Adobe Acrobat Basics Email: training@vpha.ufl.edu Web Site: http://training.health.ufl.edu
Table of Contents What is Adobe Acrobat?...1 Why would you use it?...1 Where do you get it?...1 PDF Maker (Acrobat 5)...2 PDF Maker (Acrobat 6)...3 Creating PDFs with the Acrobat Distiller...4 Creating PDFs with the Adobe PDF Writer...5 Tool Bars (Acrobat 5 only)...6 Basic Tools...6 Viewing Tools...6 Navigation and View History Tools...7 Editing Tools...7 Commenting Tools...8 File Tools...9 Tool Bars (Acrobat 6 only)...10 Basic Tools...10 Viewing Tools...10 Navigation and View History Tools...11 Advanced Editing Tools...11 Security Tools...12 File Tools...13 Working with Pages...14 Insert Pages...14 Extract Pages...14 Replace Pages...14 Delete Pages...14 Navigation Pane...15 Bookmarks...15 Thumbnails...16 Rearranging Pages...16 Comments...16 Signatures...17 Scanning Pages...18 Security...19
Page 1 What is Adobe Acrobat? With Adobe Acrobat anyone can open your document across a broad range of hardware and software, and it will look exactly as you intended with layout, fonts, links, and images intact. Adobe allows you to convert documents into the Portable Document Format (PDF) that your audience can view with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. Why would you use it? When you create a file in a program, you spend a fair amount of time trying to have it appear just the way you wish it to be. However, people who do not have the software you used to create your document, or possibly even a different version of the software you are using, may not be able to view your document as you created it. The PDF format also has the ability to greatly reduce the size of the file this helps those in your audience who may have slow internet connections. You also have the ability to create color or black and white versions of your document. You can secure your documents with a password to prevent unauthorized people from accessing particular documents. And converting to the PDF format discourages people from electronically copying your work. Where do you get it? Typically, you can obtain a copy of the full version of Adobe Acrobat from your Information Technology (IT) Department. Offices, departments and colleges of the University of Florida can place orders from Software Licensing Services (f/k/a The Sodashoppe) for approximately $50.00 (http://software.ufl.edu). Employees and individuals wanting to obtain this software for personal use should contact an Adobe reseller, the retail standard version is $299. (Check with the bookstore, they may have an educational version that is less expensive.) The free Adobe Acrobat Reader can be found at http://www.adobe.com. Click on the Get Adobe Reader button located on the left side of the window. The Reader will only allow you to look at Adobe PDF Files. You need the full version of Adobe Acrobat to create and edit PDFs. Adobe offers a 30 day tryout download at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatpro/tryout.html
Page 2 PDF Maker (Acrobat 5) The PDF Maker is a plug-in for Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint). This is a quick way to create a PDF file that preserves hyperlinks, styles and bookmarks. While the default settings work very well, when you are creating PDFs to be viewed on a screen, you will want to Change the Conversion Settings to Print for PDFs that will be printed. When the full version of Adobe Acrobat is installed on your computer, the Microsoft Office programs have an Acrobat menu; from here you can convert files to PDFs and adjust your Conversion Settings.
PDF Maker (Acrobat 6) Page 3 The PDF Maker is a plug-in for Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint). This is a quick way to create a PDF file that preserves hyperlinks, styles and bookmarks. While the default settings work very well, when you are creating PDFs to be viewed on a screen, you will want to Change the Conversion Settings to Print for PDFs that will be printed. When the full version of Adobe Acrobat is installed on your computer, the Microsoft Office programs have an Acrobat menu; from here you can convert files to PDFs and adjust your Conversion Settings.
Page 4 Creating PDFs with the Acrobat Distiller The Acrobat Distiller (Called Adobe PDF in Version 6.0) is a second method to create a PDF document. This method allows for more accurate graphics and font representation than the Acrobat PDF Writer. The Distiller also gives you the ability to adjust graphics compression. To use the Distiller, choose File->Print from what ever program you are using. Change your print driver to the PDF Distiller, in this window it s called the Name:. The Properties button allows you to change some of the Distiller s Options.
Creating PDFs with the Adobe PDF Writer Page 5 The PDF Writer is a printer driver that is useful in creating PDFs that contain mostly text. This works best with simple business documents like in Word or Excel, if your computer has a limited amount of RAM, or if you need to quickly produce a PDF. If your PDF does not turn out correctly, you can usually fix this by using the preferred method, the Distiller. To use the PDF Writer, choose the PDF Writer printer driver as in the above method. As with the Distiller, the Properties button will allow you to adjust some of the PDF Settings.
Page 6 Tool Bars (Acrobat 5 only) Adobe Acrobat has many toolbars to help you work with PDFs. You can turn toolbars on and off from the Window Menu. Basic Tools 1 2 3 4 1. Hand Tool Use this tool to move about the document. Be sure to re-select this tool to test hyperlinks or form fields. 2. Zoom Tool Zoom in (or out) on part of a document, from 8.33%, up to 1600%. 3. Text Select Tool Allows you to highlight text in a PDF document, such that you can Copy. 4. Graphics Select Tool Select and copy graphics or sections of the PDF Document Viewing Tools 1 2 3 4 5 6 1. Zoom Use the and buttons to zoom in our out of the document. You can also click the down arrow and choose a set number from the list or type you own percentage in the box. 2. Actual Size View the PDF in its actual size (100%). 3. Fit in Window View one entire page at a time. 4. Fit Width Usually a larger view than the others, view your page as wide as possible while still fitting on the screen. 5. Reflow Almost never available, reflow is intended to put as much text on a line as possible. This option is available only if Wrap Lines At Margin is selected when the PDF is created, from Text Files. Blank lines and white space at the beginning of sentences are preserved from the original text, but other formatting is ignored when the text is reflowed, to remove multiple short lines of text. 6. Rotate Clockwise Rotates your document 90-degrees, (turns it on its side).
Navigation and View History Tools Page 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 1. First Page Go to the first page of the current document. 2. Previous Page Go to the page just before the current page. 3. Next Page Goes to the page following the current page. 4. Last Page Goes to the last page of the document. 5. Go to Previous View This is the back button, and will return you to the last view. 6. Go to Next View This is the forward button if you have backed out of a series of views, this button will return you to the next view. Editing Tools 1 2 3 4 5 6 1. Movie Tool Inserts a movie into your document. 2. Link Tool Creates a hyperlink to another page in your document or a web page. 3. Article Tool Allows you to link parts of your PDF as one article or story. For example, if you are reading a newsletter PDF and the story on the front page is continued on page 4, if the Article tool had been used to link the story together, you could double click on the first part and it would take you automatically to the second part. 4. Crop Tool Allows you to crop the current page, that is, this tool allows you to remove any excess from the outer edges of your document. 5. Form Tool Places a form field on your page, see Creating & Using Forms - Handout online (http://training.health.ufl.edu/handouts.shtml) for more information about creating Forms in Adobe Acrobat. 6. Text Touch Up Tool Allows you to edit text in your document one line at a time.
Page 8 Commenting Tools 1 2 3 4 5 1. Notes Tools This tool expands into several other tools, these are found through the drop down arrow next to the Note Tool. a b c d e a. Note Tool Allows you to insert notes. Leaves little notepads on the page. b. Free Text Tool Allows you to draw a box to be able to enter text. c. Sound Attachment Tool Allows you to attach a sound file to your PDF. d. Stamp Tool Allows you to place a stamp on the page. Select the stamp and edit its properties (from the Edit menu) to change the stamp image. e. File Attachment Tool Allows you to attach any file to your PDF. 2. Pencil Tools This tool expands into several other tools. Once the object is drawn, you can select it and edit its properties from the Edit menu to change the colors and line thickness. a b c d a. Pencil Tool Allows you draw free hand on the document. b. Square Tool Allows you to draw a rectangle on the document. c. Circle Tool Allows you to draw a rectangle on the document. d. Line Tool Allows you to draw a rectangle on the document. 3. Highlight Tools This tool expands into several other tools. As with the Pencil Tools you can select the object after it is added to your document and edit its properties. a b c a. Highlight Tool Highlights text you select in your document. b. Strikeout Tool Strikes out text you select in your document. c. Underline Tool Underlines text you select in your document. 4. Spell Check This tool will run a spell check through the form fields and comments, only. 5. Digital Signature Tool This tool will allow you to add a digital signature to the PDF.
File Tools Page 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1. Open Allows you to open a PDF File. 2. Open Web Page Allows you to open a Web Page, and convert it into a PDF file. 3. Save Allows you to save the current PDF. 4. Print Allows you to print the current PDF. 5. Email If your computer is set up properly, such that applications can send files directly to your email program, this button will open your email program, open a new email message and attach the current PDF. 6. Create Adobe PDF Online To make text in scanned documents searchable, you can use Adobe Capture, or upload your scanned document to the Adobe Create Adobe PDF Online service. Using this service, you can capture a limited number of documents for free, or subscribe to the service for unlimited access. See Adobe help file, or http://www.adobe.com for more information. 7. Find This tool allows you to look for a particular word or phrase within your current document (as long as the file is searchable). 8. Search This tool will allow you to search through a directory, searching for a particular word or phrase in any PDF in that directory. Here you can use comparison operators (<, <=, =, >=, >) and wild cards (*,?), as well as Boolean (& (and), (or)). 9. Show/Hide Navigation Pane Opens and closes the navigation pane which shows thumbnails, bookmarks, signatures and comments. (The frame on the left hand side of the window.) (This button does not exist in Version 6.0)
Page 10 Tool Bars (Acrobat 6 only) Adobe Acrobat has many toolbars to help you work with PDFs. You can turn toolbars on and off from the View Menu. Basic Tools 1 2 3 4 1. Hand Tool Use this tool to move about the document. Be sure to re-select this tool to test hyperlinks or form fields. 2. Text Select Tool Allows you to highlight text in a PDF document, such that you can Copy (unless restricted by permissions). 3. Graphics Select Tool Select and copy graphics or sections of the PDF Document 4. Zoom Tool Zoom in (or out) on part of a document, from 8.33%, up to 1600%. Viewing Tools 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Actual Size View the PDF in its actual size (100%). 2. Fit Page View one entire page at a time. 3. Fit Width Usually a larger view than the others, view your page as wide as possible while still fitting on the screen. 4. Zoom Use the and buttons to zoom in our out of the document. You can also click the down arrow and choose a set number from the list or type you own percentage in the box. 5. Rotate View Clockwise Rotates your document 90-degrees, (turns it on its side). 6. Rotate Counter-Clockwise Rotates your document 90-degrees, (turns it on its side). 7. How to? - Access Adobe Help on many topics.
Navigation and View History Tools Page 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. First Page Go to the first page of the current document. 2. Previous Page Go to the page just before the current page. 3. Go to a Specific Page Choose a page number out of the total number of pages. 4. Next Page Goes to the page following the current page. 5. Last Page Goes to the last page of the document. 6. Go to Previous View This is the back button, and will return you to the last view. 7. Go to Next View This is the forward button if you have backed out of a series of views, this button will return you to the next view. Advanced Editing Tools 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Select Object Tool Allows you to select objects such as links, fields and multimedia objects. 2. Article Tool Allows you to link parts of your PDF as one article or story. For example, if you are reading a newsletter PDF and the story on the front page is continued on page 4, if the Article tool had been used to link the story together, you could double click on the first part and it would take you automatically to the second part. 3. Crop Tool Allows you to crop the current page, that is, this tool allows you to remove any excess from the outer edges of your document. 4. Link Tool Creates a hyperlink to another page in your document or a web page. 5. Form Tool Places a form field on your page, see Creating & Using Forms - Handout online (http://training.health.ufl.edu/handouts.shtml) for more information about creating Forms in Adobe Acrobat. 6. Movie Tool Inserts a movie into your document. 7. Touch Up Tool Toggle between Touch up Text or Touch up Object. Allows you to edit text or objects in your document.
Page 12 Commenting Tools 1 2 3 4 5 1. Note Tool Allows you to insert notes. Leaves little notepads on the page. 2. Text Edits Indicate any text editing done 3. Stamp Tool Allows you to place a stamp on the page. Select the stamp and edit its properties or change the stamp image. 4. Highlight Tools This tool expands into several other tools. As with the Pencil Tools you can select the object after it is added to your document and edit its properties. a. Highlight Tool Highlights text you select in your document. b. Strikeout Tool Strikes out text you select in your document. c. Underline Tool Underlines text you select in your document. Security Tools 1. Secure Allows you to password protect the document (require password to open) or set permissions for actions affecting the document. 2. Sign Digitally sign the document or certify the document. A certified document will show if it has been altered.
File Tools Page 13 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Open Allows you to open a PDF File. 2. Open Web Page Allows you to open a Web Page, and convert it into a PDF file. 3. Save Allows you to save the current PDF. 4. Print Allows you to print the current PDF. 5. Email If your computer is set up properly, such that applications can send files directly to your email program, this button will open your email program, open a new email message and attach the current PDF. 6. Search This tool will allow you to search through a directory, searching for a particular word or phrase in any PDF in that directory. In Version 6.0 you can search the current PDF document or PDF documents online. 7. Create Adobe PDF To make text in scanned documents searchable, you can use Adobe Capture, or upload your scanned document to the Adobe Create Adobe PDF Online service. Using this service, you can capture a limited number of documents for free, or subscribe to the service for unlimited access. See Adobe help file, or http://www.adobe.com for more information.
Page 14 Working with Pages Insert Pages You can combine PDF documents by inserting them into other PDF documents. There are a couple of ways to do this: Open one of your PDF documents and go to the page just after or before where you want the other document to appear. In Acrobat 5.0, Choose Document->Insert Pages. In Acrobat 6.0, Choose Document -> Pages->Insert Select the PDF document that you want to add to the opened document. Next, select where in the document you want this page to appear. An alternate way is to click on the thumbnails tab on the left of the screen and then to open Windows Explorer (or My Computer) to the location of the document you want to add and then drag and drop the PDF file. As with the menu, you will be prompted where to place the pages of the new document, into your current document. If you need to insert a blank page, you will need to create a blank page PDF to insert into the proper location. Extract Pages This option allows you to copy pages from an existing PDF to a new PDF. You have the option to delete the page after extracting or leave it in the current document Replace Pages This option allows you to replace existing pages in the PDF with pages from an existing file. Delete Pages This option allows you to remove pages permanently from your PDF.
Page 15 Navigation Pane There are four parts to the Navigation Pane: Bookmarks, Comments, Thumbnails (called Pages in Version 6) and Signatures. Bookmarks A bookmark in an Acrobat file is like a Tag in an HTML file. It s a place in the file that the program can jump to. You can create Bookmarks in Microsoft Word or Tags in web files and when they are converted to PDFs, the links should remain in place. If there are bookmarks in your PDF you will see a list of them on the Bookmark tab of the Navigation Pane. Version 5 There are four buttons across the top of this tab. Version 6 Create New Bookmark (Many times these bookmarks will be created for you while the document is being created. If they were not or if you want to create others this is the option to choose.) To create a new bookmark, navigate to the area in your document you want the bookmark to be located. Choose the Create a New Bookmark button. The bookmark is created and you can name it at this time. Then Right Click the bookmark icon and choose Set Destination. This will set the bookmark to the spot where the cursor is in your document. Delete Selected Bookmarks This will delete selected bookmarks Expand the Current Bookmark (That is, show any hidden bookmarks in lower levels. You can also click on the + sign to expand a selection. The sign will collapse the selection back down.) Bookmark/Options button, which gives you all these options and more. Right Click
Page 16 Thumbnails A thumbnail is a small graphical representation of the actual file. As you increase and decrease the size of the frame, you will be able to see more or less of your documents pages. The Thumbnail Toolbar let s you delete a selected page, with the trashcan button, and the Thumbnail Button shows many of the Page options. Rearranging Pages From this view you can rearrange your pages by dragging and dropping the thumbnail pages to their new location. You can use the shift and control keys to make multiple selections. Comments The Comments tab will show a list of any comments that have been added to the PDF file in Adobe Acrobat, using the Comment Tools. The Comments Toolbar let s you delete a selected comment, with the trashcan button. The Comments Button allows you to: Import Comments Export Select Comments (use the shift and control keys for multiple selections) Delete comments Search within the comments And change the sort order of the comments. By default they are listed by Page Number. Notice that, just as there are different Commenting Tools, there are different Comment Types appearing on the Comment tab. As you change the Sort By order, Acrobat will change the comment top level. For example, if I Sort By: Type the above window looks like the one shown here.
Page 17 Signatures A digital signature, like a conventional handwritten signature, identifies a person or entity signing a document. Unlike traditional signatures, however, each digital signature stores information behind the scenes about the person signing and about the exact state of the document when it was signed. Once a document is signed, any changes made since the signing are recorded in the Signatures palette. You can track changes made between signings using the Signatures palette or by comparing signed versions of the document. This tab shows all valid and invalid signatures that have been applied to this PDF. The Signature Button allows you to add, remove and edit existing signatures.
Page 18 Scanning Pages Although the pages will not appear as clear as when you use a scanning application, you can scan pages directly into your PDF document. Be sure to check that your originals are of good quality and that they are lined up straight. 1. File 2. Import 3. Scan The following screen will appear where you can choose your scanner and if the pages are single or double-sided (double-sided will prompt you to turn pages around). You also have the choice to have these pages appear in a new document or have them appear in the current document (append). If you have a sheet feeder for your document scanner, the double-sided feature will allow you to scan all of one side and then you ll be asked to flip the stack over to scan all of the other side. Acrobat then proceeds to collate the scanned images in the appropriate order.
Security Document Security allows you to: Require a password to open the document Require a password to change the security of the document Prevent your document from being printed Prevent your document from being changed or modified Prevent others from copying text or graphics Prevent others from adding/changing comments or filling out form fields Page 19 In Version 5.0, Click on File->Document Security and then choose Acrobat Standard Security. Check the desired options. The password options will have you type in a password and verify it. It is strongly suggested that if you choose to lock any of the permissions (i.e. No Printing, No Changing the Document ), you also choose to set a password to Change Permissions otherwise anyone can turn these options back on.
Page 20 In Version 6.0, choose the Secure button on the tool bar or from the menu bar, go to File > Document Properties and choose Security. Change the settings in the drop down box and a new dialog box will open allowing you to set the required permissions. Diane Millican Training Specialist Information Technology Center Health Science Center PO Box 100152 Gainesville, FL 32610-0152 E-mail: dmillic@ufl.edu training@vpha.ufl.edu http://training.health.ufl.edu