From the course: Help Yourself: Tech Tips Weekly

PDF tips and tricks

From the course: Help Yourself: Tech Tips Weekly

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PDF tips and tricks

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- [Instructor] Perhaps the most common shared document file format is the PDF, the Portable Document File. The program that reads these files is the Adobe Acrobat Reader. It's available free for computers at adobe.com/acrobat and it's also free as an app for mobile devices. The purpose of the PDF is to have a common document format that renders accurately on any device. Your PDF document looks the same on your computer screen, laptop or mobile device as it does on the internet or when printed. Most applications have the capability to output in the PDF format, which makes it universal for exchanging documents. Two basic flavors of Acrobat exist. The Acrobat Reader is free and it's used to view, print, fill in, and even create PDF files. Acrobat Pro cost money, and it may require a subscription, but it lets you do more with PDF files. The DC suffix refers to Adobe's Document Cloud. DC versions are available for both Acrobat Reader and Acrobat Pro. And really, all you need to get started is the Reader app. PDF documents open in the Acrobat app as shown here. This is the Acrobat Reader, the free version of the program. Now you can use this tool, the hand tool, to page around and scroll, swiping left and right if you can do that. Otherwise, there are keyboard shortcuts, page down and page up exactly as you would expect. You can also use the arrow keys. Zoom controls here lets you zoom out and zoom in on a document respectively. There's also a menu from which you can choose an exact zoom amount. On the keyboard, Control + Minus zooms out and Control + Plus zooms in. To apply highlight to a text, choose the highlighter tool and then drag over the text you want to highlight. This change becomes a permanent part of the document. Now to change the highlight, you can click it, you can select a new color here, or you can add a comment here. And to remove the highlight, click this trash icon here and it's deleted. To add a comment to the PDF, use this sticky note item here and click in the text where you'd like to place your comment. Type your comment and click Post to post it. Then close the window. To view a comment, you just can hover the mouse over it and see what it has to say. You can click it to add or apply or interact with other users. To remove the comment, right-click and delete. The Pro version of Acrobat allows you to edit the PDF, rearranging pages and other special features. Any modifications you make to a PDF, regardless of which Acrobat version you use, become part of the document and you're prompted to save it when you quit. Saving a PDF can be done in any version of Acrobat. The Pro version of Acrobat does offer more features, but here this free version of Acrobat is really all you need to read a PDF, highlight important items and share comments.

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