Initial View Settings for PDFs in Acrobat- Instructions

Initial View Settings for PDFs in Acrobat: Video Lesson

            This video lesson, titled “Initial View Settings for PDFs,” shows you how to set the initial view settings for PDFs in Acrobat. This video lesson is from our complete Acrobat Pro DC tutorial, titled “Mastering Acrobat Made Easy v.Pro DC.”

Initial View Settings for PDFs in Acrobat: Overview

            You can change the initial view settings for PDFs in Acrobat. This means you can choose how PDFs appear on-screen when first opened. To change the initial view settings for PDFs in Acrobat, open a PDF in Acrobat whose initial view you want to specify. Then select “File| Properties…” from the Menu Bar to open the “Document Properties” dialog box. Then click the “Initial View” tab.

            This dialog box lets you control the PDF’s initial view in the “Layout and Magnification,” “Window Options,” and “User Interface Options” sections. In the “Layout and Magnification” section, you can use the “Navigation tab” drop-down to choose whether the PDF opens to display just the page, or the page and a selected panel for navigation. The “Page layout” drop-down lets you set the initial page layout. Choices include a single page, a single continuous page, or one of several two-page displays. The “Magnification” drop-down lets you set the zoom level when someone opens the PDF. If you leave either the “Page layout” or “Magnification” fields set to “Default,” then the settings of the device that opens the PDF determines how the PDF appears. In the “Open to page” field, you can enter the page number of the first page to display when the PDF is opened.

Initial View Settings for PDFs in Acrobat- Instructions: A picture of the “Initial View” tab of the “Document Properties” dialog box in Acrobat Pro DC.

            In the “Windows Options” section, you can select options that will resize the user’s window to fit the initial page opened, center the window on the user’s screen, and open in Full Screen mode. You can also use the “Show” drop-down to choose if the PDF shows its file name or the document’s title in the Title Bar.

            In the “User Interface Options” section, you can select options that will hide the Menu Bar, toolbars, or window controls. After choosing the initial view settings of the PDF, click the “OK” button. The next time someone opens the PDF, its initial display conforms to these settings. However, because Full Screen viewing preferences are specific to the device upon which a document is viewed, and not the PDF, you can only have limited control over the initial view of a Full Screen document.

Initial View Settings for PDFs in Acrobat: Step-by-Step Instructions

1. To change the initial view settings for PDFs in Acrobat, open a PDF in Acrobat whose initial view you want to specify.
2. Then select “File| Properties…” from the Menu Bar to open the “Document Properties” dialog box.
3. Then click the “Initial View” tab.
4. In the “Layout and Magnification” area, to determine whether the PDF opens to display just the page, or the page and a selected panel for navigation, use the “Navigation tab” drop-down.
5. If you want to select the initial page layout, use the “Page layout” drop-down.
6. To set the zoom level when someone opens the PDF, use the “Magnification” drop-down.
7. If you leave either the “Page layout” or “Magnification” fields set to “Default,” then the settings of the device that opens the PDF are used to determine how the PDF appears.
8. To set the first page to show someone opens the PDF, enter that page number into the “Open to page” field.
9. In the “Windows Options” section, you can select options that will resize the user’s window to fit the initial page opened, center the window on the user’s screen, and open in Full Screen mode.
10. You can also use the “Show” drop-down to choose if the PDF shows its file name or the document’s title in the Title Bar.
11. In the “User Interface Options” section, you can select options that will hide the Menu Bar, tool bars, or window controls.
12. When finished, click the “OK” button.
13. The next time someone opens the PDF, its initial display conforms to these settings.