I posted a critique earlier of Acrobat’s new UI, particularly the clumsy way users have to move in and out of the AI Assistant and navigate between different workspaces. After spending more time with Acrobat 2026, however, I want to walk back some of those criticisms. I’m beginning to view this release a little differently.

Perhaps Adobe might have been better served by releasing Acrobat 2026 as a beta. I’m sure the development team is continuing to refine the program, and hopefully we’ll see improvements soon. That said, Acrobat 2026 includes some remarkable advances.

One improvement addresses something I’ve been asking Adobe to do for nearly two decades. The new Tools panel and floating Tools Toolbar may be among the most significant workspace improvements Adobe has made in years. Users can configure the floating toolbar with the tools they use most often while relying on the All Tools panel for everything else. Together, they provide a flexible and nearly complete workspace for virtually any task.

I would still like to see a few improvements:

Allow the floating Toolbar to expand into two vertical columns, with a preference setting for choosing a single- or dual-column display.

Allow the Toolbar to float over the All Tools panel on the left, freeing up a little more valuable workspace.

Add a menu command for saving custom Workspaces. Someone working extensively with forms needs a very different workspace from someone creating interactive PDFs, conducting document reviews, preparing files for commercial printing, or working with dissertations and reports. Let users configure Acrobat for a particular task, name that workspace, save it, and return to it whenever needed.

Another very nice addition to Acrobat 2026 is PDF Spaces. For anyone working on projects that require access to multiple files, this new feature can be a real blessing.

Acrobat AI Assistant is the beginning of something potentially wonderful, although it still needs improvement. I’ve run several experiments comparing JavaScript queries in Acrobat AI Assistant with the same queries in ChatGPT, and so far I’ve found ChatGPT considerably better at producing the code I need. With AI Assistant, I sometimes had to struggle through several attempts before arriving at workable JavaScript routines. The feature holds tremendous promise, but it still needs some refinement.

The most important improvement Adobe needs to make, in my opinion, is making it easier for users to move around the Acrobat workspace and transition between different tasks. For example, when working in PDF Spaces, getting back to a normal document-editing environment can sometimes be unnecessarily difficult.

The AI Assistant can also consume as much as 70 percent of the workspace. That may be fine when I’m actively using it, but when I’m working on a document, I want it out of the way. A simple Close button would solve much of the problem. Having a button available to open AI Assistant whenever it’s needed makes perfect sense—but let us completely dismiss it when we’re working on documents and don’t need AI assistance.

The Home screen could also use some simplification. Right now, it feels a little like a novice graphic designer trying to fit War and Peace onto a postage stamp. The Recent Files list is useful, but I’d trim down the rest of the Home screen and give everything a little more breathing room.

There also appear to be some bugs that need attention. After working on documents and then entering a PDF Space, for example, clicking the Home button sometimes does nothing.

In short, I believe one of the most important things Adobe can do to gain broader user acceptance of Acrobat 2026 is improve the way users move around the workspace. Navigation between documents, PDF Spaces, editing tools, and AI Assistant needs to be simple, intuitive, and painless.

We all know Adobe is heavily focused on AI features right now, and there’s nothing wrong with that. AI Assistant has enormous potential. But it shouldn’t overwhelm the Acrobat experience. Give us the Assistant when we need it—and let us completely dismiss it when we don’t.