Adobe Acrobat® Reader (Adobe) is computer software necessary to read and print documents created in the Portable Document Files (PDF) format. Many documents and databases available at the UWM Libraries require the use of Adobe, such as GPO Access information, many Knovel reference works, and a variety of electronic resources, including full text journal articles. Adobe is also used to read material in the UWM Libraries E-Reserve system. This guide provides explanations of the basic commands and features. Several versions of Adobe are available - some features will not be applicable in all versions.

Acrobat Reader screen

The Adobe screen may include the following three elements: the overview area, the document area, and the toolbar. The overview area, in the left frame, contains "bookmarks." The document area, in the right frame, contains an image of the paper document. The toolbar, which is located across the top, contains buttons for viewing, navigating, searching, and printing the document. Some documents may not contain bookmarks. In this case, only the document and the toolbar will be displayed.

Toolbar
The toolbar consists of buttons for viewing, searching, and navigating documents. Select a function by clicking on the appropriate button or icon. The toolbar contains all or some of the following options:

Initial View of the Document
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	Click the Page Only button to view only the document (without the bookmarks) in a single window. Click the Bookmarks and Page button to open the overview window (left side) and display the bookmarks created, where available. Bookmarks are navigational aids, similar to a table of contents, linked to particular sections of the document. Click once on a bookmark to go to the corresponding location in the text, which will then be displayed in the document area window. Scroll bars on the right side of the windows facilitate movement within the window. Click the Thumbnails and Page button to display small images of each document page in the overview window, where available. Click once on a thumbnail to go to that page within the document.

Viewing the Document
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	Click the Actual Size button to display the page at 100%. Click the Fit Page/Fit in Window button to fit the page within the window. Click the Fit Width button to make the visible width of the current page fit inside the window. Click the Rotate View Clockwise button to move the page clockwise if needed to read the document. Use the Hand button to move a document when the entire page does not fit within the window. To read the document, drag the hand tool in any direction to move the page. The Zoom buttons magnify or reduce the page display. Newer versions of Adobe contain only the magnifying icon. Click on this icon button to select the magnifying function and then click on the document. To switch to the reduction tool, click on the Zoom button, hold down the Control (Ctrl) key, and then click on the document. (In the versions of Adobe which contain the reduction icon, click on the icon and then on the document to reduce its size.) Within some versions, the viewed size can be increased or decreased from a secondary set of Zoom buttons.

Navigating the Document
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	Use the First Page or Last Page button to display the first or last page of a document. Use the Previous Page or Next Page button to move backward or forward, one page at a time. Use the Go Back and Go Forward or the Go to Next/Previous View buttons to retrace steps taken through the document, moving to each page in the order visited.

Other Icons on the Toolbar
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	Click the Results button to redisplay the list of search results. In some databases, return to the list of entries from an Adobe document by follow the instructions or clicking on a link within the database. Use the Select Text button to mark text in a document, which can be copied to a word-processing program. Click on Edit and then Copy on the top menu bar. Choose Select Graphics from the Tools option on the top menu bar to copy graphics from a document using the same procedure. (Note: The copy functions can only be used with computers which have a text editor installed.) Note, found in some electronic documents, is similar to a Post-it Note®. When a note is found in a PDF document, double-click on it to open the note window. To find the next note in the document, choose Find Next Note from Tools on the top menu bar. To close a note, click the upper left corner of the note window. SEARCH - a variety of search buttons are available; see the section on searching.

Searching for Terms

There are four methods for searching for specific subjects or keywords in Adobe.

Search Methods
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	Click the Find button to search for part of a word, a complete word, or multiple words in the document. The first occurrence of the word will be highlighted. To view further instances of the word, click on the Find button, and then on Find Again. Click the Search button to search indexed documents for single words, phrases, parts of words, or combinations of words. Detailed instructions for using this feature are outlined below. (This feature is not available for all documents.) Click the Search Next button to display the next occurrence of the search term. This button, similar in nature to the Find Again option described above, is only available when using the Search option. (This feature is not available for all documents.) Click the Search Previous button to display the previous occurrence of the search term. (This feature is not available for all documents.)

Method 1
Open the overview area using the Bookmarks and Page button. Bookmarks linking to segments of the document will appear on the left-hand side. This is the most basic search method and is often used for locating general subjects. Click on the subject and the corresponding text will appear in the document window on the right-hand side. Use the Page Forward and Page Back buttons to navigate through the text.

Method 2
Search by keyword using the Adobe Search function. Note: This method is only available for those documents which have been indexed for searching, such as documents on CD-ROMs utilizing Adobe software containing an index file. When using Internet PDF files, Search Method 2 is typically not available. (An index file ends with the .pdx extension.) Click on the Search button and the following search form will appear:

   

• To search for a single term, enter the word and click the Search button.
• When combining two or more concepts, first choose the proximity option by clicking on the box to the left of Proximity. Type in the search terms using the word "and" to link the words. With proximity, the search engine searches for the terms that are found close together within the same document. The closer the two words are in proximity to each other, the higher the document is listed in the search results list.
• By clicking on the box to the left of the Word Stemming option, the search will use right truncation to find variants of the stem of the search term: e.g., "govern" would also find "government" and "governor."
• By clicking on the box to the left of the Sounds Like option, a search will be conducted for similar sounding variations of words. This option can be very helpful when the correct spelling of a word is in question.

	The Search Results screen indicates which indexed files contain the occurrences of the word. If the results list does not automatically display, click on the Results icon to retrieve it. Some CD-ROMs are indexed as one large file and thus only one result will be displayed in the list.

• The circle appearing near the title is a relevancy ranking indicating how close together the words were located. A full circle implies very close proximity, while a half circle implies lower proximity.
• To read the text in which the terms appear, click on the title of the chapter or section from the search results screen. A link to the document will occur.
• Each occurrence of the term(s) will be highlighted throughout the document.
• Use the Search Previous and Search Next buttons to page through the document from one occurrence to the next.

Method 3
Search for a subject or keyword within a document using the Find function. To use this search engine, click on the Find button. The following search form will appear on the screen:

• Method 3 searches the currently displayed document for a single word. This does not search all documents in a CD-ROM database.
• This method must be used when a document has not been indexed (or Search Method 2 is not available).
• This method allows only single word or single concept searching.
• When searching in this mode, the search is only conducted from the point in the article on the screen to the end.
• To search from the present screen or location in the document back to the beginning of the document, choose the Find Backwards option.
• Note: This search method can be very slow.

Method 4
Some Adobe documents include an on-the-screen index, similar in appearance to one found in the back of a book (this should not be confused with the Adobe Acrobat .pdx file). This index will display the page number on which a given topic can be found. Once a term is found, go to that page by choosing View and then Go to Page from the top menu bar and then typing in the page number from the index. If desired terms are not found on the screen index, use Methods 2 or 3.

Printing

In versions of Adobe which contain a print button on the toolbar, use to print. In the "Print" box which appears, specify the pages to be printed. Click OK. If there is no print button on the Adobe toolbar, click on File on the top menu bar and then select Print. Printing large files will be very slow.

Note: Many government documents, ERIC documents, and other PDF files are quite lengthy. Printing of only required pages is recommened.

Downloading

PDFs, which are image files, cannot be downloaded in their entirety in a text format. (A text format is typically required for later editing with a word processing program.) Specific portions of the document can be copied to a word processing application in text format by following the instructions above for the Select Text tool.

To save the full document as an image (a PDF file), click on the Adobe toolbar. Another option is to go to File on the top menu bar, select Print, then click on the box next to Print to File. In the box which appears, type a:\filename (or appropriate drive letter) to save to a floppy disk or CD-ROM. Click on OK. Note: Saving to a floppy disk can be very slow; lengthy documents may require downloading in sections onto multiple floppy disks.

Emailing

Some PDF documents may be emailed; an updated Adobe Reader will be necessary to email and to receive. Look for in the toolbar.

To exit the PDF document, click on Back on the top menu bar or follow the instructions in the database to return to the list of results. To exit the Adobe Acrobat program in some programs, click on File on the top menu bar, and then choose Exit. To exit the database, follow the specific instructions for exiting or closing that program.

SR--02/20/98---LLB 08/16/2005