Adobe Acrobat is a portable document management software distributed by Adobe Inc., that enables users to create, view, print, modify, and manage PDFs (Portable Document Files). Key features include PDF viewing, PDF creation, PDF editing, PDF annotation, form creation, form filling, document security, and PDF format conversion tools. Adobe Acrobat is the most widely used portable document management software within companies and small businesses to manage the curation and signing of documents.
Below is a list of Keyboard shortcuts for the navigation and accessibility in Adobe Acrobat which will make using Acrobat usage more efficient on your computer.
Navigating Task Panes Keyboard Shortcuts
- Move focus to the next item among Document pane, Task panes, Message bar, and Navigation bar F6
- Move focus to the previous item among Document pane, Task panes, message bar, and Navigation bar Shift+F6
- Move focus to the next panel in the Task pane Ctrl+Tab
- Move focus to the previous panel in the Task pane Ctrl+Shift+Tab
- Navigate to the next panel and panel control within an open Task pane Tab
- Navigate to the previous panel and panel control within an open Task pane Shift+Tab
- Navigate to the next command button within a panel Down Arrow
- Navigate to the previous command button within a panel Up Arrow
- Expand or collapse panel in focus (press F6 to move focus to Tools pane, then tab to desired panel) Spacebar or Enter
- Open or close the Task pane Shift+F4
- Close the pane that lists the tasks of an Action Ctrl+Shift+F4
- Open the menu and move the focus to the first menu option when focus is on a command with a submenu or submenu element with a flyout Spacebar or Enter
- Move the focus back to the parent command button with a submenu or submenu element with a flyout Esc
- Run the command in focus Spacebar or Enter
- Navigate to the next item in the active panel in the Create New Action, Edit Action, Create Custom Tool, or the Edit Custom Tool dialog boxes Tab
- Navigate to the previous item in the active panel in the Create New Action, Edit Action, Create Custom Tool, or the Edit Custom Tool dialog boxes Shift+Tab
General Navigation Keyboard Shortcuts
- Invokes the hamburger menu (press F6 to move focus to the hamburger menu) Spacebar or Enter
- Navigate through the other controls in the top bar - Home, Tools, Document Right/Left Arrow or Tab/Shift Tab
- Select a highlighted control in the top bar Enter or Spacebar
- Move to next open document tab (when multiple documents are open in same window) Ctrl+Tab
- Move to previous open document tab (when multiple documents are open in same window) Ctrl+Shift+Tab
- Move to next open document window (when focus is on document pane) Ctrl+F6
- Move to previous open document window (when focus is on document pane) Ctrl+Shift+F6
- Close current document Ctrl+F4
- Move focus to next comment, link, or form field in the document pane Tab
- Move focus to document pane F5
- Move focus to previous comment, link, or form field in the document pane Shift+Tab
- Activate selected tool, item (such as a movie clip or bookmark), or command Spacebar or Enter
- Open context menu (press F6 to move focus to the desired menu) Tab followed by Shift + F10
- Close context menu F10
- Return to Hand tool or Select tool Esc
- Move focus to next tab in a tabbed dialog box Ctrl+Tab
- Find in document Ctrl+F
- Move to next search result and highlight it in the document F3 orCtrl+G
- Search the previous document (with Search results displaying multiple files) Alt+Shift+Left Arrow
- Search next document (with Search results displaying multiple files) Alt+Shift+Right Arrow
- Select text (with Select tool selected) Shift+arrow keys
- Select next word or deselect previous word (with Select tool selected) Shift+Ctrl+Right Arrow or Left Arrow
- Increase or decrease the value of a slider Right Arrow or Left Arrow
Navigation Panels Keyboard Shortcuts
- Open and move focus to navigation pane Ctrl+Shift+F5
- Move focus among the document, message bar, and navigation panels F6
- Move focus to previous pane or panel Shift+F6
- Move among the elements of the active navigation panel Tab
- Move to the previous or next navigation panel and make it active (when the focus is on the panel button) Up Arrow or Down Arrow
- Move to next navigation panel and make it active (when the focus is anywhere in the navigation pane) Ctrl+Tab
- Select or deselect a file in file list (open/close Context pane with file selection) Space
- Select or deselect a To Do card (open/close Context pane with To Do card selection) Space
- Open selected file in file list Enter
- Open selected To Do card Enter
- Extend the selection by adding the next row above or below the selected row Shift+Arrow keys
- Move focus up or down one row without changing the selection Ctrl+Arrow keys
- Expand the current bookmark (focus on Bookmarks panel) Right Arrow or Shift+plus sign
- Collapse the current bookmark (focus on Bookmarks panel) Left Arrow or minus sign
- Expand all bookmarks Shift+*
- Collapse selected bookmark Forward Slash (/)
- Move focus to next item in a navigation panel Down Arrow
- Move focus to the previous item in a navigation panel Up Arrow
Navigating the Help Window Keyboard Shortcuts
- Open Help window F1
- Close Help window Ctrl+W or Alt+F4
- Move back to previously opened topic Alt+Left Arrow
- Move forward to next topic Alt+Right Arrow
- Move to next pane Ctrl+Tab
- Move to previous pane Shift+Ctrl+Tab
- Move focus to the next link within a pane Tab
- Move focus to the previous link within a pane Shift+Tab
- Activate highlighted link Enter
- Print Help topic Ctrl+P
Accessibility Keyboard Shortcuts
- Edit Tag F2
- Change reading settings for the current document Shift+Ctrl+5
- Reflow a tagged PDF, and return to unreflowed view Ctrl+4
- Activate and deactivate Read Out Loud Shift+Ctrl+Y
- Read only the current page out loud Shift+Ctrl+V
- Read out loud from the current page to the end of the document Shift+Ctrl+B
- Pause reading out loud Shift+Ctrl+C
- Stop reading out loud Shift+Ctrl+E
