2. Viewing a Document

Once you’ve launched Acrobat and have become familiar with its interface, you’re ready to navigate among the pages of an open document. This chapter will describe the tools in Acrobat that you use to view a PDF document. We’ll look at some routine things, such as all the ways to move from page to page and how to zoom in and out, as well as some of Acrobat’s more exotic capabilities, such as measuring the length and area of items on the page.

Opening a PDF File

Arguably, the most basic activity you can carry out in Acrobat is opening a PDF file. You can do this several ways, most of them identical to the way you open files in other applications.

To open a file from the Finder or Windows Explorer

• Do either of the following:

• Double-click the icon of a PDF file.

or

• Drag the icon of a PDF file to the Acrobat application icon.

Acrobat opens the file.

To open a file from the File menu

1. Choose File > Open (Command/Ctrl-O) (Figure 2.1).

   Figure 2.1. You can open a PDF file in Acrobat by selecting File > Open.

   

   Acrobat will present you with the standard select-a-file dialog box.

2. Navigate to the file you want to open, and click OK.

   Acrobat opens the file.

To open a file from the File toolbar

1. Display the File toolbar, if necessary, by selecting View > Toolbars > File.

   Acrobat displays the File toolbar (Figure 2.2).

   Figure 2.2. The File toolbar contains handy tools for opening and saving files.

   

2. Click the Open File icon in the File toolbar.

   The standard select-a-file dialog box opens.

3. Choose the file you want to open, and click OK.

   Acrobat opens the file.

Moving from Page to Page

Having opened your document, you’ll want to move around among the pages. Here, too, there are several ways to do so, most of them familiar from other applications.

To move to the next or previous page

• Do one of the following:

• Press the right or left arrow key on your keyboard to move to the next or previous page, respectively.

• Click the Previous or Next Page tool in the Page Navigation toolbar (Figure 2.3).

Figure 2.3. The Page Navigation toolbar contains the following tools: Previous Page, Next Page, and a Page Number text box.

• Press the Page Down or Page Up key on your keyboard.

To move to a particular page

• Do one of the following:

• Type the page number to which you want to go in the Page Number field in the Page Navigation toolbar (Figure 2.3).

• Click the Pages navigation tab to expose the Pages navigation pane, and then double-click the thumbnail of your desired page (Figure 2.4).

Figure 2.4. Move to an arbitrary page by double-clicking a thumbnail in the Pages navigation pane.

To move to the first or last page

1. To go to the document’s first page, select View > Go To > First Page (Figure 2.5) or press the Home key.

   Figure 2.5. The View menu’s Go To submenu contains useful commands that let you navigate among pages.

   

2. To go to the document’s last page, select View > Go To > Last Page or press the End key.

Moving from View to View

A view in Acrobat parlance is a combination of document, page number, and zoom. You change to a new view whenever you go to a new page, zoom in or out, or open a new document.

Acrobat has menu items and associated key shortcuts for moving to the previous and next views. If you jump ahead 15 pages by double-clicking a thumbnail, the Previous View command returns you to your original page. These controls are very handy.

To move to the previous or next view

• Do one of the following:

• Select View > Go To > Previous View or View > Go To > Next View (Figure 2.5).

• Press Command/Ctrl-left arrow key or Command/Ctrl-right arrow key on your keyboard.

Zooming In and Out

Acrobat provides a Select & Zoom toolbar (Figure 2.7) with tools that let you get a closer look at an area of the page or to look at a broader region of the page.

Figure 2.7. The Zoom toolbar contains all the tools you need to zoom in and out of your PDFs.

In Acrobat’s default configuration, the Select & Zoom toolbar contains the zoom tools you will use most often. Acrobat’s menus also offer less-frequently used zoom functions.

The zoom tools have three broad classes of functionality. You can do any of the following:

• Zoom by a specific amount.

• Zoom so that the page fits in the document window in a particular way (for example, the page width fills the window).

• Dynamically select the degree of zoom visually.

To zoom by a fixed amount

• Do one of the following:

• Click the Zoom In tool on the Select & Zoom toolbar.

Acrobat zooms in to a predetermined zoom level. For example, starting at 100%, repeated clicks of the + button take you to zooms of 125%, 150%, 200%, and so on in intervals up to 6400%.

• Type a zoom percentage in the Select & Zoom toolbar’s text box.

• Click the small, downward arrowhead next to the Select & Zoom toolbar’s text box, and select a predefined zoom amount from the resulting Zoom Amount menu (Figure 2.9).

Figure 2.9. The drop-down menu in the Select & Zoom toolbar lets you conveniently choose a zoom amount.

• Choose Actual Size in the Zoom Amount menu, or press Command/Ctrl-1 to zoom to 100%.

To zoom the page to fit the document window

• Do one of the following:

• Choose Fit Page from the Zoom Amount menu on the Select & Zoom toolbar or press Command/Ctrl-0 to zoom out until the page fits entirely inside the document window (Figure 2.10).

Figure 2.10. Two useful zoom amounts are Fit Page (top) and Fit Width.

• Choose Fit Width from the Zoom Amount menu or press Command/Ctrl-2 to zoom in until the document’s pages exactly fit the width of the window (Figure 2.10).

• Choose Fit Height from the Zoom Amount menu to zoom until the document’s pages exactly fit the height of the window.

• Choose Fit Visible from the Zoom Amount menu or press Command/Ctrl-3 to zoom until the text and images on your pages exactly fit the document window.

The Marquee Zoom tool

The Marquee Zoom tool is the best tool to use when you want to get a better look at a particular part of the page.

To zoom with the Marquee Zoom tool

1. In the Select & Zoom toolbar, click the Marquee Zoom tool.

   The mouse pointer turns into a magnifying glass with a plus sign in it (Figure 2.11).

   Figure 2.11. When you use the Marquee Zoom tool, the mouse pointer normally is a magnifying glass with a plus sign. You can zoom out (and change the point pointer to a minus sign) by holding the Shift key.

   

2. Click in the document window, and drag a rectangle around the area to which you want to zoom (Figure 2.12).

   Figure 2.12. Using the Marquee Zoom tool, click and drag a rectangle.

   

   Acrobat zooms in until the area you enclosed in the marquee fills the document window (Figure 2.13).

   Figure 2.13. Acrobat zooms in until the rectangle fills the window.

   

The Dynamic Zoom tool

The Dynamic Zoom tool allows you to zoom in and out of your document page by clicking and moving your mouse. Dragging the mouse to the upper left zooms in to the document; dragging to the lower right zooms out (Figure 2.15).

Figure 2.15. The Dynamic Zoom tool allows you to zoom in and out of your document by clicking and dragging your mouse.

To zoom using the Dynamic Zoom tool

1. Select Tools > Select & Zoom > Dynamic Zoom (Figure 2.14).

   The mouse pointer changes to the cursor shown in Figure 2.16.

   Figure 2.16. The mouse pointer looks like this with the Dynamic Zoom tool active.

   

2. Click and hold the mouse button anywhere in the document window.
3. Drag up and to the left to zoom in on the document.
4. Drag down and to the right to zoom out.

The Loupe tool

The Loupe tool gives you a close-up of the area on the screen surrounding the mouse pointer. As you move the pointer around the document window, a floating loupe window shows a continually updating close-up.

Unfortunately, this useful tool does not appear on the Select & Zoom toolbar by default. You must select it in the Tools > Select & Zoom submenu (Figure 2.14). You can, of course, add it to the Select & Zoom toolbar using the procedure described in Chapter 1.

To zoom with the Loupe tool

1. Select Tools > Select & Zoom > Loupe Tool.

   The mouse pointer changes to a small crosshair shape.

2. Click in the document window.

   Acrobat displays a target rectangle in the document window and a floating Loupe Tool window that shows a close-up of whatever is in the rectangle (Figure 2.17).

   Figure 2.17. The Loupe tool lets you drag a target rectangle around the page and view a close-up of the rectangle’s contents in a dialog box.

   

   You can drag this rectangle around the document window to see different parts of the page.

   Note in Figure 2.17 that the Loupe Tool floating window has controls that let you specify such things as the degree of magnification and the color of the target rectangle.

The Pan & Zoom tool

Acrobat’s final zoom tool is Pan & Zoom. This is the opposite of the Loupe tool. Acrobat presents you with a floating window containing a thumbnail view of your page. You drag and resize a target rectangle in the thumbnail, and Acrobat zooms the main document page so that the target rectangle fills the page.

Like the Loupe tool, the Pan & Zoom tool is initially available only through the Tools > Select & Zoom submenu (Figure 2.14). You can add it to the Select & Zoom toolbar, as described in Chapter 1.

To zoom with the Pan & Zoom tool

1. Select Tools > Select & Zoom > Pan & Zoom Window.

   Acrobat displays a floating Pan & Zoom window containing a thumbnail image of your document page. The floating window also has a target rectangle initially set to encompass the entire page (Figure 2.18).

   Figure 2.18. When you click the Pan & Zoom tool, Acrobat presents you with a floating thumbnail view of your page enclosed in a “target rectangle.”

   

2. Resize and move the target rectangle so that it encloses the area on the thumbnail that you want to see close up.

   As you do so, Acrobat continuously zooms the document window so that it’s filled with the area enclosed by the target rectangle (Figure 2.19).

   Figure 2.19. As you move and resize the target rectangle, Acrobat zooms the main document window so the rectangle’s contents fill the window.

   

   You resize the rectangle by grabbing handles that appear at its corners and sides when the mouse pointer rolls over it.

   If you wish, you can use the controls on the Pan & Zoom thumbnail window to select an explicit scale, change the color of the target rectangle, or move from page to page within the document.

Selecting a Page Layout

Acrobat can organize your document’s pages on the screen a number of ways, such as one page at a time or side by side. These layouts are available from the View > Page Display submenu (Figure 2.20); some of them are available by default from the Page Display toolbar (Figure 2.21) as well.

Figure 2.20. You select a page layout from the View > Page Display submenu.

Figure 2.21. Two layouts are available by default in the Page Display toolbar.

To change the page layout

• Do one of the following:

• Select the desired layout from View > Page Display.

• Click the layout button in the Page Display toolbar.

By default, only two layouts—Single Page and Single Page Continuous—are available in this toolbar. You can add the other layouts to the toolbar; see Chapter 1 for instructions on how to customize a toolbar.

Acrobat page layouts

The Page Display submenu allows you access to the following layouts:

• Single Page displays one page at a time in the document window (Figure 2.22).

Figure 2.22. Two of the layouts available are Single Page and Single Page Continuous.

• Single Page Continuous displays the pages in the document as a single, scrollable column (Figure 2.22).

• Two-Up displays two pages at a time, side by side (Figure 2.23).

Figure 2.23. The Two-Up (top) and Two-Up Continuous (bottom) layouts are useful for seeing how printed documents will look when the pages are bound.

• Two-Up Continuous displays two columns of side-by-side pages (Figure 2.23).

Searching for Text

Acrobat has an effective mechanism for searching for a particular piece of text within a document. It’s similar to the Search features in other applications.

Acrobat has two distinct mechanisms for finding text in a document:

Find looks for text within the current document. Acrobat lets you step through successive instances of the found text one at a time.

Search looks for text in one or more PDF files in locations you specify on your computer’s disk. Acrobat presents you with a clickable list of all the instances of that text within the documents.

To find text in a document

1. If the Find toolbar isn’t visible, select Edit > Find (Command/Ctrl-F).

   Acrobat makes the Find toolbar visible (Figure 2.24).

   Figure 2.24. The Find toolbar has a text field for the text you want to find, a Find Previous button, and a Find Next button.

   

2. Type into the text field the word or phrase you want to find.
3. Press the Enter/Return key.

   Acrobat searches the document for the text, stops when it finds an instance, and highlights the text on the page (Figure 2.25).

   Figure 2.25. When the Find function discovers an instance of the word, it moves the document window so the word is visible and highlights the text on the page.

   

4. To go to the next instance of the text in the document, click the Find Next button on the Find toolbar.
5. To go to the previous instance of the text, click the Find Previous button.

To search for text in one or more documents

1. Select Edit > Search, or press Command/Ctrl-Shift-F.

   The Search dialog box opens (Figure 2.26).

   Figure 2.26. The Search dialog box allows you to search for a word or phrase in all of the PDF files in a particular location.

   

2. Type into the text box the word or phrase for which you want to search.
3. Use the two radio buttons to specify where Acrobat should search for the text: in the current PDF document or in all PDF documents in a particular location.

   In the latter case, you may choose a location from the pop-up menu (Figure 2.27).

   Figure 2.27. The Locations pop-up menu in the Search dialog box lets you specify where Acrobat should look for PDF files to search.

   

4. Select the check boxes associated with the options you want for the search:

   • Whole words only—Acrobat ignores the text if it’s preceded or followed by other alphanumeric characters. Thus, in searching for wait, Acrobat ignores waiting.

   • Case-Sensitive—Acrobat considers case in its search; thus, Wait and wait are considered different.

   • Include Bookmarks—Acrobat searches the titles of the document’s bookmarks as well as page contents.

   • Include Comments—Acrobat searches comments.

5. Click the Search button.

   Acrobat searches all the documents for the specified text. It then creates a list showing all the instances it finds (Figure 2.28).

   Figure 2.28. The Search feature returns a list of all of the instances it finds. Click one of the instances to see the page on which it resides.

   

6. To examine any of the found instances, click that instance in the list.

   The document window will show you the found text, opening a new PDF file if that is where the text resides.

7. Click the New Search button to start a new search, or click the dialog box’s Close button to close the Search dialog box.

Arranging Documents on the Screen

Acrobat lets you tile or cascade the currently open document windows. When you choose one of these options, the document windows are resized so that your entire screen is filled.

All of these options are available through the Window menu (Figure 2.29).

Figure 2.29. You can tile or cascade open document windows by selecting the appropriate items in the Window menu.

To arrange documents on the screen

• Do one of the following:

• Select Window > Cascade.

Acrobat zooms the document windows to full-screen, offset so that the title bars of the rear windows are all visible (Figure 2.30).

Figure 2.30. Cascading the document windows is useful when you want to see only one of them at a time.

• Select Window > Tile > Vertically.

Acrobat tiles the windows top to bottom (Figure 2.31).

Figure 2.31. Tiling the windows is helpful when you want all the documents to be visible simultaneously for comparison.

• Select Window > Tile > Horizontally.

Acrobat tiles the windows across the width of the page.

Using Reading Mode

Reading mode is new to Acrobat 8. When in Reading mode, Acrobat hides the toolbars and navigation tabs and zooms the document so that it fits across the width of the document window (Figure 2.32). Additionally, each click of the mouse moves you down the document by one screen.

Figure 2.32. In Reading mode, Acrobat hides the toolbar and navigation tabs and zooms the document so that its width stretches across the window.

To enter and exit Reading mode

1. To enter Reading mode, select View > Reading Mode (Figure 2.33).

   Figure 2.33. Enter Reading mode using the View menu.

   

   When you click the page in Reading mode, Acrobat advances your page by a screen or to the next page, whichever is appropriate.

2. To exit Reading mode, choose View > Reading Mode, or press the Escape key.

To navigate pages in Reading mode

1. To move forward in the document, do one of the following:

   • Press the right arrow key on your keyboard.

   Acrobat takes you to the next page.

   • Click with the mouse on the page.

   Acrobat takes you forward one screen or to the next page, whichever is shorter.

2. To move backward through the document, do one of the following:

   • Press the left arrow key on your keyboard.

   Acrobat takes you to the previous page.

   • Shift-click with the mouse on the page.

   Acrobat takes you backward one screen or to the previous page, whichever is shorter.

Using Links and Bookmarks

Acrobat gives the author of a PDF file the ability to add navigation features that make it easy for a reader to move around a document. In Chapter 11, you’ll see how to create these navigation features. Here, you’ll learn to use these features when viewing a PDF document.

Again, the author must build these features into the PDF document for them to be available to the reader.

Using links

Links in Acrobat work just like links in Web pages. You click them, and the document does something: moves to another location in the document, plays a movie, or performs some other activity determined by the document designer.

It’s up to the creator of the PDF file to make a page’s links visible to the reader. Again, you see the same range of visual clues that you find on a Web page, such as blue text and button icons (Figure 2.35).

Figure 2.35. Links in PDF pages usually look like links on Web pages.

Using bookmarks

Bookmarks reside in the Bookmarks pane, one of the navigation tabs along the left side of your document windows. They form a clickable table of contents provided by the document’s author.

Clicking a bookmark takes you to a predetermined location in the document.

To use a document’s bookmarks

1. Click the Bookmarks navigation tab to open the Bookmarks pane, if necessary.

   You see all of the document’s bookmarks (Figure 2.37).

   Figure 2.37. Clicking the Bookmarks navigation tab exposes the document’s bookmarks.

   

2. Click a bookmark.

   Acrobat takes you to the location associated with that bookmark.

Measuring Sizes and Areas

Acrobat provides a set of tools that you can use to measure the sizes and areas of items on a page. These measurements can be reported in any units you wish; you specify a scale (so many millimeters equals so many feet, for example), and Acrobat reports its results in real units. This makes these tools extremely useful for working with maps, floor plans, and other scale drawings.

The tools you’ll use to do this are on the Measuring toolbar (Figure 2.38).

Figure 2.38. The Measuring toolbar contains the Distance, Perimeter, and Area tools.

To measure the distance between two points

1. Select View > Toolbars > Measuring to make the Measuring toolbar visible, if necessary.
2. Select the Distance tool.

   The mouse pointer becomes a cross-hair, and the Distance Tool floating window opens (Figure 2.39).

   Figure 2.39. The Distance Tool window reports the distance between the two points you specify on the page. Note that Acrobat can translate distance on the screen into real distances using the scale ratio.

   

3. Set the scale of your drawing using the two edit boxes and pop-up menus in the Units and Markup Settings area.

   Acrobat will report distances using this scale. In Figure 2.40, the scale specifies that 1 centimeter equals 2 feet.

   Figure 2.40. After you click once with the Distance tool, Acrobat draws a double-arrow line connecting your original point with the mouse pointer’s current position.

   

4. Click once on the starting point for the distance you want to measure.

   Now, wherever you move your mouse, Acrobat draws a double-arrow line (Figure 2.40) that shows the distance between the mouse’s current position and the starting point. The Distance Tool window also continually reports the distance from the starting point to the mouse’s current position.

5. Click the second endpoint for the distance you want to measure.

   The Distance Tool window reports the distance between your endpoints. By default, Acrobat also adds to the page a special annotation called a measurement markup (Figure 2.41). You may prevent this by unchecking the Measurement Markup check box in the Distance Tool window.

   Figure 2.41. The Distance tool, by default, adds a measurement markup annotation to the page. This annotation remains on the page indefinitely; it doesn’t disappear when you stop using the Distance tool.

   

The Perimeter tool

The Perimeter tool adds the lengths of a series of line segments that you place around the edge of an object or region on the page.

To measure the perimeter of a region

1. Select the Perimeter tool in the Measuring toolbar.

   The mouse pointer becomes a cross-hair, and Acrobat will display the Perimeter Tool floating window (Figure 2.42).

   Figure 2.42. The Perimeter Tool window displays the distance around a perimeter you define.

   

2. Set the scale of your drawing in the Perimeter Tool dialog box.
3. Click at the starting point for the distance you want to measure.
4. Click successively on points around the perimeter of the area you want to measure.

   As you do so, Acrobat shows you the set of straight lines connecting your points as well as a running total of your distance so far (Figure 2.43). This distance also appears in the Perimeter Tool window.

   Figure 2.43. As you click around the edge of the region, the Perimeter tool displays a running sum of the perimeter distance so far.

   

5. Click twice on the final point of your perimeter to let Acrobat know you’re done.

   Acrobat freezes the values displayed Perimeter Tool dialog box. It also, by default, adds a measurement markup annotation to the page (the polygon shown in Figure 2.44). You can turn off this feature in the Perimeter Tool window.

   Figure 2.44. The Perimeter tool finishes by adding a measurement markup to your page (the polygon in this illustration).

   

The Area tool

The Area tool works identically to the Perimeter tool, except that it reports the area of the enclosed space you map out with your line segments.

To measure the area of a region

1. Select the Area tool in the Measuring toolbar.

   The mouse pointer becomes a cross-hair, and the Area Tool floating window opens (Figure 2.45).

   Figure 2.45. The Area Tool floating window displays the area of a region on the page.

   

2. Set the scale of your drawing in the Area Tool dialog box.
3. Click at the starting point for the region whose area you want to measure.
4. Click successively on points around the perimeter of the region.

   As you do so, Acrobat shows the set of straight lines connecting your points (Figure 2.46). Unlike with the Perimeter tool, there’s no running total.

   Figure 2.46. Using the Area tool, click around the periphery of the region in which you’re interested.

   

5. Click the starting point to close the region.

   The Area Tool dialog box displays the area of the region enclosed by your line segments. As before, Acrobat adds a measurement markup annotation to the page (Figure 2.47), unless you’ve turned off this feature in the Area Tool window.

   Figure 2.47. The Area tool leaves a measurement markup on the page, unless you’ve off turned that feature.