Speeding up PDF display
Some of our PDF files are huge and can take quite a while, more than a
minute on some slower machines, to load.
But this can all be speeded up, and it can be done quite easily if you
are using Firefox 2.
The primary source documents in the Scholar’s
Toolbox are provided as PDF (Portable Document Format) files. This popular file format requires a PDF
Viewer program, the most popular of which is Acrobat Reader. It’s popular
because it is quite capable and it is free.
Most computers will have a PDF viewer already installed. If not, downloading and installing it is free
and only takes a few minutes.
Web browsers can display PDF files in two ways, either within the current
browser window or in a separate window just for the PDF viewer. The latter is preferable for the Scholar’s Toolbox. Within the browser
window, it can take half a minute or more to load some of the larger PDF files,
and you can only look at one at a time.
In the separate window, the file loads much faster, almost
instantaneously, and it is very easy to load two files into Acrobat Reader side by side for
comparison, which is what many people will wish to do with these files.
Unfortunately, I am not an expert on this issue and I have only recently
discovered that the PDF viewing behaviour of some
browsers, at least, can be toggled back and forth between these two options.
It is pretty simple to do it with the Firefox browser and while I’ve
read assurances that it can be done with Internet
Explorer 7, and I even have instructions on how to do it (see below), I
have not been able to get those instructions to work successfully on my
equipment. I will include them with that
caveat. You may be able to get it to work on your computer.
Everything here is assuming the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe
Acrobat Professional, either version 7 or version 8, as
the PDF viewer. There are other PDF
viewers in the world, notably Foxit. While Foxit is a fine package, I have not been able to get it to
work on the two largest PDF files in this compilation. It just hangs, not on initial loading, but as
soon as you try to navigate within the large files. It therefore cannot be considered compatible
with this compilation even though it works fine on most of the files.
Changing the PDF Display
Behaviour
Firefox2
This option not only loads large PDF files using Acrobat much more quickly – almost instantly – it allows for much easier
side by side comparison of any two (or more) files.
Now on my computer running Firefox 2 under Windows XP using the latest Mircrosoft updates as of June 2, 2008, there is a simple
option to modify the way Firefox
handles PDF files.
The default mode is for Firefox to load the PDF page within the browser. This is
fine for any smaller single file. The
small ones load reasonably quickly.
However if you wish to compare two files, for instance the facsimile
with the e-text, you’ll likely want to get both files into the PDF reader and
then “tile” them horizontally or vertically to get a side-by side display. This is easy by loading the PDF files
directly into Acrobat Reader from Windows Explorer but that requires
navigation through the directories and identification of file names. You can’t do that directly from the menu in
the default Firefox
configuration.
However, after fiddling with Firefox to get Foxit to work as a “plug-in” I found, after uninstalling Foxit that from
the Scholar’s Toolbox menu, Acrobat was loading independently,
outside the browser in a new window rather than in the browser window. When clicking from the menu two PDF files can
be loaded in that new PDF viewer window, allowing me to “tile” the two side by
side. Generally this is much preferred behaviour for the user of the Toolbox!!
Upon further investigation I found I can “toggle” Firefox to do it either way.
The same desirable change in behaviour was noted in Internet
Explorer 7 after installing and then uninstalling Foxit but I have been unable to discover how to intentionally cause or
reverse that change of behaviour in IE7 or IE6 otherwise. If anybody knows, please let me know!! I did achieve this effect with IE7 by installing Foxit, making it the default PDF
program, and then uninstalling it.
That’s simple to describe but hardly an elegant, quick or easy means of
doing it! And so far, it seems to
reverse it, I need to uninstall and then reinstall Acrobat and possibly even IE
7.
But in Firefox
it is a snap. Here’s how to do it:
From the Firefox TOOLS menu click on Options. A dialog box
appears (see screen shot below). Click
the Content tab and then the Manage
button. Scroll
through the dialog box which then appears to PDF and then click on “Change Action.” What you should see is pictured in this screen shot (below).
From top to bottom, left to right, this is the order of the dialog boxes that come up for me. The last is the one on the lower right. Here I have the topmost of the four circles designated “Open them with the default application” although as installed, Firefox has the “Use this Plugin” option selected. When that lower option is selected, Acrobat loads the file within the browser window while when the topmost option is selected, Firefox loads Acrobat in a new window which allows multiple files to be loaded and tiled or cascaded in that new window. The latter behaviour is most useful for users of the Scholar’s Toolbox who wish to view documents side by side. You can then load those documents easily into the Acrobat window by clicking on the appropriate spots on the menu.
Internet Explorer 7
The original document copied here was found at:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=333544#IE7
Configure Internet Explorer or AOL to display
PDF files for Acrobat and Adobe Reader (8.0 and 3D 8 on Windows)
What's covered
·
Configuring
the browser to open PDF files within the browser window
·
Configuring
the browser to open PDF files in an Acrobat window
·
Downloading
a PDF file to your hard drive
·
Internet
Explorer 7 and Acrobat
·
Interoperability
of Acrobat and Adobe Reader 7 and Acrobat Adobe Reader 8
·
Interoperability
of Acrobat and Adobe Reader 6 and Acrobat Adobe Reader 8
You
can configure your web browser to open PDF files either in the browser window
or in a separate Adobe Acrobat window. To configure the browser, you must have
Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader installed. Acrobat and Adobe Reader include
ActiveX plug-in files that allow you to use Microsoft Internet Explorer or AOL
to view PDF files on Windows.
Configuring the browser
to open PDF files within the browser window
When
you install Acrobat or Adobe Reader on a system that includes a browser, you
automatically configure the browser to open PDF files within the browser
window. Acrobat and Adobe Reader install ActiveX plug-in files that allow you
to use Internet Explorer or AOL to open PDF files. If either application is
installed, but PDF files don't open in the browser window, then work through
the following steps to configure the browser:
1. Make sure that the system meets the
requirements for the Acrobat product you use.
Acrobat
may not run correctly if the system doesn't meet the following requirements:
·
Intel
Pentium III processor or equivalent
·
Microsoft
Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 or Windows XP Professional, Home Edition, or
Tablet PC Edition with Service Pack 2
·
Microsoft
Internet Explorer 6.0
·
256MB
of RAM (512MB recommended)
·
860MB
of available hard-disk space; cache for optional installation files
(recommended) requires an additional 460MB of available hard-disk space.
·
1,024x768
screen resolution
2. Make sure that the ActiveX folder
contains files required for web browsing.
To
open PDF files in a browser window, the ActiveX folder must contain the
following files: AcroPDF.dll, AcroIEHelper.dll, and pdfshell.dll.
The
ActiveX controls should be located in: Program Files\Common
Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX
If any of these files are missing, then
repair Acrobat or Adobe Reader by choosing Help > Repair Acrobat
Installation, or reinstalling the application.
3. Use a supported version of the
browser.
Make
sure that you use a version of your web browser that Acrobat and Adobe Reader
support, such as Internet Explorer 6. Supported browsers for Adobe Acrobat 8,
Adobe Reader 8 are Internet Explorer 6.0, 6.0 SP1, Internet Explorer 7.0, Firefox 1.5 or later, Mozilla
1.7, and AOL 9.
4. Restart Windows after you install
Acrobat or Adobe Reader to update the Windows registry.
To
ensure that the Windows registry provides the information your web browser
needs to view PDF files, restart Windows. If the Windows registry doesn't
update after you install Acrobat, then the web browser may not find the references
it needs to access PDF files on the web.
5. Remove older versions of Acrobat or
Adobe Reader.
If
you have an older version of Acrobat or Adobe Reader installed on the system,
then use the Add Or Remove Programs utility in Windows
to remove it.
6. Repair Acrobat.
If
you use Acrobat, then repair or replace corrupt or missing files by using the
Repair Acrobat Installation feature or the Add Or
Remove Programs dialog box.
To
repair Acrobat:
1.Choose Start > Control Panel.
2.Double-click Add Or
Remove Programs.
3.Select Acrobat and click Change.
4.Follow the on-screen instructions to
repair Acrobat.
7. Reinstall Acrobat or Adobe Reader.
To
ensure that the correct plug-in information is added to the Windows registry,
reinstall Acrobat or Adobe Reader.
Configuring the browser
to open PDF files in an Acrobat window
If
you want the browser to open PDF files in a separate Acrobat window, then
configure the browser to use Acrobat or Adobe Reader as a helper application. Then,
when you select a PDF file in Internet Explorer or AOL, the browser opens the
PDF file in an Acrobat window instead of the browser window.
To
configure the browser to use Acrobat or Adobe Reader to open PDF files:
1.Close your web browser.
2.Start Acrobat or Adobe Reader.
3.Choose Edit > Preferences.
4.Select Internet in the list on the left.
5.Deselect Display PDF in Browser, and
click OK.
6.Restart Internet Explorer or AOL.
Note:The next time you select a link to a PDF
file, the browser may prompt you to open or save the file. If you choose to
open the file, then the browser opens the file in the helper application that
you specified. If you choose to save the file, then the browser downloads the
file to the hard disk.
For
more information about the general preferences in Acrobat or Acrobat Reader,
refer to the Acrobat Help.
Downloading a PDF file
to your hard drive
You
can download a PDF file to the hard drive from a web page's link. Downloading
PDF files doesn't require the ActiveX plug-in file to be installed. (If you
want to open and view the PDF file after downloading it, you must have Adobe
Acrobat or Adobe Reader installed.)
To
download a PDF file from a link:
1.Right-click the link to a PDF file, and then choose Save Target As from the pop-up menu.
2.In the Save As dialog box, select a
location on your hard drive, and then click Save.
Internet Explorer 7 and
Acrobat
Internet
Explorer is supported for use with Acrobat and Adobe Reader version 7.0.8 and
8. For versions of Acrobat earlier than 7.08, most functionality will work, but
there may be issues with forms workflows. If you run into any sort of issue,
then you should upgrade to at least Acrobat or Adobe Reader 7.0.8.
Internet
Explorer 7 makes it more visible to the user which add
ons are enabled and disabled. This is done from the
tools menu by selecting Manage Add Ons.
After
installing Adobe Acrobat/Adobe Reader, the following add-ons can be listed:
Adobe PDF, Adobe PDF Context Menu Helper, Adobe PDF Conversion Toolbar Helper, Adobe
PDF Reader, Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper, Adobe PDF
Reader Link Helper.
The
first three add ons are associated with the PDF tool
bar that is installed by the full Acrobat product. The second three add ons that can be seen are installed with both the Reader and
the full Acrobat product. By default, all of these add ons
are enabled.
Internet
Explorer 7 allows you disable individual add-ons, and it has a
?Reset? button (available from the Tools,
Internet Options menu, under the Advanced Tab) that disables all Add ons. By disabling the Adobe add-ons, some PDF-related
functionality may no longer work.
When
Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader launches and it notices that add ons are disabled, it will return the following error
message. "One or more Adobe PDF extensions are disabled. This may impact
how PDFs are displayed in Internet Explorer. Please
go to Manage Add-ons in Internet Explorer and enable add-ons from Adobe. You
will need to restart Internet Explorer after performing this action."
Interoperability of Acrobat
and Adobe Reader 7 and Acrobat Adobe Reader 8
When
you install Acrobat 8 or Adobe Reader 8 and there is already an installation of
Acrobat 7 or Adobe Reader 7 on the computer, the version 8 browser components
will be installed, no matter what version of Acrobat or Adobe Reader is chosen
to own the PDF mime type during installation. This is because the version 8
browser components work with both version 7 and
version 8.
If,
however, after installation of Acrobat 8 or Adobe Reader 8, you manually repair
the installation of Adobe Acrobat 7 or Adobe Reader 7, the version 7 browser
components for will be reinstalled. Trying to use version 8 to view a PDF file
in the browser after this will result in an error message. In such a case, you
must manually repair the version 8 installation by going to Help > Repair
Acrobat Installation from Acrobat or Adobe Reader 8.
Interoperability of
Acrobat and Adobe Reader 6 and Acrobat Adobe Reader 8
The
Adobe Acrobat 8 and Adobe Reader 8 installers allow the installation of version
8 to coexist with version 6. They do not, however, give a choice of mime type
ownership. Version 8 of the PDF viewers will own the PDF mime type.
If
you use Acrobat 6 or Adobe Reader 6 standalone to view a PDF file in the
browser after you install Acrobat 8 or Adobe Reader 8, an error message will
appear stating that the version of Acrobat that is running is not supported and
to exit it and try again.
If
you repair Acrobat 6 or Adobe Reader 6 after the installation of Acrobat 8 or
Adobe Reader 7, then the Acrobat6 or Adobe Reader 6 browser components will be
reinstalled. If you try to to use Acrobat 8 or Adobe
Reader 8 to view a PDF file in the browser after, then you will see an error
message. In such a case, manually repair the version 8 installation by going to
Help > Repair Acrobat Installation from Acrobat or Adobe Reader 8.
TechNote Details
|
Last Update: |
06-21-2007 |
|
ID: |
333544 |
|
OS: |
·
Windows
|
|
Permanent Link: |
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=333544 |
|
Products Affected: |
|
As noted previously, I have been unable to get this to work on my equipment.