INSTALL ACROBAT PDF READER FOR MACINTOSH

ABOUT ACROBAT PDF READER

Can you imagine having to own all the various types of word processing software in order to open and read text documents and research papers created by your colleagues in their favorite software, but perhaps not yours??? Fortunately, Adobe has created a READER which will open any text document which has been saved in their Portable Document Format, often referred to as a PDF file. All papers submitted by the presenters at the Great Basin Visual Science Symposium have been converted into the PDF format for your download and display.

The Acrobat Reader is available for both the Macintosh and Windows-based computer platforms. The latest version of the Acrobat Reader is available as a free download.

Regardless of which version you may already have installed on your computer, we strongly recommend that you download and install the latest version of Acrobat Reader. No harm will be done if you are installing on top of a current version.

INSTALLATION CHOICES FOR ACROBAT PDF READER:

You have several choices in getting and installing the Acrobat PDF Reader for your computer (see the chart below).

• GET IT FROM THE INTERNET (WWW): Install Acrobat PDF Reader and its web browser plug-in from the download web site at Adobe, Inc.
• STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS: We give you step-by-step instructions that explain how to install and configure the Acrobat PDF Reader from Adobe's Internet site.
  
• TEST PLUGIN: To make sure your PDF Reader plugin works, we've given you a small test document to open.

ACROBAT PDF READER & WEB BROWSER PLUG-IN
COMPUTER PLATFORM	GET IT NOW!		STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS		TEST YOUR PLUGIN
MACINTOSH Acrobat PDF Reader & Plug-in

ADOBE ACROBAT READER FOR MACINTOSH
STEP-BY-STEP INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

(You may want to print these instructions for reference before continuing.)

ADOBE ACROBAT READER for PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT FILES (PDF)

The following instructions will show you how to:

• DOWNLOAD LATEST VERSION Instructions for downloading the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat Reader and Web Browser Plugin
• CONFIGURE INTERNET EXPLORER TO READ PDFs If needed, instructions on configuring Internet Explorer for the Macintosh to open and view Acrobat PDF files
• PRINT PDFs FROM WEB BROWSER Instructions for preferred printing method from a PDF document viewed from within your Web Browser
• TEST PLUGIN See if your newly installed plugin actually works!

DOWNLOAD THE LATEST VERSION OF ACROBAT READER

With your browser, go to the web address (URL) http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html.

• Look for the link labeled DOWNLOAD NOW and click it.
• Avoid any enticements to purchase the full blown Acrobat pdf writing software. You only need the free Acrobat Reader.
• Look for the link labeled GET ACROBAT READER, FREE!

  

• When you finally get to the actual download page (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html), enter your vital statistics and your Operating System version. After entering your data and making your selections, click on the DOWNLOAD button.

  

• Follow the on-screen instructions. The various components which make up Acrobat Reader will be downloaded. Wherever you have specified that your downloadable files from web sites are to be kept, find the Acrobat Reader Installer file and launch it.
• Once the installation program is running, respond to any questions or options it gives you. All components of the Acrobat Reader and the latest PLUG-IN for both Internet Explorer and Netscape Web Browsers should automatically be installed, requiring no further action on your part.
• NOTE: On a few occasions, when we ran the Acrobat Reader installer for Macintosh with Internet Explorer as our preferred web browser, we discovered that the PLUG-IN for the Acrobat Reader did not "take." Consequently, when we encountered PDF files on the web and tried to open them, Internet Explorer just sat there. In case this happens to you with your Macintosh, follow the next set of directions in order to CONFIGURE INTERNET EXPLORER what to do when it finds PDF files. THESE ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS ARE ONLY NECESSARY IF YOU TEST YOUR PDF PLUGIN FOR INTERNET EXPLORER AND THE PDF DOES NOT OPEN.

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CONFIGURE INTERNET EXPLORER TO OPEN PDF FILES WITHIN THE BROWSER

NOTE: Use the following configuration instructions only if your PDF PLUGIN TEST failed to open a PDF document in the Macintosh version of Internet Explorer.

• After the Acrobat Reader installation program has run, a folder called ACROBAT READER is placed on your hard drive. Find it. It may be labeled with the version of the Reader you downloaded from Adobe.

  

• Inside the Acrobat Reader folder is another folder called WEB BROWSER PLUG-IN.

  

• Open it and you will find a plug-in called PDFViewer (ignore the Netscape logo attached to the icon...it works just fine in Internet Explorer).

  

  This plug-in needs to be moved into Internet Explorer's own PLUG INS folder.

• Locate the Internet Explorer folder on your hard drive. When you have found the icon for the Internet Explorer application, you will also see the Plug-ins folder.

  

• Drag the PDFViewer you located earlier into this Plug-ins folder.
• Launch Internet Explorer. You now need to associate PDF files with the PDFViewer. This is the specific instruction that Internet Explorer has been waiting for. Follow these instructions.
• From the Internet Explorer menu item EDIT in the upper left portion of your screen, select PREFERENCES. A PREFERENCES window will open with many selectable options.

  

• In the left hand column, scroll down until you find the heading RECEIVING FILES and open it to reveal its options. Click on FILE HELPERS. On the right, a list of all the various file types you may encounter when browsing on the Web is displayed. It's impressive.

  

• Scroll down the list of file types to reach the "P" section. Find the application type entitled Portable Document Format that has the extension of ".pdf " and highlight this item. To tell Internet Explorer how to open PDF documents, click the CHANGE button.
• A window opens up entitled EDIT FILE HELPER. Ignore everything except for the bottom section labeled HANDLING.

  

• Next to the option "How to handle," select from the pull-down list "View with Plug-in." Then click the BROWSE button to locate the PDFViewer plug-in you copied into Internet Explorer's Plug-ins folder. Once you've located and selected the PDFViewer plug-in, click OK. You are returned to the window EDIT FILE HELPER. Confirm that next to the part labeled "Plug in name" is PDFViewer. Click the OK button. Then from the PREFERENCES window, click its OK button.

Now whenever Internet Explorer encounters a PDF file that you link to, it will automatically open in your browser window with the PDFViewer.

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HOW TO PRINT A PDF DOCUMENT BEING VIEWED FROM WITHIN YOUR WEB BROWSER

Once you are viewing a PDF document from within your Macintosh Web browser window, you may want to print it. Notice that there is a set of function buttons for the PDFViewer below all the buttons and functions normally associated with your web browser.

If you wish to print the PDF document, DO NOT USE the print button or print functions of your web browser (crossed out in the image above).

Instead use the PRINT button just to the right of the Adobe logo along the line of PDF Viewer functions (circled in red).

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