Acrobat Pro DC What is a PDF? Portable Document Format, or PDF, is a file format developed by Adobe that is used to maintain an original document and allow the document to be shared with anyone, no matter what hardware, software or operating system they may use, as long as they have either Acrobat Pro, or the free Acrobat Reader. PDF is the native file format that is produced when files are accessed and/or modified using Adobe Acrobat. Documents from any application can be converted to PDF and the PDF documents will retain the original appearance, layout, and print quality independent of the files native application. Acrobat can be used to add make edits to documents, add links, add buttons, add form fields, and audio and video to a document. What strengths do PDF files have? Any document can be created into a PDF either from the software program itself; Word, Excel, PowerPoint, by Printing a file as a.pdf, or from within Acrobat Pro PDF s will ensure that all formatting, page brakes, images are rendered just as they are in the original document PDF s can be electronically signed by anyone using Acrobat Pro or Acrobat Reader PDF files can be protected to limit the copying of text, graphics, making changes, and printing a document. PDF s can be redacted, meaning sensitive information can be deleted from a document so no one can see it Built in Accessibility checker to make documents Accessible for people with disabilities http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/pdf-accessibility-wcag-508-compliancestandards.html
Adobe Acrobat Pro vs. Adobe Reader Which version of Acrobat is needed to perform various functions. Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Free to use o Can be downloaded from https://get.adobe.com/reader/ Used to view, search and print PDFs Add comments as well as fill and sign forms Acrobat DC for Mobile Free for Android, ios and Windows mobile devices Print from your mobile device Add comments Fill and sign documents and forms Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Must purchase software Ability to do all features within Acrobat Reader plus o Convert Microsoft Office documents to PDF o Export PDFs into an editable Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file o Edit text and images o Organize pages o Combine multiple documents into searchable PDFs o Password protect PDFs o Convert Word files into fillable PDF forms o Add audio and video to PDFs o Add actions to PDFs o Compare documents o Redact sensitive information from a document o Enhance Accessibility within a PDF o Create PDFs from Microsoft Project, Visio, or AutoCAD documents Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 2
Acrobat DC Start Screen When Acrobat first opens, you will see the Acrobat Start screen. the start screen, you will see a list of recently opened files. On top of the window, there is a search feature which through the previously opened files, if the file you are looking for is not displayed on the screen. On the right side of the screen, there is a Views icon. By clicking on the icon, the recent files can be changed from a list view, into a thumbnail view. If the file you plan to open is not listed on the recent list, click on the My Computer link to browse your computer for your file. On the My Computer view, there will be a list of recent folders that were used. If the file you want to open is not in those folders, click on the Browse button to browse your computer. You may also browse for a file by going to the File menu and choosing Open, or by using the open shortcut of Ctrl-O. Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 3
Acrobat Pro DC Layout When a file is open in Acrobat Pro DC, there will be a toolbar that is located at the top of the Acrobat Screen. Any open PDFs will be listed in their own separate tabs. To the left of the open PDF will be a Tools menu, which will access all tools within Acrobat, as well as the Home tab, which will open the Acrobat Start screen. Acrobat Toolbar Under the open documents will be the Acrobat toolbar. By default, the toolbar will contain some File tools; Save, Print, Email, Search, Navigation Tools; Page Up and Down, Page Number, Zoom and Select Tools; Selection Tool, Hand Tool, Zoom In and Out, Zoom, Fit to page, and Comment tools; Comment and highlight. The toolbar is a good place to put tools that are accessed frequently. Customizing the Toolbar Any tools within the Toolbar can be removed by right clicking on the toolbar, selecting the tool category and unchecking a tool to remove it, or by checking on a tool to add it to the toolbar. If the tool you are trying to add or remove is not listed, the tool may be listed under the Customize Quick Tools option. Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 4
Any tools that are listed on the top of the page under the Tools to show in the Toolbar will be added to the toolbar. Any of these tools can be moved by selecting the tool and click on either the left or right triangle to move the tool to the left or right or they can be deleted by selecting tool and clicking on the Trash icon. A divider may also be added to add some separation between tool types within the tool bar by clicking on the Add divider icon. To add a tool to the toolbar, select the tool from the list and click on the add to toolbar icon on the right side of the tools to add box. This tool icon will not be listed in the Tools to show in Toolbar area. To remove a tool, select the tool to be removed and click on the trash can icon on the right side of the screen. If any changes were made, make sure to click on the Save button on the bottom of the window. Note: If the toolbars are ever reset, by right clicking on the toolbar and choosing Reset Toolbars, any tools that were added from the Customize Quick Tools will be removed. Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 5
Page Display When a document is opened in Acrobat, the default setting is for the first page in the document to fit the Acrobat window s width, and allow for line by line scrolling. Note: This can be changed to a specific setting by going to the Edit Menu, choosing Preferences, and then going to Page Display, where the Page Layout and Zoom options can be changed to a user s liking. To change the view of the document so a full page fits within the document window, click on the Fit One full page to window icon on the toolbar, or use the shortcut of Ctrl-0 (zero). When scrolling in the Fit One full page view, the document will scroll one page at a time. Zoom tools To zoom into an area within a document, use the page controls toolbar, which is in the toolbar located on the top of the screen. The Page controls tool bar will allow you to zoom into your document by clicking on the minus or plus buttons, by clicking on the zoom level dropdown to select a preset increment, or by entering in a zoom level. The zoom shortcuts are Ctrl (minus) to zoom out and Ctrl + (plus) to zoom in. When a document is opened, the preset tool that is selected is the selection tool, arrow icon, which will allow users to select text and images, if a document is not protected against this. If the document has been zoomed in on, the Hand Tool can be selected which will allow you to use the mouse to navigate within a zoomed in document. To select the hand tool, click on the hand icon within the toolbar. Tip: You may also use the hand tool shortcut at any time to navigate within a zoomed document at any time by pressing and holding the spacebar. The cursor within the document will change to the hand tool as long as the spacebar is pressed. Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 6
Zoom Shortcuts Zoom In (Ctrl + (plus)) Zooms in to a document Zoom Out (Ctrl (minus)) Zooms out in a document Fit Page (Ctrl-0) Fits a single page within the document window. Actual Size (Ctrl-1) Zooms a document to 100% Fit Width (Ctrl-2) Zooms so a document fits within the width of the document window Fit Visible (Ctrl-3) Similar to fit width but all empty white space on the page is eliminated. Marquee Zoom The Marquee Zoom will allow users to highlight an area in a document to zoom in to. By default, the Marquee Zoom tool is not on the Acrobat toolbar. To add the Marquee Zoom, right click anyplace on the toolbar, select the Show Select & Zoom Tools option, and then click on Marquee Zoom. The marquee zoom icon will be placed on the toolbar to the right of the page navigation toolbar section. To use the marquee zoom, click on the marquee zoom icon in the toolbar. Click, hold, and drag with the mouse to make a selection on the document. When you let go, Acrobat will zoom into the area that was selected. There are several other Select & Zoom options that can be added to Acrobat. If there is a specific zoom tool that is used a lot, remember that you are able to customize the tools and toolbars within Acrobat at any time by adding a tool to the tools pane, or by right clicking in the toolbar and adding a new tool. Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 7
Navigating Pages If the document that is opened within Acrobat has multiple pages, you are able to navigate to other pages by clicking on the Page up and page down icons which are located in the toolbar on the top of the screen, or by entering in a specific page number in the page number textbox and hitting enter. The left arrow key (previous page) and the right arrow key (next page) can also be used to navigate one page at a time within a document. The scrollbar may also be used to navigate a page by clicking, holding, and dragging the scrollbar on the right side of the window. As the scrollbar is moved, Acrobat will populate a thumbnail to show a preview of the page that will display when the mouse button is let go of. Note: This will only work if the fit one page to window option is selected from the page controls toolbar. Another option for navigating pages is to use the Navigation Pane on the left side of the window. If the Navigation pane is hidden, click on the triangle icon on the left side of the screen to populate it. On the Navigation pane, click on the Tumbnails icon. The thumbnails panel will show a thumbnail of all pages within the document. To view a page, scroll through the thumbnails to find the page to display and then click on the tumbnail to view the page. If a document was set up to use bookmarks, either manually, or when the original document was created, the bookmarks navigation is a great want to navigate within a document. To view any bookmarks in the document, click on the bookmark icon. Bookmarks allow users to navigate to different sections within a document. To use the bookmarks navigation, click on the bookmark to navigate to that section of the document. Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 8
Navigation Pane On the left side of the screen is the Navigation pane. If the Navigation pane is not visible, there will be a small triangle half way down the window that will allow the navigation pane to be shown or hidden. In the Navigation pane, there are icons to show page thumbnails, bookmarks, and file attachments. These icons can be clicked on to view a thumbnail view of all pages within the document, bookmarks (if these are set up when creating a document), or to view files that are attached to the document. To close any of the navigation panels, click on the X located on the upper right side of the panel. Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 9
Tools Pane On the right side of the screen, there will be some tools listed. If the Tools are not showing, there will be a small triangle on the right side of the screen that can be clicked on to show the tools. This triangle can also be clicked on to collapse the tools. Any of the Tools on the tools panel can be rearranged, by clicking and holding on a tool name and then dragging the tool to its new location within the tools panel. A solid line will appear to show the new location of the tool. When the tool is in the correct place, let go of the mouse button. Customizing Tools in the Tools Pane The Tools pane can be easily customized to have the most commonly used tools within the tools pane so they are easily accessible. To remove a tool, right click on the tool and select Remove Shortcut. You may also click on the X on the right side of a tool within the tools pane. Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 10
To add a tool to the tools pane, click on the tools tab on the top of the window. All tools that are available within Acrobat will be listed here. To find a tool, either use the search feature on the top of the screen, or navigate by scrolling through all of the tools, which are organized by category. To add a tool into the tools panel on the right, click on the dropdown button below a tool and select Add Shortcut. Tools may also be added to the tools pane by clicking and holding on a tool icon and dragging the icon into the tools pane. Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 11
Create Custom Tools in the Tools Pane New in Acrobat DC is the ability to create a Unique Custom tool set. When creating a custom tool, the tools can be displayed within the Tools pane and accessed at any time. The tools also won t be removed if the Toolbars are reset, as a Custom Quick Tool would. To add a custom tool, click on the Tools tab on the top of the screen and either search for the Create Custom Tool by scrolling through the list of tools, or by using the search feature. Under the Create Custom Tool icon, click on the dropdown and select Open. Below is what the Create custom tool window looks like. All of the tools that are available are listed on the left hand side in categories. On the right side is where the new custom sets will be created. Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 12
When creating a Custom tool set, make sure to first add a section, give the section a name and then add tools to the section. By doing this, when viewing the Custom set within the Tools pane, the custom tool set will have a unique name. To create a section, click on the Add Section icon. On the Add or Edit Label window, enter in a unique tool set name and then click Save. When the section has been added, tools can be added within the section. To add a tool, find the tool to be added on the left hand side of the screen, select the tool and then click on the Add to Custom Set icon, or double click on the tool to add it. When the tool has been added, more tools can be added to the section by following the above steps, or a new section can be created to add more tools to. When all of the tools and sections have been added, click on the Save button. Acrobat will now ask for a unique name for the custom tool. Enter in a tool name and click Save. After the custom tool has been saved, Acrobat will automatically open the tool. On the top of the screen, the new Tool name will appear, with the sections and the tools that were added to the sections on the right side of the screen. To close the custom tools, click on the X icon on the right side of the screen. Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 13
To get back to the custom tools at a later point, navigate to the tools pane on the right side of the screen. By default, the new custom toolset will be located at the bottom of the tool pane. These tools can be moved by clicking and holding on the custom toolset name and dragging to a new location with the tool pane. To open the custom tools, click on the Custom Toolset name. The toolset will open on the top of the screen with all of the sections and tools that were added. Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 14
Find Function The find function within Acrobat DC is extremely powerful. By default, when using Find, Acrobat will search for all words containing the search term, but there are options that will allow users to search for whole words containing the search term, search for case sensitive words, and also to search for terms in multiple PDF documents. To use the Find function, click on the magnifying glass in the toolbar, or use the shortcut of Ctrl-F. The find window will populate on the upper right side of your PDF window. To run a simple search, enter the term to search for in the textbox and hit the enter key, or the next button. Note: There is a Replace with option on the bottom of the search window. This will be covered in the Editing a PDF section. Acrobat will search throughout the entire document and highlight every word that matches the search term. To go to the next word, click on the enter key, or on the next button. To refine a search, click on the dropdown icon to the right of the search box. Now, a search can include Whole Words only, which will only return results that match the term that is typed in. In the example above, the search will return document or Document, but will not return documents. The search can also be refined search for a case sensitive term, meaning if the first letter is capitalized, then the search will only return results with a capital letter, or if the term is not capitalized, the search will only return non-capitalized terms within the document. Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 15
When refining searches, multiple options can be chosen, such as Whole Words Only and Case Sensitive. If an option is selected, there will be a checkmark next to it. The other two options are to include bookmarks and comments, if either of these are included in the document. Tip: When searching within Acrobat, you may enter either a single word, or a string of text to search within a document. To search for a term withing multiple PDF documents, choose the Open Full Acrobat Search from the refine search dropdown. This will open the Advanced Search feature, which can also be accessed by going to the Edit Menu and selecting Advanced Search. Advanced Search The Advanced search is similar to the find feature in that terms can be searched for in a single document that match as whole words, case sensitivity, within bookmarks or comments. Where the advanced search differentiates is that with the advanced search, multiple PDF documents contained within a folder, or an entire hard drive, can be searched. After the results have been returned, the results can be refined to search for another term within the search results. To get to the Advanced Search, click on the Edit Menu, and select Advanced Search, or use the shortcut of Shift- Ctrl-F. Within the search window, the default search option is to search in the current document. To search in multiple PDFs on a computer, select the All PDF Documents in radio button, and then click on the dropdown to choose the folder to search within. If the specific folder is not listed, click on the Browse for Location option to browse your computer. Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 16
Once the folder is selected, enter in the term or phrase to be searched for. Under the word or phrase search, there are options to restrict the search to whole words, casesensitive, etc. Once the options have been selected, click on the search button. Acrobat will produce the results showing how many documents and the number of instances for the search. To view any of the results, click on the + butt next to the document to see all instances within that document. To view a result, click on the text under the document name. Acrobat will open that document and display the search term of phrase. On the bottom of the results page is an option to Refine Search Results. This will enable a search within the results of the previous search and will return all results. Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 17
On the refine search window, enter the term to search within the previous results on the top in the Search within the previous results for: textbox. There are some other options under the Use these additional criteria where a search can be matched to a specific author, to all documents created before or after a specific date, etc. Once all of the criteria has been entered, click on the Refine Search Results button. Acrobat will now product the results of the refined search within the original search. To view the results, click on the + button to the left of the document name and then select the term, which will display within the Acrobat window. Navigation Acrobat DC Pro Page 18