Viewing PDFs

A PDF (Portable Document Format) file is an electronic image of a document. PDF captures formatting information from a variety of desktop publishing applications, making it possible to send formatted documents and have them appear on the recipient's monitor or printer as they were intended. To view a PDF you must have a PDF reader.

Figure 11-8: The xpdf PDF Viewer

An open source application called xpdf is included with Red Hat Linux.

To view a PDF with xpdf:

1. In your desktop environment, click the Main Menu button and choose Graphics > xpdf (to launch xpdf from a shell prompt, type xpdf).

2. Right-click in the xpdf screen to display a list of options.

3. Select Open to display a list of files.

4. Select the PDF file you want to view and click Open.

To see a list of menu options, right-click inside the screen. The toolbar at the bottom has navigational tools that let you move backward and forward through the document, as well as standard zoom, print, and find tools. The xpdf man page provides useful information on the xpdf options. To view the xpdf man page, at a shell prompt type man xpdf.

Figure 11-9: Viewing a PDF in xpdf

Another popular PDF viewer is Adobe Acrobat Reader. While it is not included with Red Hat Linux, you can download it free at http://www.adobe.com/.