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  1. Acrobat User Guide
  2. Introduction to Acrobat
    1. Access Acrobat from desktop, mobile, web
    2. Introducing the new Acrobat experience
    3. What's new in Acrobat
    4. Keyboard shortcuts
    5. System Requirements
    6. Download Adobe Acrobat
    7. Download Acrobat | Enterprise term or VIP license
    8. Download Acrobat | Enterprise term or VIP license
    9. Download Acrobat 64-bit for Windows
    10. Install Adobe Acrobat Reader | Windows
    11. Install Adobe Acrobat Reader | Mac OS
    12. Install updates for Acrobat and Reader
    13. Update your Acrobat to the latest version
    14. Download Acrobat 2020
    15. Release Notes | Acrobat, Reader
  3. Workspace
    1. Workspace basics
    2. Opening and viewing PDFs
      1. Opening PDFs
      2. Navigating PDF pages
      3. Viewing PDF preferences
      4. Adjusting PDF views
      5. Enable thumbnail preview of PDFs
      6. Display PDF in browser
    3. Working with online storage accounts
      1. Access files from Box
      2. Access files from Dropbox
      3. Access files from OneDrive
      4. Access files from SharePoint
      5. Access files from Google Drive
    4. Acrobat and macOS
    5. Acrobat notifications
    6. Grids, guides, and measurements in PDFs
    7. Asian, Cyrillic, and right-to-left text in PDFs
    8. Adobe Acrobat for Outlook
    9. Set Acrobat as default PDF viewer
    10. Explore Acrobat tools
  4. Creating PDFs
    1. Overview of PDF creation
    2. Overview of PDF creation
    3. Create PDFs with Acrobat
    4. Create PDFs with PDFMaker
    5. Using the Adobe PDF printer
    6. Converting web pages to PDF
    7. Creating PDFs with Acrobat Distiller
    8. Adobe PDF conversion settings
    9. PDF fonts
  5. Editing PDFs
    1. Edit text in PDFs
    2. Edit images or objects in a PDF
    3. Rotate, move, delete, and renumber PDF pages
    4. Edit scanned PDFs
    5. Enhance document photos captured using a mobile camera
    6. Optimizing PDFs
    7. PDF properties and metadata
    8. Links and attachments in PDFs
    9. PDF layers
    10. Page thumbnails and bookmarks in PDFs
    11. PDFs converted to web pages
    12. Setting up PDFs for a presentation
    13. PDF articles
    14. Geospatial PDFs
    15. Applying actions and scripts to PDFs
    16. Change the default font for adding text
    17. Delete pages from a PDF
    18. Edit a signed PDF | FAQ
  6. Scan and OCR
    1. Scan documents to PDF
    2. Enhance document photos
    3. Troubleshoot scanner issues when scanning using Acrobat
  7. Forms
    1. PDF forms basics
    2. Create a form from scratch in Acrobat
    3. Create and distribute PDF forms
    4. Fill in PDF forms
    5. PDF form field properties
    6. Fill and sign PDF forms
    7. Setting action buttons in PDF forms
    8. Publishing interactive PDF web forms
    9. PDF form field basics
    10. PDF barcode form fields
    11. Collect and manage PDF form data
    12. About forms tracker
    13. PDF forms help
    14. Send PDF forms to recipients using email or an internal server
  8. Combining files
    1. Combine or merge files into single PDF
    2. Rotate, move, delete, and renumber PDF pages
    3. Add headers, footers, and Bates numbering to PDFs
    4. Crop PDF pages
    5. Add watermarks to PDFs
    6. Add backgrounds to PDFs
    7. Working with component files in a PDF Portfolio
    8. Publish and share PDF Portfolios
    9. Overview of PDF Portfolios
    10. Create and customize PDF Portfolios
  9. Sharing, reviews, and commenting
    1. Share and track PDFs online
    2. Mark up text with edits
    3. Preparing for a PDF review
    4. Starting a PDF review
    5. Hosting shared reviews on SharePoint or Office 365 sites
    6. Participating in a PDF review
    7. Add comments to PDFs
    8. Adding a stamp to a PDF
    9. Approval workflows
    10. Managing comments | view, reply, print
    11. Importing and exporting comments
    12. Tracking and managing PDF reviews
  10. Saving and exporting PDFs
    1. Saving PDFs
    2. Convert PDF to Word
    3. Convert PDF to PPTX
    4. Convert PDF to XLSX or XML
    5. Convert PDF to JPEG
    6. Convert PDF to TIFF
    7. Convert PDF to PNG
    8. Convert or export PDFs to other file formats
    9. File format options for PDF export
    10. Reusing PDF content
  11. Security
    1. Enhanced security setting for PDFs
    2. Securing PDFs with passwords
    3. Manage Digital IDs
    4. Securing PDFs with certificates
    5. Opening secured PDFs
    6. Removing sensitive content from PDFs
    7. Setting up security policies for PDFs
    8. Choosing a security method for PDFs
    9. Security warnings when a PDF opens
    10. Securing PDFs with Adobe Experience Manager
    11. Protected View feature for PDFs
    12. Overview of security in Acrobat and PDFs
    13. JavaScripts in PDFs as a security risk
    14. Attachments as security risks
    15. Allow or block links in PDFs
    16. Allow or block links in PDFs
    17. Edit secured PDFs
  12. Electronic signatures
    1. Sign PDF documents
    2. Capture your signature on mobile and use it everywhere
    3. Send documents for e-signatures
    4. Create a web form
    5. Request e-signatures in bulk
    6. Collect online payments
    7. Brand your account
    8. About certificate signatures
    9. Certificate-based signatures
    10. Validating digital signatures
    11. Adobe Approved Trust List
    12. Manage trusted identities
  13. Printing
    1. Basic PDF printing tasks
    2. Basic PDF printing tasks
    3. Print Booklets and PDF Portfolios
    4. Advanced PDF print settings
    5. Print to PDF
    6. Printing color PDFs (Acrobat Pro)
    7. Printing PDFs in custom sizes
    8. Scale or resize PDF pages
  14. Accessibility, tags, and reflow
    1. Create and verify PDF accessibility
    2. Accessibility features in PDFs
    3. Reading Order tool for PDFs
    4. Reading PDFs with reflow and accessibility features
    5. Edit document structure with the Content and Tags panels
    6. Creating accessible PDFs
    7. Cloud-based auto-tagging
  15. Searching and indexing
    1. Creating PDF indexes
    2. Searching PDFs
  16. Multimedia and 3D models
    1. Add audio, video, and interactive objects to PDFs
    2. Adding 3D models to PDFs (Acrobat Pro)
    3. Displaying 3D models in PDFs
    4. Interacting with 3D models
    5. Measuring 3D objects in PDFs
    6. Setting 3D views in PDFs
    7. Enable 3D content in PDF
    8. Adding multimedia to PDFs
    9. Commenting on 3D designs in PDFs
    10. Playing video, audio, and multimedia formats in PDFs
    11. Add comments to videos
  17. Print production tools (Acrobat Pro)
    1. Print production tools overview
    2. Printer marks and hairlines
    3. Previewing output
    4. Transparency flattening
    5. Color conversion and ink management
    6. Trapping color
  18. Preflight (Acrobat Pro)
    1. PDF/X-, PDF/A-, and PDF/E-compliant files
    2. Preflight profiles
    3. Advanced preflight inspections
    4. Preflight reports
    5. Viewing preflight results, objects, and resources
    6. Output intents in PDFs
    7. Correcting problem areas with the Preflight tool
    8. Automating document analysis with droplets or preflight actions
    9. Analyzing documents with the Preflight tool
    10. Additional checks in the Preflight tool
    11. Preflight libraries
    12. Preflight variables
  19. Color management
    1. Keeping colors consistent
    2. Color settings
    3. Color-managing documents
    4. Working with color profiles
    5. Understanding color management
  20. Troubleshoot
    1. Troubleshoot PDF printing in Acrobat and Acrobat Reader
    2. Troubleshoot PDF printing in Acrobat and Acrobat Reader
    3. Adobe Acrobat license has either expired or not been activated
    4. Adobe Acrobat license has either expired or not been activated
    5. Edit PDF forms created in LiveCycle Designer
    6. Insufficient data for an image error on Adobe Acrobat
    7. Resolve errors related to the AcroCEF/RdrCEF processes of Acrobat or Acrobat Reader

About articles

Many traditional print documents, such as magazines and newspapers, arrange text in multiple columns. Stories flow from column to column and sometimes across several pages. While the format is effective for printed material, this type of structure can be difficult to follow on-screen because of the scrolling and zooming required.

The article feature enables you to guide readers through material presented in multiple columns and across a series of pages.

The flow of an article thread
The flow of an article thread. The user reads through text A, skips text B and C, and moves on to text A again.

Create articles

You create an article by defining a series of boxes around the content in the order in which you want the content read. The navigational path you define for an article is known as the article thread. You create a thread connecting the various boxes, unifying them into a continuous text flow.

Note

Most desktop publishing programs allow you to generate article threads automatically as you convert the files to Adobe PDF. If the file you’re viewing has articles, you can show the names of the articles on a tab and navigate easily through them.  

  1. Open a PDF or a blank document. From the global bar in the upper left, select All tools and then select Edit a PDF. 

  2. From the left panel, under ADD CONTENT select More > Article box. The pointer appears as a cross-hair pointer in the document window.

  3. Drag a rectangle to define the first article box. An article box appears around the enclosed text, and the pointer changes to the article pointer.

    Note

    Each article box you create has a label that consists of the article number and its sequence within the article. For example, the first box for the first article is labeled 1-1, the second box 1-2, and so on. The boxes for the second article in the same document are labeled 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, and so on.

  4. Go to the next part of the document you want to include in the article, and draw a rectangle around that text. Repeat until you have defined the entire article.
    Note

    To resize or move an article box, you must first end the article.

  5. Press Enter and then in the Article Properties dialog box that opens, enter the article title, subject, author, and any keywords to describe the article. Then, select OK.

View articles on a page

  1. Open a PDF in Acrobat. From the global bar in the upper left, select All tools. Then select Edit a PDF.

  2. From the left panel, under ADD CONTENT select More > Article box. The pointer appears as a cross-hair pointer in the document window.

View list of articles in a PDF

  1. Open the PDF for which you want to view the articles. 

  2. (Windows) From the hamburger menu   in the upper left, select View > Show/Hide > Side panels > Articles.

    (macOS) From the upper left, select View > Show/Hide > Side panels > Articles.

    It displays a right panel with the list of articles on the page.

Read an article in a PDF

  1. Open the PDF for which you want to view the articles. 

  2. (Windows) From the hamburger menu   in the upper left, select View > Show/Hide > Side panels > Articles.

    (macOS) From the upper left, select View > Show/Hide > Side panels > Articles.

  3. From the Articles panel that opens, select the article you want to read, then select Options   > Read Article.

Note

To hide the Articles panel after the article opens, select Options > Hide After Use.

Delete an article or article box

  1. Open the PDF for which you want to delete an article or article box.

  2. (Windows) From the hamburger menu   in the upper left, select View > Show/Hide > Side panels > Articles.

    (macOS) From the upper left, select View > Show/Hide > Side panels > Articles.

  3. To delete the entire article, select the article in the Articles panel and press Delete.

  4. To delete only one box from an article, right-click the box and then select Delete. Then, in the warning message, select Box.

    If you select Article, the entire article is deleted.

Note

After deleting an article or article boxes, the remaining articles or article boxes are automartically renumbered. 

Insert an article box into an article thread

  1. In the Document window, select the article box that you want the new article box to follow.

  2. Select the plus sign (+) at the bottom of the selected box. When prompted to drag and create a new article box, select OK. 

    An example of selecting an article with the Article tool
    An example of selecting an article with the Article tool

  3. Draw a new article box. The new box is inserted into the article flow, and all following boxes are renumbered.

Move an article box

  1. Open a PDF in Acrobat. From the global bar in the upper left, select All tools. Then select Edit a PDF.

  2. From the left panel, under ADD CONTENT select More > Article box. The pointer appears as a cross-hair pointer in the document window.

  3. Select the numbers written in the article box and drag them to the new location.

Resize an article box

  1. Open a PDF in Acrobat. From the global bar in the upper left, select All tools. Then select Edit a PDF.

  2. From the left panel, under ADD CONTENT select More > Article box. The pointer appears as a cross-hair pointer in the document window.

  3. To resize the box, drag a center handle to change only height or width or drag a corner handle to change both dimensions.

    An example of resizing an article box
    An example of resizing an article box

Edit article properties

  1. Open a PDF in Acrobat. From the global bar in the upper left, select All tools. Then select Edit a PDF.

  2. From the left panel, under ADD CONTENT select More > Article box. The pointer appears as a cross-hair pointer in the document window.

  3. Right-click the box and select Properties.

  4. Change the information in the Articles Properties dialog box and select OK.

Combine two articles

  1. Open a PDF in Acrobat. From the global bar in the upper left, select All tools. Then select Edit a PDF.

  2. From the left panel, under ADD CONTENT select More > Article box. The pointer appears as a cross-hair pointer in the document window.

  3. In the document pane, select any article box in the article you want to be read first.

  4. Select the plus sign (+) at the bottom of the article box, and then in the dialog that appears, select OK.

  5. Ctrl-click an article box you want to be read next. The second article is appended to the end of the first article. All article boxes in the piece are renumbered automatically.

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