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Adobe Acrobat 7.0

Navigating PDF Files

PDF files offer a variety of navigational options depending on your specific purpose. Bookmarks give you an overview of sections, subjects, or topics. Clicking on one takes you directly to a specified place in the document. Page thumbnails show the pages of the document in miniature. Clicking on the page takes you directly to it. You can also page through the document like you would with any publication. Finally, you can specify a page number and go directly to it. This document shows you how to use each of these options.

Return to TopNavigating with Bookmarks

Bookmarks in a PDF file generally follow the hierarchal structure of the document and therefore act much like a table of contents. At a glance you can see the sections, subjects, or topics in the publication. Clicking one of them takes you to that place in the document. For information on how to create bookmarks, refer to Creating Bookmarks.

  1. From the Navigation pane, select the Bookmarks tab
    NOTES:
    You can display/hide the Bookmarks pane by re-selecting it.
    If, once the Bookmarks pane is displayed, you do not see any bookmarks, none were created and you will not be able to use this method of navigation unless you create your own bookmarks.

  2. To see sublevel bookmarks, expand the list by clicking the plus (+) next to the bookmark
    To see only the top level bookmarks, collapse the list by clicking the minus (-) next to the bookmark

  3. To go to the section/topic indicated by the bookmark, click the bookmark
    The bookmarked location appears in the Document pane.

Return to TopNavigating with Page Thumbnails

Page thumbnails are miniature representations of the pages in the PDF document. Clicking a page thumbnail takes you to that page. You might use page thumbnails to get an overall sense of the document or you may know that the information you want is on a page that is formatted in a specific way or contains a specific graphic. Using thumbnails helps you to locate the page quickly. For more information about page thumbnails, refer to Page Thumbnail Basics.

  1. To display/hide the Page Thumbnails pane, select the Pages tab
    NOTE: This action toggles between hiding and displaying the Pages pane.

  2. To adjust the size of the thumbnails, in the Page Thumbnails pane, from the Options pull-down list, select Reduce Page Thumbnails or Enlarge Page Thumbnails

  3. To view additional thumbnails not displayed in the Pages pane, use the scroll bar

  4. To go to a page represented by a page thumbnail, click the page thumbnail
    The page appears in the Document pane.

Return to Top Navigating with the Navigation Toolbar

The Navigation toolbar allows you to navigate by moving one page at a time, or jumping to the beginning or end of the document.

  1. To display the Navigation toolbar, from the View menu, select Toolbars » Navigation
    NOTE: A checkmark will appear next to navigation if the Navigation toolbar is displayed.

  2. To navigate through a document, in the Navigation toolbar, click the appropriate button

    Button Name Action
    First Page Button First Page Navigates to the first page of the document
    Previous Page Button Previous Page Navigates to the previous page of the document
    Next Page button Next Page Navigates to the next page of the document
    Last Page Button Last Page Navigates to the last page of the document
    Previous View Button Previous View Navigates to the previous view of the document (functions like the BACK button of an Internet browser)
    Next View button Next View Navigates to the next view of the document (functions like the FORWARD button of an Internet browser)
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