessible work environments and tools.

  7. Grey on Grey is not an accessible color scheme. Can't tell if some icons are active or disabled. Those with low vision can't discern the icons.

  8. Digital signatures, Document Cloud (where Adobe stores your files by default), subscriptions, OCR, file creation, file combining, and accessibility all have reported major problems for the past few years...but rather than fix these critical problems, money was instead spent on rearranging the deck chairs on the sinking Titanic.

As long-time PDF consultants, my firm has found that the majority of customers are professionals who use Acrobat for their jobs. These are not "casual" users working on their smartphones. They are using desktops/laptops with full screens, not mobile devices to do their jobs. And they work with PDFs a lot.

They have developed actions and scripts to automate processes on dozens, hundreds, and even thousands of PDF files every day. These industries include print, prepress, graphic design, accessibility & remediation, accessible forms, variable forms, variable printing, data validation, financial institutions (think of all those bank statements every month!), health care, investment and finance, and manufacturing.

Dramatic GUI changes like 2023's completely change how these automated processes work...if they still work at all.

The cost to these industries to correct the now-broken processes — brought on by Adobe's whimsical, untested design idea — is appalling. If I was a major corporation hit by this unnecessary expense, I'd ban Adobe products from my company and look for another PDF vendor.

There are now many reputable competitors to Adobe Acrobat: See:
— https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-pdf-editors
— https://www.techradar.com/best/pdf-editors
— https://www.pcworld.com/article/407214/best-pdf-editors.html

Calling this Acrobat's "Modern Viewer" is a form of gaslighting Adobe customers. It's not modern at all — 30 years ago, using icons failed in software and web interfaces, and it's failing again with Acrobat 2023. Sometimes retro isn't good, especially retro user interfaces. Please don't attempt to bring back disco, old-fashioned 20 inch TVs, polyester suits, rotary phones and VHS tapes as being "Modern," too.

Ditch this "Modern Viewer" and instead give us a working tool to get our jobs done.

  1. Revert the interface back to what it was.

  2. Fix Acrobat's bugs. There are so many!

  3. And improve the accessibility for those with disabilities (who can't get to the Comments panel, Bookmarks panel, understand what and how much is redacted, make edits or change the content, scale/enlarge the interface, nor sign a PDF).

For those still reading this, users can revert to the old interface for now (August 2023).
— Windows: Hamburger Menu / Disable New Acrobat
— Mac: View Menu / Disable New Acrobat

I have no idea who long Adobe is going to let us revert to the "real" interface.

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  • OMan commented  ·   ·  Report

    sorry DB didn't mean to steal your thunder, I was having too much fun procrastinating and making fun of the bots

  • db commented  ·   ·  Report

    Looks like some humans have beat me to it!

  • David Peters commented  ·   ·  Report

    community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/meet-acrobat-studio/td-p/15465617

    I can't be-fuскing-lieve this shιt. AdoЬe is straight-up deploying two dozen robot bots to spam enthusiastic, fake-аss comments under their own goddаmn article.

    We need to screenshot every last one of these bullshιt endorsements and expose this сrap for what it is.

    This is the final nail in the coffin for that greedy pile of corporate horseѕhit; AdoЬe deserves to be obliterated for pulling this manipulative stunt. Let's bury these basтards.

    bit.ly/Acrobat-Uservoice-Interface
    bit.ly/TheSlowDeathOfAdobe
    bit.ly/HorribleAcrobatDC-2015

  • Kathleen Mattson commented  ·   ·  Report

    I get so annoyed every time I see that Adobe claims that this is "implemented"!

    I've replaced Illustrator and Photoshop with Affinity apps, but I am still looking for the right PDF app so I can replace Acrobat. My main need is to be able to work with comments that others have added. Any suggestions?

  • Kristine Griba commented  ·   ·  Report

    Hey db - Good idea! I say go for it! 👍🏻👍🏻 Then we can all go over there and 'like' it for you :)

  • db commented  ·   ·  Report

    Dying to drop a link to this thread on that page.

  • Charlie commented  ·   ·  Report

    You can probably break a few of them with a simple "ignore all previous instructions".
    Looks like a lot of Bots there.

  • Robbie Patterson commented  ·   ·  Report

    How many real life human beings in a row can use the phrase “this is a game changer” before things look as fishy as the app they are so in awe of?

  • Kristine Griba commented  ·   ·  Report

    Wish I could 'like' your comment, Philip... for all the 'collaboration' Adobe is espousing lately, we have none here in this forum.... can't even like someone's post let alone reply directly to it.

  • Philip Taylor commented  ·   ·  Report

    Kristine, I have read the comments to which you refer, and I am staggered by the similarity between them and the "reviews" which a well-known web authoring system came up with when I asked it to use AI to design a new web site for a soon-to-open Vietnamese coffee shop recently. Of course, we all know that Adobe would never sink to the level of getting positive reviews contributed by AI bots, but the similarity is nonetheless remarkable.

  • Kristine Griba commented  ·   ·  Report

    Y'all should read the comments on this post from September 18, 2025, entitled, "Meet Acrobat Studio" by Adobe employee, Tariq Ahmad.

    https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/meet-acrobat-studio/td-p/15465617

    The comments are sooooo positive and flowery about Adobe Acrobat, that it makes me feel like I'm not in reality. None of them seem to be experiencing anything like what we on this forum are experiencing. Truly bizarre.

    Interestingly, they appear to be new users, shocker... I've attached a screen capture.

  • Matt Carroll commented  ·   ·  Report

    I've used old CAD programs that have a more intuitive interface than the new adobe acrobat. Honestly, it's retro, and in a bad way; instead of following the idea that intuitive is good, it's turned navigation into something that requires either a lot of training or a lot of time to get back to a level previously taken for granted. Tool bars and menus are reduced to menus with miserable little icons [unless you enjoy going through and hovering over them in turn] locked in place in the the lower and upper right. My company enterprise version does not allow me to revert to the older version interface via the "hamburger menu, view, revert" sequence. Every few months I go back in to see if the users will get relief from the mistake that took this software back into the stone ages (interface wise). Other than that, good job.

  • Anne commented  ·   ·  Report

    I just really want to keep the tool bar across the top of the window. The floating menu is annoying and wastes my time.

  • Bevi Chagnon | PubCom.com commented  ·   ·  Report

    Adobe has said previously that they are continuing with the "modern" interface and will eventually discontinue the "classic" interface, or at least not develop for it anymore.

    I agree: they are not listening to their professional user base...the folks who re-up their annual subscriptions because Acrobat is the best tool for their workflow.

    "Modern" certainly is the worst interface design I've ever encountered, and not only have I taught UX/UI design, but have been a beta tester for Adobe and hundreds more software companies for 40+ years.

    One promising note: many other companies are developing PDF reading / writing / editing / etc. capabilities and hopefully one will develop the specific tools you need.

    Most browsers are working on doing a better job of opening and editing PDFs within the browser.

    Even Corel / WinZip now has a decent PDF reader / editor. See https://www.winzip.com/en/product/pdf-pro/ (Note: I don't receive any compensation from Corel / WinZip. This is just my personal opinion.)

  • Eddie Deighton commented  ·   ·  Report

    This feels like it’s way beyond just keeping a thread open. It’s more about a corporation (or a team/person within that corporation) disrespecting the consumer when there are recognisable issues with a product. A short, public-facing letter that can be posted across socials, LinkedIn, blogs, etc. may be the better way for this abomination to be resolved. Tagging in David Wadhwani and Deepak Bharadwaj on LinkedIn may help as well. How about this kind of thing?

    – Open Complaint to Adobe Regarding Acrobat’s 2023 UI Redesign –

    As a long-time professional user of Adobe Acrobat, I’m deeply concerned with the direction of the 2023 “Modern” UI redesign.

    The changes have disrupted established workflows, reduced accessibility, and stripped away customisation that professionals rely on daily. The decision to replace clear text labels with ambiguous icons, lock panels in fixed positions, and introduce mobile-style hamburger menus into a desktop workflow has reduced efficiency, not improved it.

    Even more troubling: the official UserVoice thread (“Ditch the 2023 User Interface in Acrobat”) with over 850 votes and thousands of comments has been marked as “Implemented.” This is misleading, since the requested solution — restoration of the classic UI or genuine user choice — has not been delivered.
    This isn’t just a UI debate. It’s about trust, accessibility, and respect for customers:

    • Professionals report lost productivity due to unnecessary interface changes.
    • Users who disable AI prompts and pop-ups find them automatically re-enabled.
    • Accessibility advocates highlight that the new UI risks compliance failures (ADA/WCAG).

    Adobe, your community has spoken clearly. What we ask for is simple:

    • Restore the classic UI as a permanent option
• Return workspace customisation and text labels
• Respect user preferences and accessibility standards
• Correct the misrepresentation on UserVoice by acknowledging that the issue is not “implemented”

    Adobe Acrobat is a cornerstone tool for countless businesses and institutions. Please listen to your professional users before trust is irreparably damaged.

    Maybe a formal complaint to corp-pr@adobe.com and/or ir@adobe.com containing similar content might work as well.

  • Luke Burton commented  ·   ·  Report

    God bless all y'all who still think Adobe gives a rats *** about any of us anymore. Im impressed you still have faith in the company

  • J. Jones commented  ·   ·  Report

    @Bhawna Arora this absolutely has NOT been implemented in any meaningful form, please unmark this as "implemented", because you're just demonstrating that Adobe is completely out of touch with reality.

  • Bevi Chagnon | PubCom.com commented  ·   ·  Report

    My REPLY To:
    Charlie commented · July 18, 2025 11:29 AM · Report

    @Bevi Chagnon and @Bhawna Arora,
    Please reopen this tread instead of marking it as "implemented".
    Marking it as implemented is a shameless way of taking this off the main page and meaning users are unable to vote for this further

    I'm just another user like you, as well as a beta-tester/pre-release volunteer. I have absolutely not control over this user forum.

    It's Adobe that has prevented anyone from casting a vote, which is different from adding comments to the post.

    It's at 853 votes, but the number of individual posts appears to be in the thousands.

    There are many more comments than votes.

  • Martin Sretr commented  ·   ·  Report

    Adobe, and especially the Acrobat team, is completely out of touch with reality. They don't listen to their customers and continue to prioritize their own ideas. With the arrival of Acrobat DC, everything has become worse and more complicated. It seems to me that even Adobe doesn't know what it wants from Acrobat. I remember the Acrobat XI UI with nostalgia.

  • Olivia Noah commented  ·   ·  Report

    Nothing has actually been implemented. Adobe seems to believe that simply labeling it as such will make the issue quietly disappear. The company now thrives on a rotten economy, and Acrobat has become its biggest casualty. Nothing has been improved, nothing has been fixed. You’re turning lifelong users of your apps into people who feel genuine frustration and resentment toward you. It’s astonishing.

    Revert and rethink—while there’s still a chance to salvage the little trust and loyalty you’ve managed to build.
    Team : https://digitaldriv.no/

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