Generally, there are a variety of ways to view and interact with PDFs on desktops and/or mobile devices. The viewing experience is dependent upon the individual operating system, available software, browser brand and occasionally, the version number of a browser (such as Internet Explorer). While our PDFs can be viewed on mobile devices and tablets such as Android, iPhone and iPad, this brief guide describes viewing our PDFs ONLY when using a desktop computer. We cover the top five browsers. For Windows users: Firefox, Google Chrome, Windows Internet Explorer (versions 8 and 9 only), Safari and Opera. And for Macintosh users: Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera. We hope this page will help guide you depending on your choices. Please enjoy our archives!
OPTIONS FOR WINDOWS USERS
1) If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. You can download the PDF file to your computer, open and control it separately using the software on your computer.
2) If you have Acrobat Reader installed and are using: Windows Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or Opera.
The Acrobat Reader software may automatically open, along with the PDF in your browser window. In the new screen with the PDF displayed, be sure to select the “Acrobat” icon in the floating menu at the bottom of the browser window to bring-up the Acrobat controls.
3) If you have Acrobat Reader installed and are using: Windows Google Chrome.
Google Chrome has features built-in that are separate and different from the Acrobat software. The “floating” menu (seen at the bottom of the browser window) will allow a user to do a variety of things with the PDF from the browser. Additionally, clicking “Command F” or “Control F” will bring up the search box (upper right of browser window) for searching text and content throughout the entire PDF document.
OPTIONS FOR MACINTOSH USERS
1) If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. You can download the PDF file to your computer, open and control it separately using the software on your computer.
2) If you have Acrobat Reader installed and are using: Macintosh Safari.
Clicking “Command F” or “Control F” will bring up the search box (upper right of browser window) for searching text and content throughout the entire PDF document.
Additionally, Macintosh has proprietary software installed on all Macs called “Preview.” This can be accessed from the floating window at the bottom of the screen in the browser window. “Preview” allows for many of the same controls as does Adobe Acrobat.
3) If you have Acrobat Reader installed and are using: Macintosh Firefox.
Firefox on Macintosh (by default) ONLY downloads the PDF file. It can ONLY be accessed by downloading and opening it in Adobe Acrobat or the Macintosh Preview software.
4) If you have Acrobat Reader installed and are using: Macintosh Google Chrome (works identically to the Windows version).
Google Chrome has features built-in that are separate and different from the Acrobat software. The “floating” menu (seen at the bottom of the browser window) will allow a user to do a variety of things with the PDF from the browser. Additionally, clicking “Command F” or “Control F” will bring up the search box (upper right of browser window) for searching text and content throughout the entire PDF document.
5) If you have Acrobat Reader installed and are using: Macintosh Opera.
Opera will give the user an option to choose how to open the PDF file. It does NOT use the browser for viewing the PDF – only software native the computer users system.