A vital and missing part of the UX and UI teams’ ethos (and this fault lies far up the chain of command likely to the C-suite) is any emphasis on a user's existing habits, work flow, and speed. Any--and I mean absolutely ANY--change to the user interface should be well-documented and based upon how the software is CURRENTLY used by the existing (paying) user base/customers.
Lots of people care about getting things done, not how it looks. The carpenter doesn’t care how his hammer looks, he cares about how it works. Software is a TOOL and should be developed that way. Fix bugs first. Develop new features second. Work on aesthetics dead last. Perhaps silicon valley should fire execs and replace them with execs from businesses that serve the trades, like DeWalt. I promise they’re going to prioritize usability and durability first.

Because Silicon Valley is infected with “we know what’s best for you” kind of thinking, the only hope is that the UI team consider the following examples of questions that should lead UI development:

1. How does this UI change force the user to do something different to accomplish the same task? E.g., two more mouse clicks? Make it impossible to do the same way as before? (keep the functionality but make getting it done entirely different).
2. How ingrained are users' behaviors in their daily tasks for this particular change? If highly ingrained, repeated, and frequent, then that should weigh VERY strongly for either no change at all or a step-wise slow change over multiple generations of the software (I mean years’ worth). Forcing significant and widespread changes all at once or even rapidly is demonstrably harmful to users’ ability to continue using the same software effectively and efficiently.
3. Does this UI change increase user speed or slow it down? (Again, comparing to the baseline of existing users, not some new user.) More clicks? Less keyboard shortcuts? Less information displayed and now buried?
4. Are we wasting any screen space with the new change? What information are we now hiding/burying that will require mouse clicks, taps, or time for the user to locate in a different place? Does the user need to see that information while they’re working on the file/document? Does forcing the user to go hunt for the information obscure the document they’re working on?
5. Can we offer our legacy users a way to keep the existing UI while adding new functionality? Can we simultaneously offer a new UI to first time users? A “pro” UI and a “home” or “basic” UI? Do we really need to classify ALL users as the same so that there’s only one look and feel to the software?
6. Can we deploy the desired UI changes in a way that we can do A-B testing on BOTH existing users/customers AND new users? Those results should dictate—and I mean that in every sense of the word—the implementation. You don’t get to change the UI just because you want to. Users decide, not execs or devs. User preferences about the planned change may show it’s idiotic even if “pretty.”

A final suggestion for devs: I would love it if I could unilaterally "redesign" the developers' own software they use and see how they feel about that, and ensure they can’t use anything else but my redesigned software because that’s what the company says must be used. I can think of a great redesign for GitHub: we'll make it pretty with white background (none of that “dark” theme anymore), and increase the number of mouse clicks to download repositories, eliminate command line interface, sell the devs some other unrelated while we’re at it (save it in the cloud!), and force them and their bosses to pay me for that privilege because I'm the only game in town.

Substitute GitHub in the above example with any other dev software like Notepad++ and other platforms and the devs would be outraged, just as we users are. So stop it Adobe, just stop. Your UI team should be fired. Every one of them.

Again, we buy software to accomplish a task, not because we think it "looks nice."

Tried the new layout for a few weeks, and it still remains so much more clunky than the old system. Really happy the "revert to old adobe" button exists.

What is the point of a feedback site if you don't even monitor the comments. Where are you Adobe? With you heads up your ****?!

It's very rare that I can bring myself to join on online forum just to vote, yet here I am. This change from Adobe is simply bonkers. Surely they read from left to right too (so having the bookmarks on the right means that they are in the wrong place for them as well). Not expecting a change, but at least they might allow movement of the tool bar, bookmark bar etc.

So glad to see all of these opinions on the new update.
No idea what the developers were thinking when they made all of these changes. If it's not broke don't fix it! Previous version was just fine and then they broke it! Acrobat is no longer a productivity tool. It hampers workflow instead of making it better. Did they do Pilot testing with users on this recent update? I think not, because if they did they wouldn't have deployed the new version.
Please Adobe, for the love of all users of this tool, make it useful instead of crippling everyone!

I wonder, will anyone at Adobe venture forth to defend these changes once we hit 500 votes? I wonder if they will ever even acknowledge our complaints. I predict that they will simply wait for the outrage to die out and then get rid of the option to roll back to the old interface, then congratulate themselves for performing such a spectacular interface update.

Does anyone at all like the 2023 changes? I hate them! Why in the heck would anyone think that these changes are useful or even recommended? This disrupts the functionality for a 'clean look.' it is AWFUL. And now we have to go and find ways to turn it off? WHY CHANGE WHAT WORKS??? This isn't just resistance to change. The things that makes Acrobat Reader work as a reader are GONE. Difficult to find functions, no page numbers/remaining pages, the list can go on, but they are already outlined. I'm just adding my voice to the HATERS.

What a terrible idea this update is. I can't see anything to recommend it. Oh, hang on, perhaps it could be used as an exercise for learners to spot how not to design software.

I know it is natural to be annoyed when a change just turns up unannounced, and it takes time to get used to things, but I've given it a fair chance. There is NOTHING good about it. It just takes far longer to do everything, even once you have worked out how it is done now.

The opt out is the only thing that has kept me using this, as I don't believe the competition could be as bad as the new version. It is also worrying, as options are often temporary.

Come on, get this sorted. And get some decent user testing organised so you don't mess up this badly again.

I have been trying to get the updated version to at least 50% as good as the original, but, after weeks of trying, I have to give up. I cannot simply copy and paste from Adobe to a word doc any longer. It was easy before.

Is there a tutorial on how to work out a better way??

I also find the interface awful. Does anyone know a better system for copying pdf comments into a word doc?? I am about to delete adobe!

1. I totally agree that this new interface is not at all user friendly and totally frustrating. I also concur moving the tools bar to the left side is a total waste. Being that there is no option to change it back or at least make it "rotatable" is more than annoying.

2. I also agree icons need text. What is intuitive to one person is a total mystery to another.

3. Who needs the hamburger menu on a desktop version of an application- no one!

4.These changes seem to have made more to make it look like there's something "new" and "different" and "modern", than to really make the application better. Fix those aspects of the application that people as to fix or add something really new than to just frustrate users. Bottom line...this interface is awful. Anyone I know who uses this application has changed back to the previous version...horrible to think what will happen when we're all stuck with this terrible "update".

Michelle Gross Feb 3,2024

It would be an asset to be able to set "continuous scrolling" as an option. Having to change the view with each document is a burden and time waster.

It's February 1, 2024. Thankfully, I was just able to revert to the good and useful interface. I'm imagining a bunch of young, new hires who had NEVER used Adobe Acrobat (I use Pro) sat at a table and spit-balled the new interface, taking into account not one of the previous characteristics of the old interface. You know, just for fun. Just because they thought it was cool.

Please let those of use who actually use the tool have "our" tool back.

I gave the new UI a week. I tried to personalize the toolbars so they would be usable for me, however, tools I never use are not removable and the tools that I do use are not addable. Basically, you took functionality away from us and I cannot understand why. I reverted to the old version and am much happier. Do any of you have to share your screen while adding redlines? With the new UI it was so frustrating.

The new UI is almost completely unuseable, and that isn't because I'm some old dinosaur that can't get used to changes. Even if I did have the time to begin the laborious (and pointless) task of trying to get to grips with it out of necessity, it is crystal clear that it will never be as user friendly as the old version, and will always be more complex and time consuming to use. There are literally no improvements AT ALL, but a multitude of things missing and things that are soooo much more difficult to do. Just saving a file is now more time consuming. Seriously, who came up with this and thought it was a good idea?? Is Adobe secretly trying to get rid of all their users??

Ok, like everyone else after a week of lost productivity trying to give it a chance I have switched back to the better old, usable version as it's obvious that these are NOT changes that will be ok once you get used to them. They are major changes to the negative in the functionality and usability of the product. Once you find where things are hidden it is still multiple steps to get to often used functions with no way to make it better. And in some cases a few things seem to be completely gone. However, even after reverting I am finding that examining the metadata of a document displays way, way less information than the same document examined by another user who was smart enough to have the upgrade blocked and never installed it at all. This is unacceptable.

Hi,

I would like to report that the Thumbnails formerly present in the PDF Portfolio are missing. The portfolio is now represented just as a list.

After switching to the old UI, the thumbnail pan appears on the left side as it used to be, however, it shows only PDF icons, not the actual thumbnails.

Also notice that in the new "list" GUI the files are opened separately. When you switch to the old GUI you can browse through the files seamlessly. That is a crucial feature!

I will do a little investigation regarding this issue which impacts all of our customers who navigate themselves by the thumbnails in complex portfolios and subsequently I will refer them all to switching to the old GUI.

I hope I will be contacted ASAP regarding this inconvenience.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Martin Jezek

It seems that Adobe developers do not understand the sentence: “ If it aint broken, don’t fix it”, but do whatever they like and not what the customers like. Same applies for Adobe Photoshop with the “save” issue (not able to save in jpeg)

This new UI is awful. Going from a set of multiple organized menus to one massive, overloaded menu is a terrible user experience and should definitely be reverted.

This is not a case of "modern design" - this is just BAD design.

There are dozens of feature requests that more or less repeat this one, but with less information and often an angrier bent. I hope that, instead of starting a new request or complaint along these lines, people start to upvote this one, as it is the most comprehensive and has the most votes. Then again, maybe seeing the sheer number of different requests for reverting permanently to the old UI will have some effect on Adobe.

This new user interface "update" is one of the worst changes to a program the world has ever seen. Luckily, I found the option to revert back to the old interface because I was dreading to have to use Acrobat after the change. If this new interface is shoved down our throats and option to use the old interface goes away, I will no longer use the software. Focus your efforts on making sure your program runs perfectly and squashing bugs that have remained for several years.

Trying to improve the product is a gutsy call.

The first thing you should have targetted was to make the product fast and light.

Then, you need to give me the ability to turn on/off docker menus. For example, I want easy and direct access to hand, point/select, zoom tools without having to dig thru a series of sub menus.

Much like AI and other products, let us decide where we want and what we want to be efficient.