I found a solution by combing your suggestion of using another pdf viewer - the Sumatra or PDF-XChange Editor - and changing the system mouse pointer as described here https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/questions/16761/presentation-software-with-a-cursor-looking-like-a-laser-pointer-instead-of-mous

"Go to the Mouse properties control panel, in the Devices and Pointers control panel section, click on the Pointers tab. Under the Customise scroll box there is a Browse... button. Clicking this allows you to select a .cur file to change the cursor's appearance. However, the built-in cursor files do not provide a laser-like cursor. This is where you have to create your own."

Answer from lkdo on Stack Exchange
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Adobe UserVoice
acrobat.uservoice.com › forums › 926812-acrobat-reader-for-windows-and-mac › suggestions › 39866986-bad-design-stop-forcing-mouse-pointer-in-acrobat
Bad design: Stop forcing mouse pointer in Acrobat Reader – Share your feedback on Acrobat DC
Acrobat Reader DC changes the mouse pointer into its own scheme. Not talking about the specific tools, just the standard mouse when hovering over the Acrobat window. I don't have the best vision, so I have my Windows mouse pointer set to be very visible, or I will lose track of it on the screen.
Discussions

Presenting in full screen with a PDF, is there a way to get the mouse pointer to show up instead of the hand tool so I can point with my mouse while on the big screens?
Please try https://zetpdf.com/ it's smart and simple More on reddit.com
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January 21, 2020
Acrobat - Option to change the cursor into laser pointer for presentations – Share your feedback on Acrobat DC
I build most of my presentation decks in Illustrator and export to PDF for Acrobat. It would be useful to have my cursor act like a red-dot laser pointer for presentations. Now that so many meetings are remote (Zoom) it would be nice to have more robust presentation features. More on acrobat.uservoice.com
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Adobe Acrobat Reader - Cursor does not go away - Stack Overflow
I have a question about adobe acrobat reader. So, when I open any PDF file, I used to click the right or left arrow to jump between pages. Recently though I am unable to do this because, once the... More on stackoverflow.com
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Making the Hand Tool the default Adobe Acrobat Pro option
Yay this worked! Note that Adobe tried to hide the "OK" button from me in Preferences > General window because it filled the screen. I had to grab the scroll bar on the side of the window to get down to it. You'll need to click OK to activate the change. Thanks so much! More on reddit.com
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January 3, 2024
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PDF Annotator
pdfannotator.com › pdf annotator manual › managing pdf files
Presenting PDF - PDF Annotator Manual
Alternatively, press the O key to switch to the laser pointer. Pressing the Esc key will get you back to the previously used tool. In Full Screen Mode, the laser pointer is by default available as an Action Button.
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Acrobatusers
answers.acrobatusers.com › Presenter-pointer-q135745.aspx
Presenter pointer ()
I lecture off of a pdf file projected onto a screen in a large lecture room. I want to know if Adobe Acrobat supports a laser pointer like SAS JMP does? ... If you have Adobe Reader XI (or Acrobat) you can use the "Draw free form" (pencil) tool under "Drawing Markups" Comment tools.
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Adobe Support Community
community.adobe.com › home › app communities › acrobat reader › questions › on adobe reader i have a black square instead of the mouse pointer.
On Adobe Reader I have a black square instead of the mouse pointer. | Community
January 24, 2020 - ... Sorry but I do not know how to get to the menu you have shown. Can you tell me how to do that? I am using Windows. ... To view settings> open Reader>press Ctrl+K key on your keyboard .It will open up settings .
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Adobe Support Community
community.adobe.com › home › app communities › acrobat › questions › use acrobat to present
use acrobat to present | Community
July 16, 2021 - The conference said that you can only use Acrobat Reader DC for presentations. Can anyone help me find the function of the laser pointer? ... As far as I know, there are no presenter tools in Acrobat (at least I have not seen any).
Find elsewhere
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Acrobatusers
answers.acrobatusers.com › Pointer-size-q112449.aspx
Pointer size (Acrobat Reader)
We have windows 8. It seems that adobe reader does not use cursors from the windows directory. The cursors that we use for the mouse are extra large, while the reader uses small hand cursor. Some software do have the ability to change the mouse pointer. I think that Adobe can improve in that direction.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/software › presenting in full screen with a pdf, is there a way to get the mouse pointer to show up instead of the hand tool so i can point with my mouse while on the big screens?
r/software on Reddit: Presenting in full screen with a PDF, is there a way to get the mouse pointer to show up instead of the hand tool so I can point with my mouse while on the big screens?
January 21, 2020 -

I can't seem to get the hand tool to remain as an arrow when I ctrl-L to fullscreen so I can present. When I go fullscreen the mouse pointer goes back to being the hand tool which is white and hard to see compared to the nice big red mouse pointer we've set up for the people using powerpoint.

Can I force acrobat to use the windows mouse pointer when fullscreen? I'd settle for the arrow that acrobat uses if that is as close as I can get. Anything but Mickey Mouse's hand.

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Adobe Support Community
community.adobe.com › home › app communities › acrobat › questions › setting the pointer to arrow
Setting the pointer to arrow | Community
September 21, 2022 - Also, I went to Preferences > Documents ... tool instead of the arrow is there and I have to manually change it to arrow every single time I open a document. Is there is setting somewhere that I am not aware of to get the arrow as the default pointer? ... This topic has been closed for replies. ... Moving this from the Acrobat Reader Forum to the ...
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Adobe Support Community
community.adobe.com › home › app communities › acrobat reader › questions › pointer tool
pointer tool | Community
October 2, 2018 - when going between 2 PDF files does the pointer tool not stay as a pointer tool but changes to the drag (hand) tool ... This topic has been closed for replies. ... Is this an Adobe Acrobat question? Or an Adobe Reader? If so, the tool that you have active remains the same as you switch from file to to the other. For example, if you have the Selection tool active in one open file, then switch to another and select the Hand tool, when you switch back to the first file, you will still have the Selection tool active.
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PDF Annotator
pdfannotator.com › pdf annotator manual › settings
Settings: Tools, Cursor - PDF Annotator Manual
However, a standard mouse pointer can be shown instead of the pen or marker tip.
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Acrobatusers
answers.acrobatusers.com › How-change-hand-tool-cursor-favorite-cursor-Acrobat-11-q276932.aspx
How to change the "hand tool cursor" to my favorite cursor in Acrobat 11? (Accessibility)
You cannot change the cursor in Acrobat - neither color nor the icon can be changed. You can change your document colors to make the cursor stick out more via the accessibility settings (Preferences>Accessibility>Change document colors). If you are having a hard time seeing the white hand on ...
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Acrobatusers
answers.acrobatusers.com › how-set-cursor-tool-select-tool-opening-acrobat-XI-11-0-Hand-Tool-q207804.aspx
how to set the cursor tool to select tool when opening acrobat XI 11.0 instead of Hand Tool ()
This will disable the feature that makes clicking on the hand tool result in zoom into the articles 2. Choose a different tool, say Select Tool by going to Tools > Select and Zoom > Select Tool. Note that the above settings are stored in your preferences (~/.adobe) and are remembered in subsequent uses of Adobe Reader.
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Adobe Support Community
community.adobe.com › home › app communities › acrobat reader › questions › mouse/cursor changes in reader window to a specific reader mouse/cursor
Mouse/cursor changes in reader window to a specific Reader mouse/cursor | Community
May 14, 2018 - Using this function you can tell it to set the cursor to one of the predefined / managed / native Windows Cursors - or you can create a custom cursor object from any image file. You then register that Cursor object in memory, and whenever you want to display that cursor object, you call the SetCursor function and send in a memory pointer to your custom cursor image.
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Adobe
helpx.adobe.com › acrobat › kb › mouse-cursor-changes-into-a-black-box.html
Acrobat Pro Desktop Help
2 weeks ago - Learn how to change, replace, add, or delete text in PDFs using Adobe Acrobat.