New features summary | February 2021 release of Acrobat

Last updated on Sep 30, 2022 03:09:16 PM GMT

Acrobat with Adobe Document Cloud services is the complete PDF solution for working with your most important documents across desktop, web, and mobile devices. Update your Acrobat desktop app and mobile app, or sign in to Acrobat Web to experience the new features and improvements.

Acrobat desktop app

February 2021 release

Modernized bounding box: The solid bounding boxes for edit operation are now replaced with dotted gray lines that turn blue upon selection. You can also use the rotation handle at the top to rotate the content.

Modernized crop experience: The new circular crop handles improve the crop operation's legibility on high-resolution touch devices and makes it easy to crop content in a PDF. When you crop an image, the focused image is highlighted, and the cropped content is pushed to the background.

Crop image - New experience — New crop experience

Edit and Sign tools in the Chrome extension

In addition to Convert, Compress, and Export tools, the extension now also provides Edit and Sign tools. If you search for a PDF tool or operation in Google and the tool is supported in the extension, the extension prompts you to use the tool from a pop-up shown in the upper-right corner of the browser's window.

Note:

This new experience is shown only when either Acrobat Reader or the Chrome extension is installed on your computer and not Acrobat. Adobe is testing this new experience in the Acrobat Chrome extension. Therefore, the experience may not be available to all users.

SharePoint integration in the Chrome Extension (Windows)

When you open a PDF hosted on SharePoint in Google Chrome, and click the Open in Acrobat, or Fill & Sign button, the Chrome extension identifies the source location and triggers the file check-out process in Acrobat.

Note:

Adobe is testing this new experience in the Acrobat Chrome extension on Windows. Therefore, the option may not be available to all users.

You can now create a blank page PDF directly from the File menu. In Acrobat, go to File > Create > Blank Page.

Create a blank page PDF from the file menu

In Acrobat, you can now navigate the form fields using the Tab key in the authoring mode. When you press the Tab key, the blue highlight shifts to the form field in focus. If you press Enter, the Properties dialog of the selected form field is displayed.

When you resize the Acrobat window, the Page Display, Select, and Zoom tools appear on the HUD bar on the page instead of the options (...) menu in the toolbar. This makes room to view the Recently Used Tools and the Quick Tools in the top toolbar.

To move the tools back to the toolbar, click the Dock button.

Note:

Adobe is testing this new experience in Acrobat and Acrobat Reader. Therefore, the auto-undock option may not be available to all users.

The crash dialog on Windows is now enhanced for efficient log collection and crash reporting. The new dialog is displayed for all crash issues and scenarios where Acrobat force quits.

As Flash Player is no longer supported, the corresponding setting is removed from Acrobat preferences - Edit > 3D & Multimedia > Use Flash Player for playing 3D and multimedia content.

If you have Flash Player installed on your computer, and you open a PDF with flash content in Acrobat, you see the following prompt:

If you don't have Flash Player installed on your computer, and you open a PDF with flash content, you see one of the following prompts:

Warning when Flash Player is not installed

Flash objects like the RichMedia Flash content and the legacy Multimedia content will not play in the PDF, and you will see the following message:

You can now share an archived agreement as a link or send a copy to the intended recipient.

Acrobat Reader 64-bit for Windows is now available in the following geographies - Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. It drives faster, richer experiences due to the apparent advantages of a 64-bit application:

Efficiently work with multiple large files
Robust performance
More responsive

It also makes ways for future innovation and sets you up for devices with 64-bit-only hardware.

If you have Acrobat Reader 64-bit and you purchase an Acrobat subscription, the Reader 64-bit application will upgrade to become a fully functional Acrobat 64-bit application.

Note:

Adobe is testing the Acrobat Reader 64-bit application only in the select geographies. Gradually, the 64-bit application will be available in more geographies.

Accessibility enhancement: Screen readers now announce password strength

When you set a password to a PDF using the Tools > Edit PDF > Restrict Editing password dialog, the screen reader can now read the password strength and announce it.

Note:

This feature works for the Narrator app on Windows 10, version 2004 or later.
This feature is not applicable to the JAWS screen reader.

Change comment's color from the floating menu

You can now choose the Color of the selected comment from the floating menu without opening the Comment tool. This feature is available for highlight, strikethrough, underline, and caret annotations only.

Improved Export PDF experience

Multiple enhancements are made to the Export PDF tool resulting in improvement in the following areas:

Detection of hybrid and borderless tables.
Handling of rotated tables.
Background and overlapping objects (Z-order) processing in Microsoft PowerPoint.
Header and subscript detection in Microsoft Word.

Support for long path names on Windows 10

Acrobat and Acrobat Reader can now read, write, and save a PDF file on long path names beyond 260 characters on Windows 10 and later versions.

Handling preview of filled forms in Acrobat and Reader

When you fill a PDF form in the Preview app on macOS, it appears blank when opened in Acrobat or Acrobat Reader. The problem is fixed.

Get the latest Acrobat update - on the Help menu, click Check for updates, and follow the onscreen instructions to complete the update process. Not yet a subscriber? Start a 7-day free trial today.

Acrobat Reader mobile app

January 2021 and December 2020 release

iPhone and iPad

You can link your Microsoft Exchange accounts to show the PDF attachments you have received over email. The attachments are shown in the locations UI.

The new experience for tables enhances the overall PDF reading experience.

Fixed rendering of CJK (Korean) characters in the text annotations of Personal Commenting.
Fixed crashes reported by users in the Google Play Store.

IT administrators can now use the new configuration to restrict social sign-in in the application when deployed in the MDM environment.
Enterprises can now enable sign-in using a secured WebView that allows the application to access the device identifiers to authorizer a request.

Get the latest Acrobat Reader on your iPhone and iPad.

Android

The new experience for tables enhances the overall PDF reading experience.
Liquid Mode now supports Talk-Back, enabling users of assistive technology.

Fixed rendering and launch time issues reported by users in the Google Play Store.
Fixed Android 11 file opening problem.

The new preference in the app setting lets you choose whether you want to send the crash data: Never send, send once, or always send.

Get the latest Acrobat Reader on your Android device.

Acrobat Web services

January 2021 release

The new Split PDF service lets you split a PDF into multiple files online.

You can add password security to a PDF online using the new Protect PDF service. After the password is set, users must provide the password to view the PDF.

You can now see the Cloud storage usage indicator and related notifications to take action if required. The indicator, notification, or both are displayed at the lower-left corner of the Documents tab.