Viewing PDFs in Web Browsers


Whenever you locate a PDF document on the Web, you have two ways to view the file. You can view it in Adobe Reader or in your Web browser. For Web browser viewing, you need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer.

To set the way you view PDFs on Web sites:

1.

Open Adobe Reader and press Ctrl/Command+K to open the Preferences dialog.

2.

Click Internet in the left pane. The Internet preferences (Figure 16.1) provide attribute settings for choosing the way you want to view PDF files hosted on the Internet, along with some settings related to file-downloading speed.

Figure 16.1. Click Internet in the left pane in the Preferences dialog to adjust options for viewing PDFs on the Internet.


3.

Check the box for Display PDF in browser. When the box is checked, all PDFs you view on the Web are displayed inside the Web browser window.

4.

Check the boxes for Allow fast web view and Allow speculative downloading in the background. These options provide you with the fastest viewing of PDF pages. Rather than the entire PDF document downloading at once, pages are downloaded as you view them, so the pages appear in the Document pane much faster.

5.

Select your connection speed from the Connection speed pull-down menu. Click OK to accept any new changes made in the Preferences.

6.

Open your default Web browser and navigate to a URL containing a PDF document.

NOTE

Viewing PDFs in Web browser windows does not require you to launch Adobe Reader. You can either keep Adobe Reader open or quit it to access PDFs on the Internet from your Web browser.

TIP

If you don't know the URL where a PDF is located, open the Search window and select Search the internet using Yahoo!. Check the Search only in PDF files checkbox. The returned results report only PDF documents. Click any link and a PDF opens in your Web browser. Alternatively, you can visit www.peachpit/adobereader7/TutorialFiles and click on any PDF to open the file in your Web browser.

7.

When the PDF opens in your browser, Adobe Reader tools, navigation tabs, and Status Bar items appear within the browser window. You can use Adobe Reader tools to navigate pages and alter zoom views, and you can also take advantage of the tools at the top of the Document pane and the tabs nested in the Navigation pane. Viewing PDF files inside the browser window is referred to as inline viewing.

8.

Open a context menu on the Toolbar Well. All the toolbars are listed in the menu (Figure 16.2).

Figure 16.2. Inline viewing of PDF documents shows you the PDF in the browser window, along with the Adobe Reader tools and Navigation tabs.


9.

Click the right arrow at the top of the right scroll bar to open a fly-out menu. The menu options shown in Figure 16.3 include access to the Document Properties, Document Status, and Preferences, as well as a command to Reset Toolbars.

Figure 16.3. Open the fly-out menu to select commands to access file information and preferences, and to reset toolbars.


10.

Click the Save a Copy tool in the top-left portion of the browser window. The Save a Copy dialog opens. Navigate your hard drive and save the file to a folder.

Note

When you view PDF documents as inline views, many of the navigational buttons and links operate the same way in the Web browser as they do when you view PDFs in Adobe Reader.


Why don't my links work when I view PDFs as inline views?

All buttons and links that perform an action or open another page within the same file work the same way in the browser window as they do in Adobe Reader. However, if a link is designed to open another file, it doesn't work unless the PDF is prepared for Web viewing and contains URL links.

To open files with cross-document links, a PDF author needs to assign a URL location to the link. Once the PDF is viewed on the Web, all target destinations outside the PDF document need to be defined as URL locations.




    Adobe Reader 7 Revealed. Working Effectively with Acrobat PDF Files
    Adobe Reader 7 Revealed: Working Effectively with Acrobat PDF Files
    ISBN: 0321305310
    EAN: 2147483647
    Year: 2005
    Pages: 168
    Authors: Ted Padova

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