Working with PDFs

This file contains the basic information you need to open, navigate, and print your PDF map file using Adobe Reader 6.0 or 7.0. If you do not have the full version of the free Adobe Reader 6.0 or higher on your computer, we strongly recommend you download and install it, because of the vastly superior performance of this version over earlier ones. Some of these techniques are possible with pre-6.0 versions but we cannot guarantee this. To download and install the free Adobe Reader, or if you need additional support, please go to http://www.adobe.com. When downloading, you will be asked whether you want the full installation or not - please check "full version". Note that this is provided for reference, but we are not able to provide tech support for Adobe products.

Opening your PDF map

To open a PDF map:

• Simply double-click on the file icon - PDF maps have the extension .pdf. This will automatically open Adobe Reader. To open more maps, within Adobe Reader choose File > Open, select your map file name, and click Open.

Adjusting the View of your PDF map

To increase magnification:

• Select the zoom-in tool , and click the map, or drag to draw a rectangle around the area you want to magnify. You can also click the Zoom In button in the viewing toolbar.

To decrease magnification:

• Select the zoom-out tool and click the map, or drag to draw a rectangle the size you want the reduced page to be. You can also click the Zoom Out button in the viewing toolbar.

To move to an unshown part of the map:

• If your map is larger than the window, select the hand tool , click on the map and drag on the page in the direction you want to see more of. Moving a PDF page with the hand tool is like moving a piece of paper on a desk with your hand.

To resize a map to fit the window:

• To resize the map to fit entirely in the window, click the Fit Page tool , or choose View > Fit Page.

To return a map to its actual size:

• Click the Actual Size button ,or choose View > Actual Size. This approximates the actual printed size but your computer monitor influences viewing size and clarity.

To view multi-page maps:

• If your map has multiple pages, you can view all the pages by clicking the Pages tab on the left side of the window, or choose View > Navigation Tabs > Pages to display the Pages panel. To jump to another page, click the page's thumbnail. You can also choose View > Page Layout > to select different ways of viewing multi-page PDFs.

Printing your PDF map

Selecting a section to print:

• If you do not need to print the entire map you can choose a specific area to print by selecting the Snapshot tool and dragging on the page to draw the area you want to print. Then follow directions below for printing sections of maps.

To print a PDF map:

• Click the Print button to print, or choose File > Print. Specify the printer, number of copies, and other options. Most of the options are the same as they are for other applications, but note that if you have selected a portion of your map to print or you want to print a large map by shrinking it to fit a specific paper size be sure to choose File > Print, rather than clicking on the Print icon. When the print box appears use the Page Scaling drop box, mid way down on the left, to select whether you want to:
• Shrink Large Pages: which reduces the entire PDF map or selected area to fit the paper size specified in the printer properties. Note: this shrinks larger maps and may make the print difficult to read.
• Fit to Paper: which enlarges the PDF map file or selected area to fit the paper size specified in the printer properties.
• None: which will print the map to your paper exactly as it was created, without reducing or increasing the image size.
• Once you have selected the appropriate choices above, click OK and the map will print.

Copying portions of your Map to other applications

• Select the Snapshot tool and drag on the page to draw the area you want to copy. To deselect the area and start over, just click outside the box already selected. Choose Edit >Copy to copy the graphic onto the clipboard. Now you can paste into other applications. Note that the image quality will not be as sharp as within Acrobat Reader.

Finding a ZIP Code, Carrier Route, Street, or Other Name on Your Map

Note: Search tool results may vary to different versions of Adobe Reader. Our experience shows that Adobe Reader 6.0 yields the best results.

To find specific text:

• Select the Search button or Edit > Search. Enter the text you are searching for in the box that appears to the right of your map and click search. Occurrences of the text you are looking for will appear in a results box below your search entry. With your mouse, select one of these results and Adobe Reader 6 .0 will move your map to that text, which will be highlighted. To look at a subsequent occurrence select the corresponding listing in the results box. Hint: just use the first word of a multi-word name (the application does not like spaces).