Acrobat
and the Web
A
very useful feature in Adobe Acrobat allows users to capture web
pages or entire web sites and very easily convert them to PDF
format. Existing hyperlinks continue to function and additional
links can be linked directly to web sites or to previously created
web pages. Once the pages are captured, they can be edited so
that users can access the PDF files offline.
Adobe
PDF documents created from web pages can display special tagged
bookmarks that provide web information, such as the titles and
URLs for the various sections. These tagged bookmarks can be used
to navigate, reorganize, delete, or download more pages. More
tagged bookmarks can be added to represent paragraphs, images,
table cells, and other items on the pages.
Note:
Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Acrobat are two different
software programs. Adobe Acrobat Reader allows users
to read PDF files. It is a free program that can be downloaded
from various web sites including: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=10&platform=Windows
. Adobe Acrobat software is needed to convert
documents to PDF format. It also offers many other useful features,
including web capture. Adobe Acrobat Version 5.0 is currently
on the market. It retails for $249. Qualified students and educators
may purchase an academic version of the software for $59.
Configuring
Internet Settings (If Needed)
If
Acrobat is installed on a computer with a working Internet browser,
such as Internet Explorer or Netscape, it will attempt to use
existing Internet configuration settings. This usually works,
but if it does not, you may need to configure the settings. To
do this:
1.
Choose Edit, then Preferences, then Internet
Settings.
2.
Click on the Connection tab in the Internet Properties
dialog box, and provide the necessary information about your
computer setup. If you do not know this information, check with
your network administrator or Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Converting
Web Pages to PDF Format
Once an HTML
file or URL is identified, Acrobat can open and convert the web
page to PDF format in one step. HTML pages can be opened from
a file on a computer drive, downloaded from the Internet, or opened
from the Internet in Acrobat so that they can be easily converted
to PDF format.
Acrobat can
convert JPEG and GIF graphics (including the last frame of animated
GIFs), text files, and image maps. Tables, links, frames, text
colors, background colors, and forms can be included with HTML
pages. Downloading turns HTML hyperlinks into web links, and HTML
forms into PDF forms.
Long HTML
web pages are divided into standard-sized pages, unless default
PDF page layout settings are changed. This means that, depending
on length, one "web page" may convert to many PDF pages.
To Convert
a Web Page to PDF Format:
1. Open
Adobe Acrobat.
2. From
the Acrobat menu, click File, then Open Web Page.
3. Capturing
web pages:
Method
1: To capture a web page from the Internet: Type or paste
the URL for the web page you want to capture into the Open
Web Page window URL box.
Before you
go any further, examine the settings in the Open Web Page window.
Note the following:
- Because
web sites can be complex, it is a good idea to use these default
settings, whenever possible.
- Choosing
"Get Entire Site" can lead to unpredictable results.
Some web sites are very large and link to many other sites.
- Specify
as few levels to download as possible. (A URL's home page
is level one and links from that page are level 2.)
- For more
information about these settings see the Acrobat Help file.
Click Download.
This may take a few minutes.
Method
2: To capture a HTML file that is located on a computer
drive or disk: Click the Browse button and locate the
file.
When you
find the file, click on the file name to select it. Click Select.
On the Open
Web Page window, click Download. This may take a few
minutes.
4. When
the download is complete, the layout will look similar to the
one below.
5. The PDF
is still a temporary file. Go to File, then Save As
and save your document as a PDF file.
6. From
the menu, click Tools, then Web Capture, and then Page Info.
All of the important information about the PDF file will be
displayed in this window.
