Frequently Asked Questions About PDFs



  1. I'm trying to read a PDF online, but it is very hard to do.

    PDFs are designed to be printed out and read, but if you prefer to read them online, you may find it easier if you increase the view size to 125%.

  2. "I'm having trouble printing PDFs using Adobe Acrobat on Macintosh or Windows. What can I do?"

    • You must be using at least version 4.0 of the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. See Help with Printing for installation instructions.

    • Try printing one page at a time.

    • Try printing with the 'Print as Image' option selected.

    • Try printing to a newer printer. (NOTE for Macintosh users: A number of users have reported problems printing PDFs with the LaserWriter Driver version 8.4. We suggest using an earlier or later version.)

    • Try saving the file to disk before printing rather than opening it "on the fly." This requires that you configure your browser to "Save" rather than "Launch Application" for the file type "application/pdf," and can usually be done in the "Helper Applications" options.

    • Make sure you are using the latest version of Adobe's Acrobat Reader. See Help with Printing for details.

    • Are you getting Postscript errors on your Mac? A frequent cause is a lack of communication of postscript commands between your computer and your printer. Postscript communication on a Mac is handled by the Control Panel called "~ATM". To see if you have installed "~ATM", go to the "System Folder / Control Panels" folder and look for "~ATM". If the control panel is not present you will need to install it. If the "~ATM" is installed, check to make sure that you are using the most recent version, v4.0 or higher. You can check the version number by selecting the "~ATM" icon and choosing "Get info..." from the "File" menu.

      If you do not have "~ATM" installed or need to upgrade to the latest version, you can get this software from the Acrobat web site. If you recently downloaded Acrobat, you may already have this Control Panel on your computer and just need to install it. When you download Acrobat, "~ATM" comes along in a folder called "Fonts" and will be located in the Acrobat folder. Drag the "~ATM" icon onto your System Folder to install it.

    • Are some lines on each page getting cut off?
      Are you running MacOS version 8? The default paper size is "Letter Small." Change this setting to "US Letter" in "File/Page Setup" and you should be able to print full pages.

    • If the file is taking more than 15 minutes to download, see Tips for users experiencing slow response.

  3. "Can I use the Adobe Acrobat Reader Plugin?"

    The Windows 3.x, Windows 95, and Windows NT versions of the Acrobat Reader Plugin seem to be reliable, however we don't recommend using the Macintosh version. Use the Acrobat Reader application instead. See Help with Printing for instructions.

  4. "Why can't I just check a box next to all the papers I want PDFs for and download them all at once?"

    Unfortunately, there's no way to implement a feature like this; Web browsers currently do not support automated simultaneous downloads.

  5. "When I try to print PDFs, I get an error saying Acrobat Reader can't write to the file (i.e., the printer), that the disk is full. What can I do?"

    It's possible that your printer doesn't have enough installed memory to handle an entire PDF, especially one that contains a lot of images. Try printing the file to a printer with more memory, or, alternatively, print the PDF one page at a time.

  6. "After downloading, I can't open the PDF file with Acrobat Reader. I get a message: 'There was an error opening this document. Could not repair file.'"

    It's probable that the file was incompletely downloaded, or corrupted during the network transfer. Your best bet is to try a fresh download of the file. If that doesn't work, please send us feedback and we'll investigate.

  7. "I'm having problems downloading PDF files. My browser downloads about 20% of the file and then stops. Any suggestions?"

    This problem is frequently caused by unusually high network traffic, and the best solution is to try downloading the files at a time when transatlantic network traffic is lighter -- generally when the east coast of the US is not at work. You might also look at Tips for users who are experiencing slow response