@all, be prepared that the improvement of the user interface will NEVER happen.

Adobe will inevitably continue to totally and utterly 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘄 Acrobat (although hardly imaginable, but wait and see for yourself).

So, not much to see here for the next 50 years.

Anyone looking for the world's best PDF software for professionals, look no further than to Tracker Software in Canada.

In the meantime, lots of entertaining reading material here from thousands of users hating the abysmal childish slow buggy rubbish interface of Adobe Acrobat:

https://bit.ly/Acrobat-Uservoice-Interface
(this is a shortened link to the search result page in this Uservoice forum)

@Kelly Pettyman
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

What the **** happened! OMG They really went and screwed up Adobe!
Please please please please please get rid of this ********* version! It was just fine the way it was now I cannot find anything and my job counts on this software!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate the new interface. Thankfully, I found a forum that explained how to switch back to the original. It would be helpful to: 1.) Have the original as the default and the new interface as the option and 2.) Have a toggle button easily accessible to switch between the views. I lost a great deal of time on work projects because I could not figure out how to use the new interface.

Turning off auto updates (via Preferences on the Mac) and disabling new version hasn’t stopped Adobe fiddling with scroll bars and messing with the UI on the classic version. I honestly wonder if there’s an engineer who has been installed by a competitor to sabotage this product, the updates and PR from it is THAT bad and the useless generic responses in broken English from the nodding heads on Adobes forums don’t help much. Always worth looking at who and what a product is for before working on it, and Acrobat Pro is for prepress, Repro and artworking - is there a solid alternative? This damages Indesign and Photoshops standing too…

I agree with the complaints regarding the new interface. Lest you think users are just complaining for sport, I missed a deadline trying to use the new interface because I could not figure out how go back to classic. Oh yeah, and lost that new client. Instead of sharing my opinion on the new interface and its surprise launch (words that would make a longshoreman blush) … Do this: the file should open in older/classic interface and the user can select to use the new one. It should have never been the other way around. Obviously, you are caught up in your nifty new creation and totally missed what’s most important…Your Business Users’ time and money. Show your creation to mommy and daddy before you let it loose on millions of people.

The new "simplified" interface is bad. I can write a book about why it's bad but that is not my job. Just stop. You knew this was a bad Idea since you have the option to revert back to the classic view. The new view is useless, it is worse than any other competitor. You disable that option and people will either switch or download old version of your software.

I am adding my vote to reverting to the previous version of Acrobat, which works well without major issues. The same cannot be said about the updated user interface. Personally, my biggest pain point is the bookmarks side panel, which moved from the left side of the screen to the right, swapping places with the tools side panel. This is completely ineffective and counterproductive, especially when it comes to working with large documents with a long table of contents that needs to be referenced repeatedly. Western cultures/languages that use the Latin alphabet read from left to right. This is why all LMS systems and e-learning modules also follow this layout: table of contents on the left, detailed content on the right. For this reason, and so many others, please revert to the previous version, and/or consider one of the following fixes in your upcoming updates:

1. Make the interface configurable where elements like the side panels (bookmarks, pages, comments) as well as the tools can be set to display on either side of the screen, making it a user choice.

2. Provide the option of floating windows for the side panels (like so many other Adobe products like Ps, Ai, etc.)

3. Move the bookmarks, pages, and comments side panel back to the left, while leaving the floating mini-toolbar on the left (as it appears in the new layout).

4. Revert to the original layout (bookmarks-pages-comments on the left, tools on the right). This is still the best and easiest fix, even from the perspective of the Adobe developer team, and it would help our daily workflows immensely.

In all cases, thorough user testing an feedback is critical before releasing to the public. Especially before any major updates like this one. As mentioned by the author and so many of the voters, businesses and livelihoods depend on how well our tools work and serve us. This massive outpour for a resolution could have been avoided completely with a bit of planning and forward thinking.
Thank you!

It seems that the people who were put in charge of redesigning the user interface have never actually had to do any real work in Acrobat. I've turned off all auto updates.

For those frustrated Acrobat users who are looking for a way to truly have a customizable workspace, check out Bluebeam Revu. It has many of the features that Acrobat users have been begging for for YEARS. It's designed specifically for the AEC industry.

Revu such a great program that I even went installed Parallels on my Mac for the sole purpose of being able to use Revu (instead of Acrobat) for my PDF commenting needs.

Little by little, Acrobat is whittling down its useful capabilities and alienating its users along the way. It's a sad and frustrating experience for those of us who have worked with Acrobat for decades.

Yes, and for all the many more years it will take Adobe NOT to fix this, but instead go out of business, you can read the below linked thread for some entertainment. That thread is almost ten years old, and things have only gotten much worse since then, although at the time this was hardly imaginable.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/acrobat-dc-so-horrible-it-s-making-me-want-to-cry/m-p/7112345

...and the hundreds of entries here at Uservoice about "Fix the childish ridiculous unusable slow buggy abysmal user interface":

https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/filters/top?category_id=195451&query=terrible

Add my vote to the "this was a bad idea" column. The amount of change in this update (with no warning or guidance for users) has forced professionals like me to waste time and money just trying to get our work done. I have serious doubts this was done to make the program easier for users.

So much has been changed for no good reason. I waste time trying to navigate the new interface to find menu items and tools that I knew intuitively. I can't seem to get anything to work! I've reverted to the old/better interface!

I like how the new version saves some vertical screens pace with the new tabs and the menu button, but beyond that it's unusable. Bookmarks need to be on the left like they used to be. Tools need to be hidden as much as possible. Seems clear the goal with this new version is to shove the tools into our face in the hopes will spend some $$$ on them. You force this new user interface on me and I'll just uninstall Adobe Reader and either use Edge for PDFs or look into a competing product.

Hey Adobe! Wasted your money in creating the new interface by removing the old one that works and does its job. REMOVE THIS NEW UPDATE. IT IS USELESS,HAS A LOT OF BUGS AND IS FRUSTRATING TO USE!!!

Full of bugs, VERY slow, crashes with large files and just plain awful. I'm wasting time I don't have. Ditch it and go back to the previous version please.

Who ever had the idea to change a very intuitive platform to a frustrating one should be fired. Arranging more than 4 docs is very frustrating and takes forever. Combining files doesn't work very well anymore. You can't add another document to your file after you load one in, getting the signature to add is a 2 step process now........What the heck!!!!! This is so frustrating and I will cancel and subscribe to another service if it's not fixed. grrrr

I waste more time trying to navigate the new interface then actually getting any work accomplished. I can't seem to get anything to work! How is this more efficient? Why fix something that isn't broke? Maybe work on the current bugs before screwing everything up! Basically, this is a expensive Acrobat Reader in it's current state.

As a forensic video analysis I use PDF flip books to illustrate sequential video frames because unlike video, I can move frame to frame and forwards and backwards-which you can't always do with video players. I can zoom in and turn on and off grid lines and rulers if need be. The new UI is terrible to explain to clients whom I've sent the flip books to. Now not only do I have to provide instruction on how to go full screen I have to provide them instruction on how to turn off the kludgy confusing UI.

Also, I found that there is a limit to the number of pages I can create before the pdf writer eats up all of my hard drive space. When you deal with video frames that could mean thousands of images with one image per pdf page. I've found a program that creates lossless pdf images/pages 50 times faster and doesn't **** out your hard drive space. The program is call ADAPT (Advanced Digital Analysis and Presentation Tool). It's inexpensive, crazy easy to learn and can export out uncompressed PPT slides as well. No limits like PPT currently has. You can find out more by visiting YottaGeek.com. How do I know this? I helped design and beta test the program!

Ed
vcnw@comcast.net

While I've seen Adobe take bold steps in the past, the recent UI overhaul on Acrobat was unexpected. Many users, including myself, have become accustomed to the previous UI over two decades. A sudden change can disrupt workflow and efficiency. I understand the need for innovation, but providing users with a choice between the old and new interface might have been a smoother transition. Adobe is supposed to be renowned for its design sensibility, but usability should always be paramount. I hope there's consideration for user feedback in future updates. Our team has lost significant time ensuring we all revert the application. (By the way, under View, you can select "Disable New Acrobat." In the meantime, I will explore other options because I fear Acrobat has lost touch with its core users.

This post is exactly right. This is not a case of users being unwilling to adapt. It is change for cosmetic reasons which don't make practical sense.