Working with PDFs in Acrobat Pro 9
A University of Michigan Library Instructional Technology Workshop
Need help? Visit the Faculty Exploratory or Knowledge Navigation Center on the 2nd floor of the Graduate Library.
exploratory@umich.edu
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rev: 11/3/11
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OVERVIEW
A PDF (Portable Document Format) is a file that is cross-platform, so they can be read on either
a Mac or PC, and can be easily printed. PDFs are often smaller in size and look just like the original,
retaining headers and footers, multiple columns, graphics, and even links. PDFs can be viewed with
Acrobat Pro or Acrobat Reader, a program that you can download for free at http://www.adobe.com.
This handout will focus on the additional functionality of Acrobat Pro.
ACROBAT READER VERSUS ACROBAT
If you only have the Reader installed, you can still view and print PDF files, but that’s about it. You
need the full version (Acrobat Pro) to edit (add, remove, or replace) pages and text. In addition, you
need Acrobat Pro to create, fill in and submit PDF forms (not covered in this handout), or to add
bookmarks and links.
EXTRACTING TEXT OR IMAGES FROM A PDF
If you need to extract text from a PDF, this can only be done with PDFs that Acrobat recognizes as
text, rather than as an image. Sometimes when you scan a PDF directly from a scanner, it is not
recognized as text, but as one large image.
SAVING AS A DIFFERENT FORMAT
1. Go to the File menu and choose either Save As… or Export.
2. If you choose Save As…, change the Save as type: pulldown to whichever type you
need. If you choose Export, choose one of the options shown at right.
USING THE SELECTING TOOL
You can also use the Select Tool ( ) in the main toolbar.
1. Select the tool, then highlight the desired text or image.
2. Copy the text (Edit menu then Copy, or Control/Apple + c on the keyboard).
3. Paste the content to the desired program.
Note that the text will copy, but it probably won’t keep all the formatting it had. Headers,
for example, will just be a sentence in the document, not separate above the text.
PANES
As shown at right, the Pages Pane can be expanded by clicking on the icon ( ). In it,
you can click on the thumbnail for any page, drag and drop pages to reorder them (note
this won’t change any page numbers on the document!), or delete pages.
The Bookmarks Pane ( ) can be expanded to add or remove bookmarks, and to use the
bookmarks to navigate throughout the document.