Viewing your PDF files on the go

Did you know more than 10 million copies of Adobe Reader for Android devices have been downloaded? That's a lot of tablets and smartphones! PDF files for online use aren't the same as PDF files for mobile use.

PDF files for mobile use don't adhere to an intricate layout or use interactive features; on the other hand, you can use PDF Portfolios and passwords. In this first article, I'll take you on a tour of Adobe Reader X Mobile. In Part 2, I'll show you what does and doesn't work—I've made all the mistakes, so you don't have to!

Note: In these articles, I'm using a 10-inch, Android-based tablet.

Accessing PDF files

Download and install Adobe Reader X Mobile. You can open PDF files attached to emails (shown in Figure 1), downloaded from a web page or online source, or stored locally on your device. If your device supports it, you can access PDF files from a removable disk. If you have access to your computer via your device, you'll be able to use your existing PDF files through your device's transfer mode or service.

Figure 1: Download emailed PDF files.

One thing to keep in mind—at this point, there isn't any way to access your Acrobat.com work space or files. Popular current browsers that operate on a mobile device aren't supported by Acrobat.com.

Interacting with the program

From your Apps list or Home page, click the icon to open the application. You'll see a list of your available PDF files toggled with a recently viewed list of PDF files. Tap the file name you want to view to open it.

The document opens in whatever viewing mode was last active. There are a few commands available by tapping the Menu icon at the bottom of your device screen (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Access the Adobe Reader X menu.

Your menu choices include these options:

• Click Open to access the list of stored PDF files and the recently viewed file list
• Click View Mode to open a dialog box where you can pick your viewing mode
• Click About Adobe Reader to open the application's home page
• Click Adobe CreatePDF to open the Acrobat.com CreatePDF service, where you can perform common Acrobat functions like creating PDF files or exporting PDF files to Word or Excel formats (Figure 3).

About Adobe Reader X Mobile | Adobe CreatePDF service

Figure 3: Produce and export PDF files online.

Viewing options

Regardless of your document's tagging status, whether or not there are placed articles and irrespective of the layout, you can use three methods to view your files in Adobe Reader X Mobile. From the app's menu, click View Mode (circled in Figure 2) to open a dialog box (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Pick a viewing mode.

The viewing options include:

• Fit-to-Screen mode displays a full page of your file fitted to the size of your screen, great for viewing presentations. Tap the hot zones along the left or right sides of the screen to move through the pages, or swipe the screen horizontally left or right to move through the pages.
• Continuous-scroll mode lets you scroll through your document regardless of the page breaks. Move your finger over the bottom of the window to display the text icons. Click to increase or decrease the text size on your page (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Change the text size.

• Reflow view formats the flow of content to fit the width of your mobile-device screen. You can change text size, and the program reflows the screen automatically. To orient you to your document location, look for the page number you're viewing as well as the total number of pages in your document at the upper left of the window (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Keep track of your document location.

Navigating in PDF files

You can use common multitouch gestures in Adobe Reader X Mobile. You can zoom in and zoom out, as well as scroll in all directions. The mobile-accelerometer feature automatically reorients your PDF in landscape or portrait view, depending on the position of your mobile device.

If your have a PDF document more than five pages long, touch close to the bottom of the screen to reveal a navigation slider (Figure 7). Drag the slider or tap it at any location to jump to a page.

Figure 7: Navigate long documents quickly.

Reader X introduces a slider that can be used to quickly move between pages (in documents larger than five pages). You can drag this slider thumb to quickly jump to any part of the document. You can also jump to a page by tapping at any position on the slider. The page indicator at the top left displays the page number corresponding to the slider position.

Searching

Like every other version of Adobe Reader X, the mobile version lets you search for text in a PDF document. Touch the Search icon in the top bar to open the Search mode. Type your search term and then click the arrows that show at the bottom of the screen to move through your document. You'll see each instance of your search term highlighted on the screen (Figure 8).

Figure 8: Search for text.

Tip: If available, start the search by pressing the Search key on your device; exit Search mode by pressing the Back key on your device.

Opening protected files

You can open PDF files secured with a password in Adobe Reader X Mobile. Click the file from your list to launch the Password dialog box (Figure 9). Type in your password and click OK.

Figure 9: Open password-protected files.

You can view documents secured using RC4, AES 128-bit, and AES 256-bit algorithms.

Note: There's no advantage in securing a file against changes for use on Adobe Reader X Mobile, as there aren't any commands available for modifying or extracting content from your files. In my experiments, files using a password restricting modifications crashed the program.

Sharing documents

Reader X Mobile lets you share your documents using different sharing methods, such as Bluetooth and email. Tap the Share icon in the top bar to open a menu (Figure 10). Your choices vary according to your device's configuration.

Figure 10: Share open PDF files.

Using PDF Portfolios

Did you know you could share a PDF Portfolio for viewing on your mobile device? You aren't going to get the splashy interface, but you'll see the default opening page for a binder, and then the contents of the Portfolio listed on the screen (Figure 11).

Figure 11: Access PDF Portfolio contents (figure cropped horizontally).

Note: You can't open PDF Packages created in Acrobat 8.

The mobile version shows the same file and folder hierarchy as you'd see in Acrobat or Adobe Reader. To view a file, tap its name in the list.

Notice the framed icons at the upper right of the window. While you're looking at the list of the PDF Portfolio's contents, you can't choose the Search command from the top menu. However, you can share or open any file using the commands.