Adobe Acrobat Pro with online services is the complete PDF solution for working with your most important documents across desktop, web, and mobile devices. Update your Acrobat desktop and mobile apps, or sign in to Acrobat online to experience the new features and improvements.
Last updated on
Sep 12, 2023
Learn about new features and enhancements in the September 2023 release of Acrobat on the desktop.
Note:
To experience the new features immediately, update your Acrobat—on the Help menu, select Check for updates and follow the onscreen instructions to complete the update process.
Enhancements in new Acrobat
Reposition quick tools
It's now possible to drag the quick tools bar and place it as desired. To do so, select and hold the quick tool drag handle at the top with your mouse cursor and then drag it to the desired location. This helps bring the tools closer to the working area in large screen monitors or adjust the tool layout so as not to overlap with the document reading area.
Undo redo option in the top menu bar
When you perform any operation on the PDF, Acrobat now provides options to undo or redo changes. These options are conveniently located at the top menu bar for easy access.
Support for page labels
In the previous version, page labels could only be viewed below the page thumbnails and not in the right navigation pane. However, in this release, you can now view the page labels and numbers in the right navigation pane.
Additionally, the heads up display bar in a PDF also displays the page labels.
Enhanced page navigation, zoom, and display
The options to page navigation, display, and zoom are now optimized in this release to provide a seamless and intuitive viewing experience. Previously, accessing these features required using the hamburger menu (Windows) or the View menu (macOS). Now, these options are consolidated into a button in the bottom right rail. Key changes include:
- Single-click access: Easily find display, navigation, and zoom options via the bottom right rail button, reducing the need for the hamburger or the View menu.
- Default and expanded views: Initially, you see a condensed list of options. Select More to see additional inline options.
- Icon updates: Tool selection updates its corresponding icon in the right rail.
- Tooltips: Each tool features a descriptive tooltip for clarity.
- Scrolling: A scrollbar activates when menu content exceeds its maximum height.
Prompt to use Scan & OCR tool for a scanned PDF
When you open a scanned PDF, Acrobat detects and prompts you to use the Scan & OCR tool to convert the document into an editable PDF. To run OCR, select Start in the top bar prompt.
Note:
This feature is rolled out as an experiment and isn't available to all users.
Drag and drop to combine files
You can now drag multiple files directly into a PDF to combine them in Acrobat. When you drag and drop these files, the Open or combine files dialog box appears, prompting you to choose whether to Open the files or Combine them.
Pinned annotation tools for quick access and use
In this release, the annotations you use are pinned by default for quick access. This means you no longer need to repeatedly choose sub-tools from the quick tools panel.
New in-app Acrobat help
You can now access how-to instructions, videos, tool tours, and more directly within Acrobat's newly integrated help section, eliminating the need to visit external web pages for assistance.
Note:
Currently, the in-app help is available for Edit and Request e-signatures tools only in both old and new Acrobat experience.
When you use the Request e-signatures tool and require assistance, select Get help with e-signatures option in the Request e-signatures dialog box. A Help window appears, presenting a curated list of helpful articles.
Select the topic relevant to your needs, and the Help window displays the necessary steps. If a video tutorial is available, you can select it for playback.
Request signatures improvements
Improved request signatures experience for Teams and Enterprise users
Acrobat Teams and Enterprise users can now send documents for signature, even when logged in with a personal account. In the Request e-signatures dialog box, Acrobat shows a message at the top indicating that the document is now sent for signature using the org ID, not the personal ID.
Send agreement to self to sign or preview recipient experience
Now, you have the option to include yourself as a signer on an agreement. Acrobat prompts you to explore the send and sign process by making yourself the signer.
Once you've sent the document for signature, the confirmation screen in Acrobat presents these new choices:
- Sign this agreement: Choose this option to sign the agreement yourself or to view the recipient's signing experience.
- Resend this agreement: By choosing this, you'll be redirected to the Request e-signatures dialog box, allowing you to add more signers to the agreement.
Note:
Both options are visible when you're the sole signer of the document.
Enhanced tool suggestions for PDF forms
Upon opening a PDF form in Acrobat, the software identifies the form fields. Depending on the form type, it will recommend using either the Fill & Sign tool or the Request e-signatures tool. For forms that could use both tools, Acrobat offers a choice between them.
Rate and provide feedback for request signatures experience
Acrobat now prompts you to share feedback on the request e-signatures experience.
Choose the desired response and provide feedback.
Acrobat enhancements for team admins
Team admins in Acrobat now have direct access to the admin console within the program, allowing them to add, remove, or modify users.
Additionally, we've revamped the onboarding experience for a quicker and smoother start for team admins.
Copy, clone, and reset form fields
While designing a form, when you add a form field, Acrobat now provides you with two options – Copy Field and Clone Field. These options speed up the process when you have repeated fields. To use these options, do the following:
-
Add a form field to the PDF form.
-
Right-click the form field and do any of the following:
- Copy Field – Copies fields with the same properties but different filed names.
- Clone Field – Clones the field and its values. Changing the field value of one field will simultaneously update the values of other cloned fields.
- Repeat Field on All Pages – Select to add the selected form field to all the pages in the PDF.
To delete all the fields added to the form, right-click on the PDF and select Delete All Locations.
Stylize a PDF using Adobe Express
In this release, we have introduced Stylize this PDF tool. To give a professional look to your PDF, use this feature and do the following:
Note:
Currently, the feature is available only to Type 1 ACP users with the English locale in the new Acrobat experience.
-
Open a PDF and select All tools > Stylize this PDF.
-
Your PDF is saved to cloud storage, and the Adobe Express web app launches in your default browser.
-
Adobe Express uses the same login credentials you used in the Acrobat app. Use the online tools to refine and give your PDF a polished appearance.
- Stylize this PDF: Upload and modify your PDF in Adobe Express web application.
- Design a New Page: Start with a blank page and design it as you see fit before adding it to your PDF.
- Add Stock Images: Browse and insert premium images from Adobe Stock into your PDF.
New scroll framework migration on macOS
In the latest release, we've adopted the new NSScrollView framework on macOS, offering a modern scroll experience that appears while in use and eliminates extra space needs. The update enhances performance by about 70%, redrawing only the active scroll area for increased efficiency. For more information, see Acrobat scroll framework upgrades for macOS.
Create and share PDFs from Word, Powerpoint, and Excel
In the previous versions, converting and sharing PDFs from Microsoft apps like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel required multiple steps. With this release, a Convert to PDF & Share feature is available. This option converts the file to a PDF in Acrobat, generates a shareable link, and copies it. You can share the copied link with your desired recipients.
When you select the Create PDF and share via Outlook option, it generates a PDF and places its shared link in the body of the drafted email, ready to be sent to other recipients.
New option in the Home tab
Similarly, the Create PDF and share options are also provided in the Home tab of MS Office applications.
New option in File menu
From the File > Share > Send Adobe PDF for Review menu of the Microsoft application, you can now directly Create PDF and share link.
Also from the File > Share > Email menu of the Microsoft application, you can now directly Create PDF and share via Outlook.
New contextual tools while editing PDF
When editing a PDF, Acrobat provides the following contextual tools:
For text selection
- Adjust font size (increase or decrease)
- Underline
- Strikethrough
- Highlight
- Copy with formatting
- Cut text
Additionally, right-clicking the selected text includes:
- Copy with formatting
- Highlight
- Export selected text
- Redact text
For image selection
- Crop
- Rotate
- Delete
- Export
- Replace
- Redact
Additionally, right-clicking an image now includes the Redact Image option.
Reflowable editing support for PDFs containing asides and footnotes
In a document, asides are sections of content that are somewhat tangential to the primary content on a page. These sections typically have distinct backgrounds or borders with font styles and layouts that vary from the primary content. In this release, PDFs with asides are also qualified for editing. You can perform the operations like select, delete, cut, copy, and paste text, or resize the text box to reflow the content.
Note:
Currently, Acrobat doesn’t resize entire asides, or handle asides located in the center of the PDF or those that are particularly large.
Similarly, you can edit, cut, copy, paste, resize, or move text in the footnotes of a PDF.
Note:
Moving and resizing of bottom footnotes is not yet supported.
Enhanced screen reader capabilities with new cloud-based service
Acrobat now offers a cloud-based service enhancing screen reading for eligible PDFs. The cloud service understands the document's structure tags and reading sequence when you access a PDF using assistive tools. After analyzing, it prompts you to decide whether to use the enhanced cloud functionality. The new cloud-based service gives more accurate detailed results and automatically recognizes texts in scans, including:
- Heading levels across the document.
- Tables, with or without borders.
- Lists, including a list of lists.
- Reading order in a multicolumn layout.
To use the cloud-based service, enable the screen reader when a PDF is open in Acrobat and do the following:
-
In the Prepare document for screen reader dialog, select the Change screen reader options to change the reading option, else select Continue.
-
Do the following in the Reading options for assistive technology dialog box, and then select Confirm.
- Select Read the entire document, or Read current visible pages only from the Screen Reader Options drop-down list.
- Select Infer reading order from the document from the Reading Order drop-down list.
- Select the check box Make document more accessible using cloud-based service.
Note:Although the PDF is processed in the cloud, it isn't stored there.
For more information, see Enhanced screen reader capabilities with new cloud-based service.
Feedback for editing PDF experience
Acrobat now prompts you to share feedback on your PDF editing experience. Choose the desired response when prompted and provide feedback.
PDFMaker support for Microsoft Visio 64-bit
Acrobat PDFMaker is now compatible with the 64-bit Microsoft Visio in MS Office versions of 2016, 2019, and 2021.
Troubleshoot Acrobat crash
In the Acrobat crash dialog, select Learn more for steps to troubleshoot the Acrobat crash.
Adobe MAX
The Creativity Conference
Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online
Adobe MAX
The Creativity Conference
Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online