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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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Bevi Chagnon | PubCom.com shared this idea  ·   ·  Report…  ·  Admin →

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  • InstyButte Typesetting2 commented  ·   ·  Report

    I wonder if the CEO's kid came up with this. No one with actual UI experience could have created this abomination. Every day, I get more clients asking me how to use Acrobat Pro, and I keep telling them to Disable New Acrobat. Then they ask me why it was changed into something so utterly useless in the first place. Maybe Adobe wants out of the market?

  • Lifeng Kang commented  ·   ·  Report

    The new Acrobat interface is complete failure and messed up everything, wasting my time looking for the most basic functions such as 'scroll', 'take a snap shot', or 'insert pages'....

    Whoever has made this decision should be condemned !!!
    What kind of mad person could have done this?

  • Michael commented  ·   ·  Report

    A few days i tried again to communicate with Adobe about a topic concerning this topic:

    The quicktool bar does not exist anymore in the new layout.

    I have programmed many many icons gor stamps and acrobat dialogs for customers.

    In the new layout you can still use your code but the icons move to the floating bar on the left and they all look like pink lego bricks. So you have to use the mouse to hoover over to see what function is connected to which icon
    .

    So it took me 3 calls to find a halfway technical guy who was willing to understand the subject. And after having sent screenshots and a remote session.

    Additional adobe doesn‘t know their own program. The guy told me that they are not responsible for third party plugins.

    I could convince him that we are not talking about 3rd party plugins but about
    something being programmed with acrobat java script!!!

    the answer was: please write everything down on the user voice webpage.

    We cannot do anything more from here.

    Thank you very much

    That is so annoying how adobe treats their customers.

  • Ted Converse commented  ·   ·  Report

    @Luke, no, no-one is listening. This website is a joke.

    Why have a "user-voice" website if you aren't going to monitor it?! Oh, I know, so everyone can talk about how much your products suck, and advise everyone about competitor alternatives so we can all migrate away from your ****** company.

  • Eish commented  ·   ·  Report

    We spend a small fortune on annual Acrobat licensing to achieve basic business goals. It shouldn't take half a day to unsuccessfully insert a signature from an image file. Make a product that is functional or your customers will walk. We will not be renewing this year.

  • Robin Surface commented  ·   ·  Report

    Very well written and points out all the issues and irritations I came here to voice. Apparently, Adobe doesn't care AT ALL about any of this because it's nearly Aug. 2024 and they still haven't fixed any of this.

  • Denny Esford commented  ·   ·  Report

    No need Chris. Just disappointed that it fell on deaf ears.

  • Chris commented  ·   ·  Report

    @Denny Esford—Thank you for doing that. I would be happy to PayPal you $30-$50 for your efforts.

  • Jessica Jones commented  ·   ·  Report

    @Denny Esford someone recommended PDF X-Change. I haven't used it but seriously considering trying it. Evidently the only thing the Pro version does that the free version doesn't is create PDF files; if you don't need that, the free version might work for you. The free version evidently also has a trial feature in it where you can try the Pro features for a limited time, which should give you an opportunity to see if any features you might be needing are Pro-only.

  • Denny Esford commented  ·   ·  Report

    I am a solo lawyer. I do just 4 things with Adobe Pro: 1) read documents in pdf; 2) sign documents in pdf; 3) Bates stamp pdf documents; and 4) combine pdf documents.

    Can Foxit or some other program do all 4?

    I spent time and money several months ago to print out and FedEx some 300 negative comments (at that time) to the CEO and the head of Product Development. Crickets. If I can find an alternative to accomplish these 4 simple tasks then I am done with Adobe.

  • thomas groetz commented  ·   ·  Report

    I wonder what is going on in those responsible heads...............

  • Murray commented  ·   ·  Report

    @Adobe, at least reinstate the "Disable New Acrobat" option on the View menu and see how many people Google that and use it. That should be all the feedback that you need.

  • David Peters commented  ·   ·  Report

    Sorry, none of this is going to happen. Adobe will loose the professional market completely before they realize how utterly they screwed up for decades.

    ALL of these features, and truckloads more, are already present in PDF-XChange Editor.

  • Soren commented  ·   ·  Report

    To say it in the words of a famous meme: Your UI is bad and you should feel bad.

  • John Herzog commented  ·   ·  Report

    To be fair, it is only the #1 in all topics for Acrobat.

  • InstyButte Typesetting2 commented  ·   ·  Report

    To be fair, not that many people have voted or commented. I mean, it's only the #1 UI topic for Acrobat.
    Aaron King - Yes, that quick actions toolbar is a pointless piece of garbage. I use the old interface because of it.

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