Foxit Read 7.3.0.118 Classic toolbar missing

[DazSeaton]

wasted an hour reverting to version 7.2.8. BAD DECISION!!!!

[Beachcomber]

It took me about thirty seconds to revert to 7.2.8. I will not be installing any updates until or unless the classic toolbar is restored. Failing that, after several years using Foxit Reader, I shall be looking for an alternative.

[Friedrich]

I had been using Foxit-Reader for many years now and used to recommend it to everyone around me.
The possibility to configure the classic toolbar to the users specific needs has always been a key feature I loved about FR.
Ribbons damage the workflow to an amount that is inaccepable to me.
For the time being I removed Foxit-Reader,
but I hope you reconsider your decision.

[joule1309]

I created account just to add my opinion, too. Classic toolbar is the essence of Foxit Reader! Menu bar is simple and useful, and ribbons are just terrible, unpractical. And there is no way I would use any new version without Classic toolbar.

So, I also reverted to version 7.2.8 and disabled updates. I really hope you will change your mind and listen to your users...

[jnareb]

Sorry to say that classic toolbar is no longer available in latest version. Maintaining two toolbar modes always require more human resources and workload. The classic mode may be phased out in the future considering more and more people get used to the Ribbon mode. May I know what the chief obstacle is for you to swtich to the Ribbon mode? Thank you.

The major obstacle to switch to the Ribbon mode is that it takes much of precious vertical screen space (precious especially on laptops), more than three to four times as much as Classic Toolbar. The very first thing I always did after update was to switch back to the Classic mode (as if Foxit PDF Reader could not remember my settings across updates...).

Hiding the Ribbon is nice, but it won't work for me. I use Foxit for review, adding comments and corrections, and I need access to comment tools - thus ribbon needs to be open.

I don't get the issue that maintaining two toolbar modes requires to much workload. You need at least half the functionality of classic toolbar to implement Quick Access Toolbar!

Please don't blindly ape Microsoft anti-affordant UX ideas...

[misterg]

Another one who has just joined to register my disappointment at this - especially that there was no warning before the "upgrade". The whole "ribbon" UI idea is an awful design - I could possibly live with the amount of the screen space that it takes up if it led to a slick workflow, but it simply doesn't! It is slow, and unneccesarily complex to use. It is a triumph of marketing over common sense, and the sooner MS drops it, the better, but please don't be drawn into the same folly. In the mean time, I will try downgrading Foxit reader, but if there is no further support for the traditional UI, then I'l have to change to a different reader. Foxit has served me well for years, by the way.

[Lisa_lee]

Dear All,We have forwarded all of your feedback in this thread to our product marketing team for their reference, report ID:PHANTOM-5994.

[darkrats]

Hi Lisa_lee. With respect, we have heard these kinds of replies from many other companies, who then carried on with their own agendas, and as a result alienated a great many of their users. I don't think it is enough to just pass feedback to a marketing team because that team is likely the same one that decided to drop the classic toolbar. So they're are very unlikely to admit a mistake and go back to using it in Foxit Reader. I think sometimes that "asking for feedback" is just a way to make changes and then say "we listened", when most of us know that these decisions were almost certainly made quite some time ago. Rather than just pass on our comments, why not have someone from the "marketing team" come on and give us some real answers.
You know, Foxit has the opportunity to make a little bit of history here. Imagine what the response would be if out of the blue Foxit's next version of the Reader was stripped of all the added features like "the cloud", "the ribbon" etc. and it was brought down to a size of perhaps 10MB or less. What do you think the reviews would be like? I am confident that in a single day Foxit Reader would jump to the top of all of the PDF readers in use today. The company would be a real rarity on the market. Suddenly it would become one of the few, perhaps the only software company to actually listen to their users, and if they continued to listen to their users, there wouldn't be another PDF software company to challenge them.
So, I would like to ask you and the other moderators, please don't just brush us off by offering to forward our comments. Get someone here who can give us the facts about Foxit Reader and the future vision of the products. Thanks for listening to my rant. darkrats

[psommerfeld]

HELP!!!!
Where do I find the old version?
I can't deal with the ridiculous ribbon!

[psommerfeld]

HELP!!!!
Where do I find the old version?
I can't deal with the ridiculous ribbon!

For anyone looking now, you can get the one with Classic Toolbar here:

http://cdn01.foxitsoftware.com/pub/foxit/reader/desktop/win/7.x/7.2/en_us/FoxitReader728.1124_prom_enu_Setup.exe

[nedlee]

I must agree with all of the posts here. When I first started using Foxit about a decade ago, there were problems with Adobe Reader. Much of that has gone away, partly due to faster computers and ssd drives. However, I have continued to use Foxit because it is familiar. The ribbon is NOT familiar. Along with many of the writers here, I will change pdf readers if you persist. Frankly, I think that you have misperceived your audience. We are not the followers who follow the "standards" come what may. If we don't like a ribbon interface, we resist. That attitude is probably why we moved to Foxit in the first place.

Though I strongly dislike the ribbon interface, for practical purposes I have had to use Word for the last couple years. I expected that I would eventually get accustomed to the ribbon. That has not happened. It's awful. I not only request that you give back the alternative to the Classic interface, but strongly urge to abandon the ribbon altogether.

[cherry]

darkrats

I'm afraid the forum automatically turned posts into unapproved ones if the user posts many posts in short time. I've manually changed your group from "Approved Registered users" to "Registered users". Your posts should be updated normally for now.

nedlee

Your feedback has been forwarded to Foxit Reader/PhantomPDF PM team. Suggestion ID#: PHANTOM-5994. Thank you.

[iizme]

Yes I would also add my voice to this, the classic toolbar is more convenient and I have uninstalled the newest version, installed the previous one, and turned off updates.
I was managing without the toolbar by customising the 'Quick access' toolbar (I think it's called that), but I was driven to uninstall etc by the fact that there was no longer any toolbar available in the full screen mode, meaning that I can't highlight items while in that mode. To top it off, the old keyboard shortcut (Alt, C, T, H) was not longer available either. This is very inconvenient. Please bring back these features.

[RedFish]

Imagine what the response would be if out of the blue Foxit's next version of the Reader was stripped of all the added features like "the cloud", "the ribbon" etc.

Yes! A lite version of Foxit Reader would be awesome!

Simple software is totally underestimated. Less features to disable and less annoying distractions. That's the reason why I started using Foxit Reader in the first place, by the way. Other simple PDF readers don't even get the basics right, so I also believe that there could be a market opportunity here.

[Arctic Haze]

I already voiced my displeasure on another, earlier thread. Because after a month I did not receive any promise of reverting the UI decision which spoiled the product for so many of us, I have a question:

Is there another tabbed PDF viewer which could be used as a substitute? Preferably something that is available both for Windows and Linux? Of course I mean one with a sane UI.

EDIT: I've just reverted to Foxit 7.2 after a month of waiting. I'm still not sure about the alternatives. And do you know what was the first thing I said after seeing the beautiful Classic Toolbar again? Here it is:

"Chewie, we're home!!!"