Tips on Using Adobe Acrobat Reader PDF documents

Note: These instructions are intended for intermediate or advanced users who would like to perform more advanced functions using Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Click a topic to go to those instructions below:

• Opening a PDF document within the browser
• What Adobe Acrobat Reader version is required to view, download or print L&I PDF documents?
• Printing a PDF document within the browser
• Copying text from a PDF document
• Copying graphics from a PDF document
• Searching within a PDF document
• Browsing a PDF document with bookmarks
• Downloading (saving) a PDF document to your computer hard drive or network to use again
• Opening a PDF document independent of your browser after saving it to your computer

Note: Click here for instructions for fillable forms.

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Opening a PDF document within the browser

• Identify the document you wish to open.
• Click on the document title link. Acrobat Reader should immediately launch and the document displayed within the browser window.
• If Adobe Acrobat Reader does not launch and you are prompted with what type of application to open the file with, you do not have Acrobat Reader installed or not installed properly. Download the latest free Adobe Acrobat Reader from the Adobe web site. See information below.

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What Adobe Acrobat Reader version is required to view, download or print L&I PDF documents?

• Adobe Acrobat Reader version 5.0 is required on your computer to view, download or print L&I PDF documents.
• Download the latest free Adobe Acrobat Reader from the Adobe web site.
  Note: Adobe Acrobat Reader version 7.0 is the latest version and is recommended.

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Printing a PDF document within the browser

• To print the completed form, click the "PRINT" icon on the Adobe Acrobat tool bar on the form. If you click the "PRINT" icon on your browser tool bar, you will get a copy of the document embedded in the web page.

  
  

Difficulties printing?

Try these solutions:

1. Download the file you want to print to your computer instead of printing it from inside a browser window. Once you have downloaded the file, open Acrobat Reader and print the file. (See instructions below.)
2. Set the dots per inch (dpi) for printing to 300 instead of a higher resolution. Change the print quality from high to low. Consult the Help screen in the Adobe Acrobat Reader program if you have questions. 
3. Print one or two pages at a time instead of the entire file.
   

Special note for older model printers

Late model printers typically have larger memory storage capacity and are generally better for printing publications. If you are unable to print a publication using an older model printer, please try switching to a newer one or call your local L&I office to get a copy of the document sent to you by mail.

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Copying text from a PDF document

Follow the instructions below for selecting a portion, or the entire text of the document.

Selecting a portion of text to copy

1. Select the TEXT SELECT TOOL on the Adobe Acrobat toolbar and do one of the following:
• To select a line of text, select the first letter of the sentence or phrase and drag to the last letter.
• To select multiple columns of text (horizontally), hold down Ctrl (Windows and UNIX) or Option (Mac OS) as you drag across the width of the document.
• To select a column of text (vertically), hold down Ctrl+Alt (Windows) or Option+Command (Mac OS) as you drag the length of the document.
2. Choose Edit > Copy to copy the selected text to the Clipboard.
3. To view the text, choose Window > Show Clipboard.

Selecting all of the text to copy

1. Click once on Hand Tool (little hand).
2. Right-button mouse click and select "Continuous."
3. Click on Text Tool.
4. Right-button mouse click, then > Select All
5. Right-button mouse click again, then > Copy
6. Go to a Word document and right-button mouse click, then Paste.
7. The document can now be edited and may require formatting.

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Copying graphics from a PDF document

1. Select the Graphics select tool. The cursor changes to the cross-hair icon.
2. Drag a rectangle around the graphic you want to copy. To deselect the graphic and start over, click anywhere outside the selected graphic.
3. Choose Edit > Copy to copy the graphic to the clipboard.
4. To view the graphic, choose Window > Show Clipboard. The graphic is copied using the WMF (Windows), PICT (Mac OS), or XPIXMAP (UNIX) format. In UNIX, the graphic is pasted in the primary selection.

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Searching within a PDF document

You can use the "Find" command to find a complete word or part of a word in the current PDF. Acrobat Reader looks for the word by reading every word on every page in the file, including text in form fields.

Finding a word using the Find command

1. Click the Find button , or choose Edit > Find.
2. Enter the text to find in the text box. Select search options if necessary:

• Match Whole Word Only finds only occurrences of the complete word you enter in the text box. For example, if you search for the word "stick," the words "tick" and "sticky" will not be highlighted.
• Match Case finds only words that contain exactly the same capitalization you enter in the text box.
• Find Backwards starts the search from the current page and goes backwards through the document.

3. Click Find. Acrobat Reader finds the next occurrence of the word.

Finding the next occurrence of the word

1. Choose Edit > Find Again.

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Browsing a PDF document with bookmarks

Bookmarks can mark parts of a document for quick access, link to page views in other documents, link to the web, play a movie or sound, enter an article, or reset or submit a form.

To browse with a bookmark

1. Show the "Bookmarks" palette. You may need to choose Window > Show Bookmarks to open the palette or click the Bookmarks tab to bring the palette to the front of its group.
2. To jump to a topic using its bookmark, click the bookmark's icon or text in the palette.

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Downloading (saving) a PDF document to your computer hard drive or network to use again

(.pdf or PDF stands for Portable Document Format, the file format for Adobe Acrobat documents)

1. Identify the document you wish to download;
2. Click your right mouse button (or left if you use a left-handed mouse) on the document title link;
3. Choose "SAVE TARGET AS" (for Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers) or "SAVE LINK AS" (for Netscape or Mozilla browsers).
4. Select the destination directory to download the file to, and click "SAVE."

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Opening a PDF document independent of your browser after saving it to your computer

1. Launch the Acrobat Reader application independent of the browser.
2. Open the downloaded file.