Skip navigation
Currently Being Moderated

What Happened to "History" in File Open in Acrobat 10?

Dec 18, 2010 10:40 AM

Purchased Acrobat 10.  In Adobe 9, I ejoyed the "History" function in the File/Open area.  I would not recall the name of the file, but, e.g., knew I had opened it within the last 7 days, or last day, or last month.  So, allowing someone to see the "history" or the documents opened within  particular past history period was quite helpful.  Did not see it in Acrobat 10.  i am having a problem that had me at Tech Level 2 and they are now upgrading it to enior Technican.  But, I asked the gentleman to check to see "what happened" to "history".  When he called back as scheduled within one week (very pleasant to work with), he told me that Adobe had simply REMOVED the history capbility in the "open files" part of the program.  I assume what he told me is true.  But, if anyone knows to the contrary, I would appreciate the knowledge of how to find and use "history" in the manner described.  And, why in the world woould they remove such a helpful tool?

 
Replies
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Dec 18, 2010 2:29 PM   in reply to borton1035

    I haven't received my Mac copy of Acrobat 10 yet, but you would be surprised about the number of people that complain about the recent files capability of programs. Some like them, some don't.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Dec 19, 2010 1:39 AM   in reply to borton1035

    As we have confirmed several times on these forums, Organizer has been removed from Acrobat X. The File>History tree was maintained by the Organizer plugin, so this is also removed.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Dec 20, 2010 2:14 AM   in reply to borton1035

    Usage data indicted that _very_ few people used the Organizer feature, and the amount of work required to ensure it functioned robustly in modern operating environments with distributed storage, SAAS, etc, was not considered practicable - even in Acrobat 9 it was easy to break. If you want more detail on the decisions behind version changes you'll have to ask the product team themselves.

     

    File>History was generated by the Organizer plugin, so this was removed as a consequence.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Feb 3, 2011 5:57 PM   in reply to Dave Merchant

    Thanks a million for the information Dave.

     

    Much appreciated.

     

    sf d;-)=

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Jun 23, 2011 11:26 PM   in reply to borton1035

    In an age where digital and online privacy is of paramount importance it seems total craziness that Adobe has decided to remove the ability to clear history.

     

    Every other organisation seems to be enabling users to control their information whereas Adobe seems to think that it knows best for all.

     

    We all have unique circumstances which require us to use products in different ways. Adobe has made a serious error in making history deletion so difficult.

     

    What about people viewing PDF files in areas controlled by oppressive regimes? What about someone opening their resume on a work computer? What about… all sorts of different scenarios!

     

    Adobe, bring this feature back.

     

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Nov 29, 2011 10:29 AM   in reply to Tom_5696

    For so many of my own needs, and my clients needs, we loved the Organizer.

    It was truly a life saver for us.

    With so many PDF files constantly being printed and emailed and then printed again a day later etc, or a week later....this was truly one of the best features I thought Acrobat offered.

    I'm usually OK with these sorts of things happening in upgrades and can normally just go with it, but this was truly hurts.

    Bring it back!!! Please!!!

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Nov 29, 2011 12:46 PM   in reply to iBabs2

    If you have one of the Creative Suites, you might find that you can use Adobe Bridge to replicate some of the lost functionality.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Nov 29, 2011 2:20 PM   in reply to MichaelKazlow

    hello...thanks...but, it really isn't the same...The organizer dynamically organized any PDF file opened today, yesterday, last week etc, and you could quickly e-mail or print from here. It was awesome...The Bridge is the best we may have, but it really lacks the simplicity but powerful workflow the Organizer gave to us.

    But thanks!!!!

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Nov 29, 2011 10:32 PM   in reply to iBabs2

    If you happen to be on Mac, DefaultFolder or similar utilities might provide a little bit the History function did.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Dec 1, 2011 8:38 AM   in reply to borton1035

    Too bad, once I found out how that feature worked, I started using it immediately to file my fillable PDF so that I can later open a specific PDF and copy and paste a Form Field in a new PDF. It was simple and so useful.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Dec 13, 2011 7:44 AM   in reply to borton1035

    Likewise, many of us in my organization used the Organizer's "History" function.  It is a disappointment and an inconvenience that you have decided to remove it.  As a customer, I don't remember receiving a survey or query about whether I found this function useful.  So much for customer satisfaction...!

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Dec 16, 2011 11:19 AM   in reply to RFKennard

    Hi

     

    Same here, I spent quite a while searching around in the user interface for it. Found a few other useful things that had randomly been located somewhere new.

     

    Web search brought me here.

     

    Why is it that new software always goes on about the "great new features" and then doesnt mention the "great old features" it has either deleted or hidden so thouroughly you cant find them.

     

    I considered this feature extremely useful and am disappointed it isnt there any more. It is even more irritating to read posts telling me I can search for files using the OS--I certainly knew that already and it really is not a "workaround".

     

    Why not enable some sort of plug in system where things like this can be available for those that want it?

     

    As a further comment I dont really see why so many other frequently used features had to be put in the irritating side panel.

     

    Makes me feel good about the MS ribbon... I recall changing to Word 2007 when it first came out, it was definitely easier to find things that in this new Acrobat. So maybe your developers should learn something from that.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Jul 30, 2012 11:43 AM   in reply to Dave Merchant

    Hi Dave:  I thought the History function was simple but brilliant.  It was awesome having the extensive history.  It was such an obvious improvement over the typical 5 or 10 recent files, I actually thought all the other software companies should/would eventually copy Adobe's history feature, especially Microsoft Office.  Please bring it back! 

     

    I think it's safe to say my post represents the opinion of about 1,000,000 other users who didn't take the time to speak up :-), so again, please bring it back!  Thanks.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Jul 31, 2012 3:44 AM   in reply to MJGAiken

    I can't discuss what might be happening with future versions, but to put it bluntly if someone wants History in Acrobat X they'll need to write their own plugin - the SDK makes that possible for someone with skills in C++ but the Organizer plugin which History used as a back-end was a beast. It wouldn't be a bedroom coder project.

     

    As to 'the opinion of about 1,000,000 other users' - as I said in my previous reply the product team knows  how few people used Organizer; if it was genuinely popular it'd still be there. Sorry, but it's a commercial world and to invest time in new features, the old and unpopular ones have to be dropped. If you used History then I know that's not good news, but the same can be said for geospatial registration, desktop reflow mode or ADBC.

     

    It's quite telling that no other vendor has copied Acrobat's History idea in their own software - they appreciated how much of a Pandora's Box it was to support.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Jul 31, 2012 4:56 AM   in reply to Dave Merchant

    Thanks Dave.  I appreciate the quick response.  Mike

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Sep 4, 2012 5:17 PM   in reply to borton1035

    I thought it was just me overlooking it or Adobe came up with a new name for the organizer. GONE!?!? This is a major punch in the gut. I relied on it. You just added on about 1/2 hour to my work day to look for old PDFs . . . thanks a lot. The Organizer was a major help for ppl who delt with PDFs daily. You may say that it was not popular or whatever, but the people who used it NEEDED that function!  

    As Dave M. said,"As we have confirmed several times on these forums, Organizer has been removed ....". If you had to re-iterate it several times doesn't that tell you that many people used it?

     

    BRING IT BACK!!!

     

    Looks like I'll just work off 9 again...it meant that much.

     

    Have A Nice Day!

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Sep 4, 2012 10:58 PM   in reply to J. Crosetti

    Offhand I think we've had about 30 people asking about it. Tens of millions of people use the Acrobat X Family.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Sep 6, 2012 6:47 PM   in reply to borton1035

    I am somewhat disappointed myself because the browser also kept a record of online PDFs that I accessed. I would welcome a function like this to where I can also remove pdfs from the list that I no longer need.

     

    But I do have somewhat of a handy tip for Windows 7 users. It is the "Jump List."  Simply place the Acrobat X icon into the Windows taskbar. By right-clicking on the Acrobat icon,you will see the 10 most recent documents you have opened.  Not enough?

     

    Right click on a blank area in the Windows taskbar. Choose Properties,and in the dialog box click on the Start Menu tab,then on the "Customize" button.

     

    At the bottom of the "Customize Start Menu" dialog is "Number of Recent Items to display in Jump Lists"  The default is 10. You can set it up to 60.

     

    Usually 30 works for me. All taskbar items will remember the last 30 items accessed,and you can remove or pin items to that list.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Calculating status...
    Sep 17, 2012 4:58 AM   in reply to gener7

    Gener7 - That is the single most useful computing tip I've received all year.  Thanks so much!  This looks like it may be even better than Organizer, because that took forever to load.  I signed up for an account on this forum just so I could thank you.  Huge help! 

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Sep 18, 2012 11:20 PM   in reply to MikeS-B

    Thanks for letting me know,Mike! I always wonder if what I typed helped someone or just went into the Cloud Bitbucket.

     

    And oh yes,welcome to the forums. I hope there will much more good advice to come your way.

     

    Gene

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Oct 25, 2012 10:18 AM   in reply to borton1035

    Not having organizer in Acrobat XI is very disapointing.  I delayed upgrading to Acrobat X because of it, and now I subscribed to Creative Cloud, and this is disapointing to not see organizer integrated into the cloud services.  Guess I'll have to change my workflow.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Oct 25, 2012 10:32 AM   in reply to BT009

    Organizer won't be returning, and there was no suggestion that Acrobat XI was to have included it.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Currently Being Moderated
    Dec 17, 2012 9:32 AM   in reply to borton1035

    At the very least, make the number of Edit->Preferences->General->Documents "Documents in recently used list" larger than 10. I suggest at least 20, list should cascade or otherwise accessible to the last item in the list on a smaller screen. Even better, Acrobat could remember the docs you had open when you shut down your system and bring them back up when the system reboots.

     
    |
    Mark as:

More Like This

  • Retrieving data ...

Bookmarked By (0)

Answers + Points = Status

  • 10 points awarded for Correct Answers
  • 5 points awarded for Helpful Answers
  • 10,000+ points
  • 1,001-10,000 points
  • 501-1,000 points
  • 5-500 points