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How to Turn Off the AI Assistant in Adobe Acrobat (And Turn It Back On | 2026 Update)

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This tutorial shows how to turn off the AI Assistant in Adobe Acrobat. We will also look at how to turn the AI Assistant back on again. The bonus section at the end also shows how to temporarily disable the AI Assistant by reverting to Acrobat’s previous interface.

Important Note: These steps apply to the current subscription versions of Adobe Acrobat on PC and Mac. These steps don’t apply to the web or mobile version of Acrobat.

Table of Contents:

Watch this tutorial in real-time on my YouTube channel:

How to Turn Off the AI Assistant in Acrobat

  1. Select Menu (PC) or Acrobat (Mac) in the upper-left corner of the window.
  2. Select Preferences from the menu.
  3. Select Generative AI from the categories in the Preferences dialog box.
  4. Deselect (uncheck) the Enable generative AI features checkbox.
  5. Select OK to save your changes and close the Preferences dialog box.
  6. Close and reopen Adobe Acrobat to apply the changes.

After reopening Acrobat, the Ask AI Assistant button should be removed from the global toolbar.

Pro Tip: You may need to repeat these steps after a software update.

How to Turn On the AI Assistant in Acrobat

If you want to re-enable the AI Assistant in the future, follow these steps.

  1. Select Menu (PC) or Acrobat (Mac) in the upper-left corner of the window.
  2. Select Preferences from the menu.
  3. Select Generative AI from the categories in the Preferences dialog box.
  4. Check the Enable generative AI features checkbox.
  5. Select OK to save your changes and close the Preferences dialog box.
  6. Close and reopen Acrobat to apply to changes.

The Ask AI Assistant button should return to your global toolbar.

Bonus: How to Revert to Acrobat’s Previous Interface

You can also disable the AI Assistant by reverting to Acrobat’s previous interface.

  1. Select Menu (PC) or View (Mac) in the upper-left corner of the window.
  2. Select Disable new Acrobat from the drop-down menu.
  3. Select the Restart button in the Restart Acrobat dialog box.

When Acrobat restarts, the old interface should appear without the AI Assistant.

Return to the New Interface

  1. Select View in the upper-left corner of the window.
  2. Select Enable new Acrobat from the drop-down menu.
  3. Select the Restart button in the Restart Acrobat dialog box.

When Acrobat restarts, the new interface should appear with the AI Assistant enabled.

Related Resources

How to Switch to Full Screen Mode in Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader

How to Change the Default Fonts in Adobe Acrobat

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