Help with PDF files

Most of the documents on this site will be available as PDF (Portable Document Format) files.

To view any PDF file you need a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is freely available if you do not already have a copy on your computer.

Download Acrobat Reader (opens new window)

Clicking on a PDF link will open the file in your browser window, where you can view or print the file.
If you click the PDf link with the right button on the mouse, you will be given various options, one of which is to 'Save Target As..'. If you select this option, you can save the PDF file to your computer hard drive, and view the file whenever you wish.

Searching within a PDF

When you open a PDF file, a toolbar will appear (below the address bar if opened in a browser window), featuring a number of tools to help you view and search the document. moving your mouse or cursor over the icons (without clicking), will tell you what each of them does. Especially useful is the 'Find' tool (a pair of binoculars) - click on the 'Find' icon to search the document for a word or phrase. Click the 'next' button to the right to search for further occurrences of the word or phrase.

Accessibility of PDF files

Adobe  have improved the accessibility of PDF files, and from version 6 of the Adobe Reader, a number of accessibility features have been included.

Adobe accessibility information (opens new window)

Adobe support (opens new window)

Adobe also offer a facility that converts PDF files into html, which may help in making the files more accessible.
Online conversion tools for Adobe PDF documents (opens new window)
(to obtain the URL of the PDF you wish to convert, click on the link to the PDF file on this site, the URL will appear in the browser 'Address' field.)