How to use PDF documents

What is PDF?

Almost all documents on this website are in Portable Document Format (PDF). PDF is a standard for electronic document distribution.

You will need a a copy of Adobe Reader to read PDF files. This should already be installed on your computer. If not, you can download the software for free from Adobe's website.

PDFs have a number of advantages over other file formats. They are designed for onscreen reading, print well and are virus resistant.

Reading PDF documents

To read a PDF simply click on its link, If you would like to save a permanent copy to your computer click on the 'save a copy' button in the toolbar.

Searching PDF documents

There are two methods for searching for a single word or phrase within a PDF document:

1. Press Control + F. This will bring back the first instance of the term you have searched for. You can find further instances by clicking on the ‘next’ button.
2. Click on the binoculars icon on the toolbar. This will bring back a list of all instances where the term occurs.

Note that you will only be searching the document that is currently open.

Printing PDF documents

 To print a PDF document click the print button in the toolbar. You can print the entire document or selected pages.

Converting PDFs into another format

If you would like to convert a PDF document into another format, such as:

• Microsoft Word document (.DOC)
• plain text file (.TXT)
• an image (.JPG)

you will need to buy a copy of Adobe Acrobat Professional and use the 'Save as' option. See the Adobe website for more information.

About PDF accessibility

If you have version 7 or later of Adobe Reader, you can benefit from accessibility enhancements.

If you are visually impaired, Adobe Reader will read a document aloud to you:

• save a copy of the PDF to your computer
• double click on the document to open it in Adobe Reader
• go to the view menu and use the 'read out aloud' option.

See the Adobe accessibility resource centre for more information.