Toolbar Tips

Dan Shea Planet PDF Managing Editor

August 18, 2005

With all the functions in Acrobat these days, it's easy to get a little lost. If you need the drawing markup tools, for instance, why can't they just be there in front of you? In Acrobat, you can choose to show toolbars that see heavy use or hide toolbars that (as far as you're concerned) just get in the way. You can also move them around and dock them in any of the Acrobat window's borders. Once you're happy with the screen layout, you can even lock the configuration so that it can't be changed accidentally!

Here's how:

1. Add or remove toolbars: Select View > Toolbars and check each toolbar to add; Unchecking a toolbar will remove it.
2. Unlock the Toolbars: Select View > Toolbars and uncheck Lock Toolbars to unlock the toolbars.
3. Manually move the toolbars into position: When the toolbars are unlocked, simply click on the far left side of a toolbar panel and drag it to your preferred location.
4. Lock the Toolbars: Once you are happy with the toolbars and their locations, Select View > Toolbars and check Lock Toolbars to lock them in.

If you don't want to see any toolbars at all, just hit F8. This will toggle between showing and hiding the toolbars -- best of all, Acrobat remembers your toolbar configuration, so when you hit F8 again to show them, they will be just as you remember.