About Adobe Acrobat

Much of the information we make available online is provided in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. To view these files, you must have the free Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. As of 2006, we are now creating most of our PDF files using version 7.0 of Adobe Acrobat as this results in dramatically smaller files and other enhancements. You may need to upgrade your Acrobat Reader using the instructions below.

Getting the Acrobat Reader

Adobe requires that we link to their site for downloading the free Acrobat Reader rather than hosting it on our site. Please click on the “get Acrobat Reader” logo below to be taken to the Adobe download site.

FCPS Staff: Should you encounter problems during the installation, please contact the Technology HelpDesk.

If you have the Acrobat Reader installed but you are still having difficulty with Acrobat files, please read this page or visit the Adobe Acrobat support site.

Some people are experiencing problems viewing PDF documents in Microsoft Internet Explorer. When you try to view a Portable Document Format (.pdf) file in Internet Explorer, you may see a blank window or frame instead of the .pdf file. This may occur even though you have installed the Adobe Acrobat Reader program, and you are normally able to view .pdf files in that program. For a solution, see the Microsoft Support Page with a solution to this problem.

Why Acrobat?

Why are we using Acrobat format, which requires some users to go through the extra step of downloading the reader?

• Acrobat documents are smaller than similar documents in word processing or spreadsheet formats (meaning faster downloads), and the means to view them (Acrobat Reader) is free and widely available.
• This format allows us to make documents available online with as much fidelity to the original as possible. When documents are converted to HTML for the web, they generally give up some of the original formatting.
• We are able to put more documents online more quickly, saving valuable staff time and making more information available for the public.

Last update: 7/5/2006 2:08:21 PM     Printer friendly view