18 Replies Latest reply: Apr 13, 2011 12:02 PM by 1234567890!ABC RSS

    Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"

    (ConnollA) Community Member
      Newbie here, my 1st post, so I'm hoping that someone can help me out. My office just installed Acrobat Pro 8 and I've on several occasions tried to change the properies of a tool, but the Properties Bar shows "No Tool Selected". This problem is not exclusive to my computer b/c others have experienced the same issue.

      So far, the only fix I have found is to exit the PDF window and re-open the document. Is there any other fix out there?
        • 1. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
          Bill@VT CommunityMVP
          Are you talking about tools in WORD or Acrobat? What are you trying to do, I have no idea. Give a specific example of what you want to do so we have some clue. Sorry, it is hard to help when we can't see what you are talking about on your computer.
          • 2. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
            (ConnollA) Community Member
            I'm talking about in Acrobat. The properties bar is supposed to control the features of the tool that you have selected. On several occasions I've selected a tool (a text box for example) and the properties bar continues to show "no tool selected"; it will not let me change the properties of the tool. This isn't exclusive to the text box I was only using that as an example.

            It does fix the problem to exit the document and open it back up, but I would like to find a better fix than that.
            • 3. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
              Bernd Alheit CommunityMVP
              Did you update your Acrobat installation?
              • 4. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
                (ConnollA) Community Member
                Yes; I checked for updates and it confirmed that I was updated.
                • 5. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
                  Community Member
                  Try under Help > Detect and Repair

                  Appligent Document Solutions
                  http://www.appligent.com
                  • 6. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
                    (ConnollA) Community Member
                    I ran the Detect and Repair and that didn't seem to help at all. Any other thoughts?
                    • 7. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
                      Lynn Staszak Community Member

                      We are using Acrobat Standard 8.1.6 on Windows XP, and we have the same problem with the Properties Bar. It shows "No Current Selection" and is grayed out, even though we have a text box, highlight, or other markup selected. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn't. The only solution we have found is to close the Acrobat window and open it again---major annoyance. We have tried reinstalling and repairing the application without success.

                       

                      Has anyone else experienced this problem or have a solution? Thanks.

                      • 8. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
                        Mike Dallwitz Community Member

                        I have the same problem with Pro V9.2.0. I think it's a bug. I use the same workaround - close Acrobat and reopen it.

                        • 9. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
                          LoriAUC CommunityMVP

                          You might try re-creating your preferences:

                           

                          1. Quit Acrobat.

                           

                             2. In Windows Explorer, go to c:\Documents and  Settings\ [User Name] \Application Data Adobe\Acrobat\8.0 folder and  move the Preferences folder to another location (for example, C:\Temp).

                           

                              3. Launch Acrobat.

                           

                          Or, you can try creating a new windows  user account to see if you experience the same problem.

                          • 10. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
                            BCuzzillo Community Member

                            Just saving and closing the document and reopening it works as a work-around. I think this bug occurs when switching between pdf documents or when doing file operations, such as Insert Pages. If you just open a file and stay there you don't see the bug.

                            • 11. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
                              LoriAUC CommunityMVP

                              There are two things to note about the Properties Bar behavior. First, it became context-sensitive in Acrobat 8. So, the menu changes based on what you have selected. Second, in Acrobat 9 the interface option for MDI (multiple document interface) was discontinued. This means that the behavior for the toolbar changes based on what document you're in. So, if you have two different documents open (depending on what you have selected in each document) the toolbar may display differently.

                              • 12. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
                                Mike Dallwitz Community Member

                                BCuzzillo wrote:

                                 

                                I think this bug occurs when switching between pdf documents or when doing file operations, such as Insert Pages.

                                It would be useful to be able to consistently reproduce the bug, but the above operations don't do it for me.

                                • 13. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
                                  brennao Community Member

                                  If anyone out there has managed to find a consistency, please fill in the rest of us please!

                                  • 14. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
                                    jamesonc Community Member

                                    When opening multiple PDFs, I have noticed that when selecting an item in one Acrobat window will activate the properties bar in another Acrobat window.  Thus, it becomes inaccessible and only resetting (see below) or completely closing and re-opening Acrobat will reset the Properties Bar.

                                     

                                    Another work around is to right-click the toolbar area and select "Reset Toolbars".  This can be very annoying because the default settings do not include the Properties Bar, Advanced Editing, nor the Comment and Markup toolbars.  However, this does allow you to keep your PDF file open and continue commenting.  (It is curious why they have the "Reset Toolbars" function.)

                                    • 15. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
                                      Mike Dallwitz Community Member
                                      When opening multiple PDFs, I have noticed that when selecting an item in one Acrobat window will activate the properties bar in another Acrobat window.  Thus, it becomes inaccessible

                                      Yes, I've verified that. Thanks!

                                       

                                      Specifically, the bug can be reproduced as follows. Display the Properties Bar (by pressing Ctrl+E if necessary), and close all instances of Acrobat. Restart Acrobat, and open two files. Select the Text Box tool in either window. The properties are always displayed in the second window, and are not accessible in the first window. (The Properties Bar continues to work correctly in the second window.)

                                       

                                      Now that the problem can be reproduced, maybe someone can get Adobe to fix it.

                                      • 16. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
                                        jamesonc Community Member

                                        There is another work-around.  It involves disabling a key feature of Acrobat 8.

                                         

                                        It was stated earlier that the MDI - Multiple Document Interface was disabled in Acrobat 9.  This feature seems to be the problem with the Properties Bar.  Disabling this feature means that only 1 window is used to access all the open PDFs, eliminating the possibility of locking up the Properties Bar by activating it in the wrong window.

                                         

                                        To disable MDI, goto Edit-Preferences (Ctrl-K), Documents category, and uncheck "Show each document in its own window".  Close and restart Acrobat.

                                         

                                        Your sadness at the loss of this feature will subside when your frustration level drops.

                                        • 17. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
                                          Mike Dallwitz Community Member

                                          There is another work-around.  It involves disabling a key feature of Acrobat 8.

                                           

                                          It was stated earlier that the MDI - Multiple Document Interface was disabled in Acrobat 9.  This feature seems to be the problem with the Properties Bar.  Disabling this feature means that only 1 window is used to access all the open PDFs, eliminating the possibility of locking up the Properties Bar by activating it in the wrong window.

                                           

                                          To disable MDI, goto Edit-Preferences (Ctrl-K), Documents category, and uncheck "Show each document in its own window".  Close and restart Acrobat.

                                          There may be some confusion here. MDI is permanently disabled in  Acrobat 9, and the bug does occur in this version. So, perhaps MDI should be enabled in Acrobat 8 to avoid the bug.

                                           

                                          For comments on the lack of MDI in Acrobat 9, see

                                              http://blogs.adobe.com/acrobat/2008/09/mdi_vs_sdi_in_acrobat.html
                                              http://forums.adobe.com/thread/392362

                                          • 18. Re: Properties Bar says "No Tool Selected"
                                            1234567890!ABC Community Member

                                            Assumptions for this test:
                                            1. Acrobat has been configured so that the "Text Box Tool" (part of the "Comment & Markup Toolbar") is visible on the toolbar.
                                               (Tools --> Customize Toolbars... may need to be used to se this up)
                                            2. The "Properties Bar" is visible (a Ctrl-E should bring it up if it is not already so)
                                            If you had to make changes to get this configuration set, close all Acrobat windows before proceeding so that the settings will be remembered and used when new windows are open.

                                             

                                            ******BUG******
                                            Text box TEXT PROPERTIES only accessible in most recent file opened.
                                            Steps to reproduce bug:
                                            1. Open a 1st PDF
                                            2. Open a 2nd different PDF
                                            3. Arrange so both are visible.
                                            4. in the 1st PDF create a text box and notice how the window for the 2nd PDF gets the TEXT BOX PROPERTIES BAR
                                            5. notice how there is no way to change the text box properties in the first window.
                                            Results: Text box properties can only be changed in the most recently opened window.
                                            Expected results: Text box properties should work for all windows!
                                            Note that no properties (color, fill, font, ...) of any object (line, rectangle, callout, ...) can be changed using the Properties Bar if the properties bar is not part of the last window opened.

                                             

                                            The only kludgy workaround I've found is that if I need a working properties bar in a particular window I can:

                                             

                                            1) save the file to capture any outstanding changes that might not have been captured (this is an optional step)

                                             

                                            2) make a throw-away minor change to the file (I usually draw a short line segment)

                                             

                                            3) Go to File --> Revert (& Confirm)

                                             

                                            The file will close and reopen without the throw-away change and it will now be the last file opened so it will now have a working properties bar.

                                             

                                            You can always try complaining here:

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