Using Additional Reader Window Components

In addition to the menu commands, toolbars, and tools already discussed, Adobe Reader also provides you with other tools and windows that help you view and work with PDF documents.

Using the How To Window

The How To window has two purposes: It shows help information when you open a document from the Help > How To pull-down menu. It's also home to the search tools. For more information on using search tools, see Chapter 7, "Searching PDFs."

If you open both the Navigation pane and the How To window, your Document pane significantly shrinks in size, limiting the viewing area for the PDF pages. When accessing help or performing a search, be certain to click the Hide button to hide the How To pane when you finish the task and you'll open up the Document pane, permitting you to see pages in larger sizes.

For quick access to the How To window press Shift+F4. Press Shift+F4 again to close the How To window. Because you will frequently want to use the How To window, the keyboard shortcut allows for faster access.

Using the Status Bar

The Status Bar at the bottom of the Reader window handles viewing options. You can use tools in the Status Bar to navigate pages, display different page views, hide toolbars, change from Edit view to Full Screen mode, and for certain file types, view document status information.

If you haven't yet memorized the keyboard shortcuts for navigating documents, you'll find the Status Bar much handier than using menu commands or loading toolbars. Once you become familiar with all the options available in the Status Bar, you'll be able to quickly navigate your PDF documents.

Using Scroll Bars

Along the right side and bottom of the Document pane, you'll find familiar scroll bars. Click the up/down arrows to jump short distances for viewing documents in zoomed views. Drag the scroll bars up/down or left/right to rapidly scroll pages, and click the mouse button between an arrow and the scroll bar to jump full pages. For more information on zooming views, see Chapter 4.

Once you become familiar with keyboard shortcuts, the scroll bars should be of little significance to you. Using page down/up keys and the arrow keys on your keyboard along with the Hand tool should eliminate the need for poking around the scroll bars.