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Acrobat Feature Requests

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Enable Single Window Mode in Acrobat 9

Sep 1, 2008 9:13 PM

Please re-enable the Single Window (MDI) Mode in Acrobat 9 as it is an un welcome user experience of having dozens of Acrobat windows open in the taskbar. I can suggest to have either of the following:-

1. Give an option to the user whether to open the multiple or single Acrobat windows as is the case with Acrobat 8 with "Preferences->Documents->Show Each document in its own window"

2. Introduce tabbed browsing in Acrobat similar to the one implemented in IE 7.0 to have multiple PDFs opened in a single Acrobat window.

Thanks,
Atin

17049 Views 71 Replies Latest reply: akioo9, May 9, 2013 4:59 PM

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1. Polda1,

Sep 1, 2008 10:39 PM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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Yes please, bring MDI back in any form.

Thanks
Polda

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2. steve_foxall,

Sep 2, 2008 3:40 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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Ditto: unlikely to move from v8 unless implemented.

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3. (Jim_Platania),

Sep 8, 2008 7:54 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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What on earth were you thinking??? Please enable single-window mode!!!

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4. (Pat_Ryan),

Sep 11, 2008 8:37 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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Please bring back MDI. Multiple windows is unacceptable. I just deleted V9 and won't recommend it for our firmwide installation until this feature is added.

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5. (Glenn_Catlin),

Sep 11, 2008 5:16 PM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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We have 140 Acrobat Pro licenses here, and if you think the loss of MDI is bad on a single monitor system, I can tell you that it's far worse in a dual-screen environment. For our dual-monitor folks, they can hardly do their job anymore. Acrobat 9 without MDI in a dual-monitor environment does not behave in a way that makes sense.

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6. Bill@VT,

Sep 11, 2008 7:41 PM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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I do not know if the /n command line parameter still works in AA9, but it might be worth a try to get around the issue you are all having. I do not do enough for it to be an issue for me. If it works, you can simply add it to the AA9 start up icon. Then open the new file in the new AA9 window. It may be worth a try since it seems to be a big problem for many of you. The work flow may be a bit different, but it might help you.

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7. (Matt99),

Sep 12, 2008 9:12 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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We will probably no migrate from Acrobat 8 unless this feature becomes available. This feature was essential for some in-house programs to work correctly, and it's also a management preference for viewing PDF documents.

We too use dual monitors for all employees, and not having this option makes things difficult.

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8. Bill@VT,

Sep 12, 2008 4:30 PM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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Apparently you did not try what I suggested. I do not know if it works in AA9, but I suspect that it does. It used to be that there were no dual screen uses of Acrobat, but there was the option with the /n on the command line. I just tried it in AA8 and it is still there. I suspect it is there in AA9 also, you just have to make a little effort to take care of it. Bill

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9. LoriAUC,

Sep 17, 2008 8:10 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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Here is some background on why MDI support was dropped in A9:
http://blogs.adobe.com/acrobat/2008/09/mdi_vs_sdi_in_acrobat.html

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10. Atin Wadehra,

Sep 18, 2008 11:07 PM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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I tried this option in AA9 but its not working. Believe its something to do with Preferences->Documents->Open each Document in its own window setting thats there in AA7 and 8 but not in AA9

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11. (John_Stroy),

Sep 20, 2008 4:59 PM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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The technical reason is compelling; however, they are not "technical limitations." MDI needs to stay; it makes things significantly easier for me as well.

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12. (CarlB),

Oct 2, 2008 4:30 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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I, too, miss MDI.

The points raised in the "MDI vs. SDI in Acrobat" document seem to indicate Reader 9 is for the benefit of Adobe and MicroSoft. Which is rather odd, since I thought it was the user who used it. And as a software designer and developer I've always believed that the point was to make the users life easier not give developers and testers an easy ride.

Someone at Adobe deserves a rocket and should get their priorities sorted.

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13. (derdas),

Oct 5, 2008 5:18 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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I really miss MDI, since it is more convenient to switch pdf documents windows using "Ctrl+Tab".

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14. (Burton_Gamble),

Oct 21, 2008 11:03 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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All the other new Adobe CS4 products in the Design Premium Package I have use a Firefox (or IE7 if you are still in the stone age) tabbed MDI viewing style. Why doesn't Acrobat 9?

Bring back single window mode NOW!
(or make it use tabbed document viewing like CS4/Firefox/IE)

Please!!!

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15. (Tim_Bohn),

Dec 8, 2008 10:07 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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In the US Courts system, MDI is a must. We open multiple PDFs at a time and to have all those instances of Adobe open is unrealistic. It slows our productivity down and cost the government money. Please bring back MDI support in an update to AA9.

Thanks

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16. (Dustin_J),

Dec 10, 2008 2:06 PM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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This was done to save money on testing??!? We have 1000+ licenses and are now severely inconveinenced because Adobe decided to save a couple bucks?

Restore this feature in the next AAP9 update. It's ridiculous, new versions are supposed to add new helpful features. Not take away useful ones.

Dustin

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17. (Philip_Freeman),

Dec 31, 2008 6:22 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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b Please bring back MDI!
I agree with the above postings that this is a waste of time and I can't believe the time it took to find this posting to explain why Acrobat is moving backwards!

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18. (Daniel_Friesen),

Jan 26, 2009 2:13 PM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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Absolutely, MDI must be restored. A lot of my use of pdf consists of flipping back and forth between documents, and SDI has just added a huge amount of time and frustration to my day. Two thumbs down for Adobe, for choosing to ignore the customer.

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19. (Robert_Scholten),

Feb 3, 2009 6:11 PM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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I don't care about MDI and SDI. I just don't want my desktop littered with all the documents I open. I don't care how, just make them all disappear bar the (active) one I'm reading. Please.

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20. (Rob_Cavicchio),

Mar 5, 2009 8:00 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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Over the past few years, browsers have implemented tabbed browsing in order to allow you to view several Web pages in a single window. I love this, because it reduces clutter on my taskbar. It provides for the Web browser the same logical hierarchy of tasks that has been around for other applications since the early days of Windows--first choose the application, then choose the document. If you think about it, this is a lot like organizing files within folders.

At the same time, with the dissolution of the MDI interface, some applications are now moving in the opposite direction, which makes absolutely no sense to me. Are they actually seeking to increase clutter? Going back to the file/folder analogy, this is like getting rid of folders and forcing me to store all my files in a single folder. It's ludicrous.

Adobe, please, bring back MDI. This is not just a "nice-to-have". It is a critical feature for those of us who do any significant amount of work with PDF files.

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21. steve_foxall,

Mar 5, 2009 8:51 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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Just bought NitroPDF for one of our office members where we only needed pdf conversion functionality, digital signing of submitted forms, and stamping (all of which it accomplishes without fuss).
Haven't explored which of the 'bells & whistles' Acrobat functions it can't manage yet, but it has a nice implementation of tabbed browsing, and cost £45 instead of £400. Watch out Adobe.

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22. wallanbrook,

Apr 24, 2009 7:56 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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This is the worst thing to happen to acrobat, in my opinion.

The clutter that it creates on my computer and the fact that i cant even see the document title when I have a bunch of them open (because the task bar is too full) is unacceptable.

I never would have changed from Acrobat 8 if I had known, and now I cant switch back (company license).

The latest thing i can find about addressing it is here:

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb405108&sli ceId=1

which was in november 2008....

why hasnt any thing else been done about it? I just spent 45 minutes being sent to different departments over the phone, only to be told to submit a feature request.

Please do this if you havent already:

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

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23. woody2009,

Jun 24, 2009 9:24 AM in reply to wallanbrook

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24. jerryzak,

Jul 18, 2009 7:28 PM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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Please count my vote as well - LET US HAVE A CHOICE - allow for both.

An Acrobat user since ver 4.

I use ver 9 for for new functionality, but I still keep ver 7 on one machine as assembly of multi-page, multi-source documents is more efficient for me when done within a single application window.

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25. Roberta23345,

Sep 14, 2009 11:00 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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I just finally changed AR 8 to 9.1. And now I feel rather frustrated, finding myself in this thread after 20 minutes of search for the most obvious Adobe setting - to being able to read and keep open multiple documents, while avoiding screen mess!
Right now the message from Adobe to me is - bury any pdf as deep as you can and open or read pdf only when it really is important and you can't live without it anymore.

But I see now, that this thread is over 1 year old and indeed, it's difficult to believe, that Adobe Reader single window option still isn't available in version 9.1? If it still isn't in 9.1, what you folk have done, switched to some other competitive pdf reader?

Robert A.

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26. digitalsteel,

Oct 5, 2009 6:35 PM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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Absolutely!!! please re-enable MDI in Acrobat 9 -- I read the article explaining the reasons for doing this ( http://blogs.adobe.com/acrobat/2008/09/mdi_vs_sdi_in_acrobat.html ) but I am sure Adobe can manage to overcome -- who cares about compatibility with the Mac anyway ???? I work with both Mac and PC and do most of the Acrobat work in the PC.

Please please PLEASE re-consider and bring back MDI in the next update!!!! it is essential for imposing documents with Qi and also for applying batch commands over many files.

thanks

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27. grafixdeziner,

Dec 21, 2009 9:40 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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Why on earth would you take this feature out. Nothing more annoying than a million PDF windows
opening up all over your screens. Especially for me as I use multiple screens they pop up everywhere!

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28. ayanzen,

Jul 5, 2010 11:28 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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You guys are SO GOD DAMN STUPID for eliminating that MDI feature.

MAKE A GOD DMAN PATCH AND BRING IT BACK NOW, A******HOLES !!!

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29. OppfinnarKnullare,

Aug 21, 2010 10:36 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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http://blogs.adobe.com/acrobat/2008/09/mdi_vs_sdi_in_acrobat.html
"In Acrobat 9, we dropped support for MDI."

Not a good idea!
Now, please let us have it back.
You have to realize that you break peoples work flow with this ill-thought-through change.

"Feature Parity with Macintosh was desired" -- Not a valid argument from a windows-user point-of-view
"Making SDI default, but still providing MDI in version 8 was done to start the deprecation of MDI." -- That trick didn't work, re-enabling MDI was the first setting I changed in Acrobat 8 (and actually Acrobat 8 broke so many other things, I quickly reverted to Acrobat 7).
"Microsoft advised that to work as good as possible on Vista, applications should avoid MDI." -- Microsoft is not the user, we are! Besides, many W7 users reset their desktop to classical.
"This increases the cost of testing the product and the cost of fixing bugs." -- So it's easier on Adobe, but bad for us... is that an argument at all?
"in a world where larger screen resolutions, multiple monitors and the need to see multiple documents at one time has increased, SDI mode offered higher benefits." -- As someone else already mentioned, on a multi-monitor system SDI is flawed.

So... now that you consider reverting to MDI, please also introduce tabs, that's the only thing MDI applications typically lack, though things are improving.

EDIT: People been asking for this since 2008! Come on, already...

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30. EdGioja,

Nov 5, 2010 10:44 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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We automate some Acrobat processes using the jsobj and adi. All of a sudden I have 50 open acrobat windows (It won't open more than 50...though it's trying really hard)?!?!? PLEASE bring back the single window optoin!!!!

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31. Dave Merchant,

Nov 7, 2010 2:51 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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For clarification, the user interface in Acrobat X retains the Acrobat 9 SDI structure. Many of the arguments outlined in the original Acrobat Blog post still stand.

As the new Tools Pane and Quick Tools bars are fixed within the application window, explicit support for multiple-monitor desktops (for example in terms of undocking tools and moving them to a second screen as might be done in Creative Suite apps) is not relevant - SDI windows can of course be positioned wherever a user wishes, and the new UI helps to maximize the screen real estate available to the document pages.

It's important to bear in mind that many of the Tools Pane panels contain processes rather than actions - for example the process of replying to comments or sharing a file using SendNow. In an MDI world, managing the state of these "half-finished" processes when the user tabs to a different document is a lot more complex than it seems. MDI software tends to get round that by putting all their interactive workflows into modal dialog boxes, so until you've completed the task you're locked out of the main window, hence can't change the document under focus. Acrobat and Reader of course use dialogs for some multi-step and system processes, but retaining SDI means every document can have an independent set of panes, panels and dialogs, for example one document in Forms Editing mode and another in comment review mode, so a user can read what changes her peers have requested and implement them in a side-by-side desktop layout. It's this concentration on multi-instance SDI that led Microsoft to bring in the window "snap" feature in Windows 7.

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32. OppfinnarKnullare,

Nov 14, 2010 2:14 AM in reply to Dave Merchant

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"the user interface in Acrobat X retains the Acrobat 9 SDI structure"
which is why I will not upgrade to Acrobate X, thank you.

Consider this:
I had to put together a single document from 35 single page pdfs, that were all supposed to be in the same page format, but had to be checked, of course. I opened the first of these pdfs, checked it and it was fine. Now I wanted to add the other 34 pages from the 34 pdfs, so I opened them one by one, checked the page format, and then clicked to see the page icon so I could drag this over to the first document and have the page inserted there.

Here SDI came in my way. Everytime I opened one of the new pdfs, the window opened on top of the window with the document that I wanted to drag the page to. So, first I had to move the window, only then did I have room to grab the page icon and drag it to the first document.

So, the workflow was this:
1. Open new pdf
2. Check page format,if ok
3. Drag window away from the base document window
4. Click to see the page icon
5. Drag the page icon over to the base document.

In an MDI setting, I would simply have tiled the windows with the base document on one side and the newly opened doc on the other and dragged stuff over.

I am seriously looking for something other than Acrobat to fulfill my needs.I still have not found one that has all the features I need, but I keep looking...

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33. Dave Merchant,

Nov 15, 2010 1:56 AM in reply to OppfinnarKnullare

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In that workflow I wouldn't advise opening each single-page file in Acrobat before combining them - you can look at the PDFs and their metadata information using Adobe Bridge etc. or use the preview panel in Windows Explorer, select the ones you want, and use Combine Supported Files from the context menu.

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34. cb82,

Nov 19, 2010 8:08 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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Adobe, Please bring back MDI. It's ridiculous not to...who is the customer, the individual user or Microsoft? It's frustrating to have several windows open. With the technology available today, there has to be a way to make this work. If there's somethign in the work's, we'd like to see it sooner than later...No more excuses...let's see some results. Talk is cheap...
Thanks!

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35. kristtoffer,

Nov 21, 2010 1:26 AM in reply to cb82

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I think it is a financial issue for Adobe!
They don't want to pay some pennies for an eventual support or bugs that may raise with MDI !
If this is crippling for Adobe in its royal size, how do the developers of the free soft?

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36. OppfinnarKnullare,

Nov 22, 2010 12:32 AM in reply to Dave Merchant

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Thanks Dave.
Well of course I can use other apps for this.
Maybe I'll start using Foxit instead, thanks for the hint...

Bottom line is, MDI is flawed and it breaks the work-flows of many, *many* people,just look into this thread.

PS I have no idea what Adobe Bridge is, doesn't seem to have been installer with my Acrobat 9 Pro Extended. Furthermore, the win explorer preview panel shows no useful info. I need to check each document that it has the correct page size, fonts, layout etc. "Combined Supported Files" from what context menu? Is that a Mac thing? I'm on W7x64pro... From my view-point, all your suggestions failed, and MDI would have solved the problem quite nicely.

Now, on to another Acrobat stupidity... "You must restart the system before using Acrobat. Click Restart Now to restart automatically". Stop this madness!

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37. Dave Merchant,

Nov 22, 2010 1:09 AM in reply to OppfinnarKnullare

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PS I have no idea what Adobe Bridge is, doesn't seem to have been installer with my Acrobat 9 Pro Extended.

Adobe Bridge is the file browser and management utility installed with Creative Suite. It's not part of the Acrobat installation, but as many Acrobat users have purchased it as part of a CS bundle, they will have Bridge installed by default.

"Combined Supported Files" from what context menu? Is that a Mac thing? I'm on W7x64pro...

Select a bunch of files (not just PDFs - anything that Acrobat can read) in Windows Explorer and right-click.

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38. OppfinnarKnullare,

Nov 23, 2010 6:20 AM in reply to Dave Merchant

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"Select a bunch of files (not just PDFs - anything that Acrobat can read) in Windows Explorer and right-click."

Nope, nothing like "Combine Supported Files" there.
There's nothing at all related to Acrobat in my Explorer right-click context menu.

But this is all beside the point.
The point is that MDI is flawed, broken, ill-behaved, not working correctly, breaking well-established workflows, etc...
And all those Acrobat window icons clog the task bar...

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39. DragJo,

Dec 18, 2010 3:20 AM in reply to Atin Wadehra

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After finding out AcrobatX will not support a proper tab browsing interface my question is why isn't there a "container app" shipped with adobe/acrobat that keeps track of all documents? At the moment I'am using Acrobat together with Firefox... but it’s a pain to drop 20 and more documents at once into FF just to have nice tabs and not a messy taskbar... and even worse: Many functions are not available through the browser plugin so the user is still forced to open certain PDFs in Acrobat again. Why is usability neglected concerning such an important point? If my other apps were oriented like this DjvuReader, FF, Matlab, notepad I would waste half my time during a normal working day with switching while not knowing which window keeps which content...

It would be nice to have such a container!

Kind regards
DragJo

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