The Status Bar at the bottom of the Reader window provides several navigation tools for viewing and navigating PDF documents (Figure 5.1):

Figure 5.1. Navigation tools as they appear in the Adobe Reader Status Bar.

To easily navigate pages using the Status Bar navigation tools:

The same navigation tools found in the Status Bar also appear in a separate toolbar. By default, this Navigation toolbar is not loaded when you open Reader. To open the toolbar, open a context menu from the Toolbar Well and select Navigation. The Navigation toolbar opens as a floating toolbar (Figure 5.3).

Figure 5.3. The Navigation toolbar contains the same tools found in the Status Bar.

The Go To submenu (Figure 5.4) contains many of the same commands for page navigation as the Status Bar and the Navigation toolbar. Click View > Go To, to access the menu options.

Figure 5.4. The Go To submenu contains menu commands for page navigation.

In addition to the tools available in the Navigation bar, the Go To submenu includes the following tools:

To the right of each command in the Go To submenu are the keyboard shortcuts. Figure 5.4 shows the keyboard shortcuts for Windows users. Figure 5.6 shows the keyboard shortcuts for Macintosh users.

Figure 5.6. Keyboard shortcuts appear to the right of the menu commands.

You can also move forward and backward in a PDF document using context menu commands. Typically, you will select the Hand tool when reviewing documents, but you can use some of the other tools from the toolbars when opening a context menu and selecting commands for navigating pages. Changing tools and opening context menus often changes the menu commands. However, the common menu commands to move forward and backward in a document remain in each context menu.

To navigate pages using a context menu:

Obviously, using keyboard shortcuts offers you more page-navigation choices than the two commands available in the context menus. Memorize as many keyboard shortcuts as you can, so that you'll be able to move swiftly through document pages.

Layers are supported in programs like Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Autodesk AutoCAD, Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Project, and a number of other graphic design and engineering drawing programs. If a designer or engineer creates a document in one of these programs, that person can add different layers to a single page, to create graphics, text, and drawing elements. Once the file is converted to PDF, the layers can remain intact and appear as Adobe PDF Layers in all Acrobat viewers.

A good example for a document containing layers is a file designed for multilanguage use. A graphic designer may want to use the same layout and design for a multilingual brochure. The text in different languages can be placed on different layers. When you view the file in Adobe Reader, you can use the Layers palette and make one language visible while hiding the others. All images remain the same regardless of the language viewed. The showing and hiding of layers in Adobe Reader terms is referred to as layer visibility.

In some PDF documents containing layers, you may find links and buttons used to open different layer views. Rather than relying on the end user to become familiar with using the Layers pane and its viewing options in order to turn layer visibility on and off, some PDF authors may add links or buttons to change the layer view.

Note

To view a document with links to different layer visibility, use the oahuBrochure.pdf file at www.peachpit/adobereader7.

To change layer visibility using assigned links and/or buttons:

Bookmarks designed to open pages and files are links to destination views. The structure and properties of a bookmark are the same as with links and buttons. All the actions a PDF author can apply to links and buttons can also be applied to bookmarks. Because bookmarks are obvious in Adobe Reader, you can easily find and use them.

Note

To view a PDF document with bookmarks, use the hawaiiNewsletter.pdf document.

To navigate pages using bookmarks:

Page thumbnails are mini images of the pages in a PDF document. When you open the Pages tab in the Navigation pane, the page thumbnails are generated on-the-fly. These page thumbnails link to the pages in the Document pane.

To navigate a PDF document using page thumbnails:

What are the advantages of using the Pages tab?

The Pages tab is similar to a slide sorter. You can use the Pages tab to display all pages contained in a PDF file. To view page thumbnails like a slide sorter in the Reader window, click the Pages tab and drag the separator bar to the far right of the Reader window as shown in Figure 5.14. Follow the steps in this section to size the thumbnails to your desired view. You can enlarge the thumbnails to the point where you can clearly see the content for each page. In this view (Figure 5.14), click on a page you want to read, and drag the separator bar back toward the Navigation pane. Using this method can help you quickly target pages for reviewing without having to scroll through each page in the Document pane.

Figure 5.14. Open the Pages tab and drag the separator bar to the right side of the Acrobat Reader window.

This view is particularly helpful if you need to print pages randomly in large documents. As you review the pages in the expanded view, open a context menu on the pages you want to print and select Print Pages. This opens the Print dialog, where you can choose to print a selected page or a contiguous range of pages.

You can also select multiple pages and print that selection. To select a contiguous range of pages, click the first page and then press Shift+click on the last page in the range. To select noncontiguous pages, press the Ctrl/Command key and click each page you want to print; then click Print, and all the selected pages are printed.

You can control viewing preferences only when a PDF author has saved a document with a cross-document link and the open preference options were set to Window set by user preference. If either of the other two options is saved with the PDF file, the saved open preferences override any preference settings you decide to use with Adobe Reader.

Note

To view PDFs with cross-document links, use the culinaryMaster.pdf and recipeRequest.pdf files from the Peachpit Web site at www.peachpit.com/adobereader7.

To set preference options for viewing cross-document links:

This preference choice is a personal decision you make according to how you want to view documents when opened with cross-document links. If you want destination documents to open while the documents containing the links remain open, remove the checkmark in the General preferences. If you want documents to close as new documents are opened via cross-document links, check the box in the preference settings. However, be aware that your preferences apply only to documents that have been saved enabling the end user to set the preferences for opening files with cross-document links.

When PDF authors create collections of documents that use navigational links in the form of bookmarks, links, buttons, and page actions, the link to the secondary files captures the directory path as well as the link to the open file. If you copy files from the Web, a CD-ROM, or those sent to you via email, you need to be certain the documents are contained in the same folder or nested folders as when the links were created. Copying files to different folders may produce inoperable links, called dead links, because Reader won't know where to look for the target file. If you click a bookmark, link, or button, or open/close a document and Reader can't find the target file, a dialog will appear (Figure 5.16).

Figure 5.16. Dead cross-document links are reported in a dialog when the target file can't be found.

To fix problems with dead cross-document links:

Link properties can be assigned to handle many different action types. A PDF author may use actions for executing menu commands, opening Web links, playing sounds and media, reading articles, resetting a form, setting layer visibility, submitting forms, running JavaScripts, and more. Some action types may be operable only in Acrobat Standard or Acrobat Professional. For example, a PDF author might create a link or button to generate a new page in a document. New pages can be created in Acrobat Standard and Acrobat Professional, but not in Adobe Reader.

The informed PDF author is likely to create warning dialogs for Adobe Reader users indicating that a certain feature requires one of the commercial Acrobat products and is not available in Adobe Reader. Figure 5.18 shows a custom dialog designed by a PDF author. However, in some cases, PDF authors may design documents without such warnings.

Figure 5.18. PDF authors can design documents with dialogs informing you that some features may not be operable in Adobe Reader.

If no warning dialog opens and you click on a link that produces no action, you can assume the link action is either broken or doesn't work in Adobe Reader. Reader does not display a dialog when you click a link with an action type not supported by Adobe Reader.

If a PDF document contains articles, the Articles tab lists all articles in the file. Unlike other navigation tabs, the Articles tab does not automatically open if a PDF contains articles.

Note

To view a PDF with article threads, use the hawaiiNewsletter.pdf document.

To use the Articles tab:

To start reading articles, move the cursor to the top of an article thread. The cursor Hand icon changes to show a down arrow (Figure 5.21). Click the cursor, and the page zooms to the beginning of the article. Sometimes, the default zoom level will show text that is too large for normal reading. The page zoom used when reading articles is controlled in a preferences setting.

Figure 5.21. Click in an article when the cursor changes, and the page zooms to the beginning of the article.

To change the zoom level when reading articles:

To begin reading articles, you can click in an article thread or select Read article from a context menu opened in the Articles tab. As you move the cursor within an article, the cursor shows you the direction the article moves in when you click the mouse button. As you read articles, you'll want to move forward through an article, move backward to reread text, and jump to the beginning of an article. The mouse and keyboard keys help you navigate through articles and change direction.

To read articles: