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Trouble viewing PDF files?
Some of the information on
this web site is stored in Adobe PDF (portable document format) file format.
For example, take home tests and
class notes are usually stored this way.
If you have Adobe “Acrobat”
or “Acrobat Reader”
installed, these files should be automatically processed properly. There are
two ways to succeed, when
things are installed correctly:
1.
From within the
Internet Explorer browser window, left click on the link. The PDF file should be correctly displayed
within the browser. Now, Acrobat is
running as a “plug-in” within the browser.
2.
From within the
Internet Explorer browser window, right click on the desired link containing a
PDF file; select “Save target as…” and save the target file to your hard
disk. Then, using one of the versions of
Acrobat mentioned above, you can open and read the file at your leisure.
If
you use another browser, the procedure should be analogous.
Acrobat
Reader is available free of charge at this link: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
Trouble printing PDF files?
Adobe PDF files almost always
print properly and quickly. If it is
taking a very long time (minutes) to print a single page (and this slow behavior
is unusual for your computer/printer setup), there is one thing to check. Select “File à Print…” to cause a print dialog box to be displayed. Be sure the checkbox “print as image” is NOT
checked. If it is checked, you are
asking the page to be first converted to millions of tiny dots called pixels
(at 600 dots per inch, most probably) and then forwarding this very large
stream of pixels to your printer.
Instead, unchecking the box will cause the page contents to be printed
as text objects where applicable. This
is the difference between asking for the letter “H” to print, versus sending a
jillion dots of black and white which ultimately form the image of the shape “H”. The former is much faster than the
latter. But note: if all else fails,
and your text is jumbled or illegible, then “print as image” will guarantee you
will print what you see…if you are sufficiently patient.
IF YOU ARE STILL HAVING TROUBLE, ask a computer savvy friend. Or, email me and describe the trouble you are
having. Be very specific in your
message: tell me what you do and what
you see and what error(s) you see; do not just say “it doesn’t work…”
©
slh 2003
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