PDF Tips
PDF Viewer
- Acrobat Reader is a free viewer available from
Adobe under their Products link. The version
discussed here is 3.0. Version 4.0 has changed parts of the user interface.
Now available for the MacOS is v. 4.05 which seems to have restored the text-search capability that was dropped in v. 4.0.
- Installing Acrobat Reader should add to your web browser plug-in folder
a plug-in that allows viewing of PDF files within the web browser.
- Apparently WebTV does not support plug-ins or PDF file viewing.
While viewing a PDF file...
- Try clicking on the document itself and dragging up or down. This is
easier than reaching for the scroll bar arrows. The hand button in the
toolbar activates this mode if some other cursor has been selected.
- For uninterrupted dragging with the hand cursor, click on the page view
mode (which is probably next to the label "8.5 x 11 in") at
the bottom of the window and choose "Continuous" instead of
"Single Page".
- For the best readable view, click on the magnification factor at the bottom
of the window and choose "Fit Width" from the list that pops up.
Click-and-hold on the magnificatio label
or click on a special button next to the magnification label to access
this list.
- To search for text in a large document, click the binoculars button
on the toolbar. (This may not be available in Acrobat 4.0)
- If you need to get a closer look, you can use the magnification
list at the bottom of the window, or you can activate magnifying cursors with
the matching buttons in the toolbar.
When printing...
If your printout appears to have cut off part of what you could see on
your monitor, then you should look for a Shrink-to-Fit option. This may be
found in the print dialog window, or under Page Setup.
Setting defaults...
Launch Acrobat Reader directly or by viewing a document and switching to the
active Acrobat Reader program separate from the browser (The 4.0 version may be
hidden under Windows when using the plug-in).
Then, under the File menu, under Preferences,
select General. There you can set your prefered modes of viewing PDF files.
I recommend the following:
- Default Page Layout: Continuous
- Default Magnification: Fit Width
- check the box beside Display Page to Edge
- uncheck the box beside Display Splash Screen at Startup