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HazelGirl · Dec 23, 2005, 04:28 PM

Hello...I am running Tiger on a Mini and I am trying to figure out one of the following:

1. How do I make the default pdf viewer's zoom level larger? When I open a pdf file, it's impossible to read because it is so small. I couldn't find where to increase the size.

2. As an alternative, I downloaded Adober reader....though I know it's gonna be slower in opening my pdfs, at elast I'll be able to read them (if I am unable to do number 1). But how do I change the default pdf reader to Adobe?

Help with eather of the above would be greatly appreciated.

CatOne · Dec 24, 2005, 04:50 PM

Ack. Reader is awful ;-)

Customize the toolbar and put the "zoom to fit" button in there. Then just click it, and the document will fill the window. You can zoom in with apple +.

I think you can change the default zoom via some preference editing, but I don't have the instructions here.

HazelGirl · Dec 24, 2005, 10:11 PM

how would i customize the toolbar to put zoom to fit button there? I am a total newb at this stuff and have no idea what I'm doing....

TheIceMan · Dec 25, 2005, 01:04 AM

Open a PDF document with Preview > View > Customize Toolbar > Drag the "Zoom to Fit" icon to the top toolbar > Click "Done". That's it.

TheIceMan · Apr 17, 2006, 04:10 AM

How do I make the default pdf viewer's zoom level larger?

I'm reviving this thread with the same question as the original poster. Here's a tip from a MacWorld article:

"Select Preferences from the Preview menu, click the PDF tab, and enter a higher value in the Use Scale Of field—175%, for example. Now when you open PDF files they’ll be scaled higher and be easier to read."

Problem: For some reason, when I tried this it didn't stick. Anyone else? I thought I was able to do this before, but I'm not sure why it's not working now.

tooki · Apr 17, 2006, 09:46 AM

FYI, Adobe Reader 7 is just as fast as Preview, and renders more accurately than Preview.

tooki

CatOne · Apr 17, 2006, 11:08 AM

Originally Posted by tooki

FYI, Adobe Reader 7 is just as fast as Preview, and renders more accurately than Preview.

tooki

So it has cut its launch time down from 30 seconds to 1 second?

I just won't touch reader -- it installs all sorts of unsupported things in the browser itself in a very hackish way and... YUCK.

TheIceMan · 12:12 PM

Thanks tooki, I'll take Acrobat Reader for a spin and see.

[Update:] Acrobat Reader works well. But, how do I set it up to open PDFs by default, instead of Apple's Preview app?

Big Mac · Apr 17, 2006, 01:03 PM

Get Info on a PDF, click the Open With disclosure triangle, select the new application and click Change All

TheIceMan · Apr 17, 2006, 06:53 PM

Thanks Big Mac.

CharlesS · Apr 17, 2006, 07:24 PM

TheIceMan · Apr 18, 2006, 06:35 AM

Ok, you know how I said "Acrobat Reader works well"? Well, I was so WRONG. I didn't realize that the bloatware ballooned up to an 80MB app! Good God!

JKT · Apr 18, 2006, 02:38 PM

A large proportion of that is international support that you may not need. However, it is still a painful app to use and Win ugly to boot.