I fully support the comments of Bevi Chagnon. I have been seriously disappointed with Acrobat for years, to the point that I feel like Adobe wouldn't even listen to me, discounting me as somebody who complains. But I'm not.

Most of the software I use works well. Sometimes there are issues and then developers fix those problems. Sometimes they change the interface and it's jarring, but I either immediately understand why or can figure it out over time.

But this? This is like Adobe contracted with patients in a mental health facility to full revamp their product. What possible benefit could come from switching the left and right panels? It doesn't even make any sense based on the way the program is used in most locations - select your page, highlight your text, choose your tool, left to right. Now we're going right to left? And that's just one of the egregious changes.

I'm 100% convinced that every change Adobe makes somehow benefits them, almost always to the detriment of the consumer. This is the only explanation for mysterious changes that make our jobs harder. If Adobe didn't have monopoly power, they'd quickly lose their position as the leader to any of the competitors Bevi mentioned above. I only use it because my IS department refuses to use another product.

That said, I still wish Adobe would get their act together, because I do HAVE TO use this product. There will come a point that this relationship cannot be fixed though, and I will only wish for Adobe to be pulled apart in some anti-trust class action suit. Actions like the "2023 Modern Look" being forced upon us with no warning will only hasten that process.

This is so disappointing guys. Seriously.

The thing that bothers me the most is point #1, with the left and right panels being swapped. I just don't understand how someone could think this was a good idea.

I totally understand that some people may prefer placing their tools on the right, espêcially for people using languages that read from right to left. If that was the intention, just make it an option! In pretty much any desktop application out there, menus and toolbars can be shuffled around and docked according to user preference.

Don't change the default layout unless you also give the user the possibility to set it back to their preference.

Basic common sense!

I just stopped my subscription to Acrobat because the update was so horrendous and went back to the Photography Plan only. I used to pay for both, and sometimes the whole Creative Cloud. I posted long ago when this discussion was getting started my opinion on the update. So glad we could revert to the previous interface.

I don't need Acrobat professionally (so sorry for all those who do and this has been so difficult for),

Wow. Awesome comment. Spot on. The best part, which still works in October 2023, for those who missed it:

[U]sers can revert to the old interface for now (August 2023).
— Windows: Hamburger Menu / Disable New Acrobat
— Mac: View Menu / Disable New Acrobat

Just dropped in to add another voice to the pile of pressure on Adobe to actually do their f***ing job for a change. This update is basically just force-feeding those of us on WORKSTATIONS the gimpy touch interface (it's not bad on a tablet).

Also, force me to deactivate and reactivate my workstation (which hasn't changed in 4 years) and see what happens, I dare you. How about you actually fix your BROKEN S*** before force feeding us features NO ONE ASKED FOR!!!

My suggestion is to keep the old Interface of Adobe, don't get rid of it. Allow users to switch to the old Interface if they want to and don't remove the old Interface revert option. Give users the option to choose whether they want to use the classic or modern interface during first startup of the Acrobat program after installation.
I agree, I also don't like the new interface, it doesn't make sense to flip all the controls and the loss of the labeled menu options (File, Edit, View, E-Sign, Window, and Help), plus the loss of the toolbar label was a deal breaker to me. It was super confusing to me when I received the update.

The new interface is awful. Why would you flip everything for no reason?

Thank you for writing this and articulating what we all feel. It is an awful "update"!

I am a proofreader for a print production team and use Acrobat 100% of my day to provide corrections and feedback to graphic designers. This new interface is completely unusable for my workflow and I immediately reverted back.

Agree with all of the above. Please do NOT make the new layout obligatory at any point.

Time and money would have been better spent on improving accessibility tools. Thanks, Bevi, for posting this and including how to disable this horrible interface.

I can't use the Magnet app to snap the new Adobe to the side of my screen on Mac but it works on old Adobe. Also, make the interface similar to the old one

This new version is awful. I can't fill in papework from my contractors. I have to go back to paper and scanning it in. I don't know what they were thinking. I assume these young inexperienced people that are taking technology backwards was also hired here. Please please get the old one back. I have noticed all our contruction contractors have also started moving to a different product. Thanks for making a great product into a disaster.

Put the thumbnails add function back so that one can merge images into 1 single pdf. And no, I refuse to pay for that. If you want me to pay, I'll use another tool that does that very well.

This has to be the worst product update I've seen in the last few years. There is nothing useful about this update, and it hasn't made my productivity any better. Rather, it has resulted in a waste of my time trying to avoid the frequent glitches and crashes and finding the way to revert to the old design. What a joke.

Hello! I dislike the new user interface. I am accustomed to seeing my basic options on the right side, we should have at least a choice as to what side these appear. My main gripe was that when organizing pages I could not find how to extract pages from a document. I looked everywhere I inquired everywhere but I could not find how. After reverting back to original layout there it was right where it should be. Granted changes to improve Acrobat should continue, but such a major overhaul of the interface is very jarring and disturbs everyone's workflow. Baby steps please.

Why mess around and move everything, when literally nobody asked for that?! Nobody asked for any of that. I lost time today with work because I couldn't even move a single text box! Why was that complicated?! I use this every single day for work; I contemplated quitting my job more than usual today because of this horrible experience with Adobe. So glad that I was able to go back to the old Adobe, I don't know what I was going to do otherwise. Cut your loss Adobe and count it as a fail, and hit delete on this new Adobe.

...this so called 'update' i mean really how could you actually create a product that doesn't allow files to be edited in any significant way....total loss on the user end

This 2023 update is the worst, Worse still than the last one (that we can revert to, but is still worse than the prior one. Adobe Acrobat (Not DC) was THE TOOL TO HAVE, we could not live without it even though our company tried to use other PDF apps because of the exorbitant cost. Now that Adobe has 2X unnecessarily messed with the interface, caused MILLIONS of HOURS of lost labor for their users and provided ZERO in improvements. It is probably time to go to some other application.

Maybe you are working (and betting the company livelihood) on AI so we don't even need the GUI interface anymore.. But for those of us working 60-80 hour weeks we DID NOT NEED THIS POORLY ENVISIONED AND EXECUTED update to cause us further difficulty and not being able to work efficiently. STOP CHANGING ACROBAT. LEAVE IT ALONE, STOP LISTENING to GUI designers changing things for the sake of change.

Thank you for the insight on disabling the new acrobat. It's awful!