Viewing and printing PDF files

Viewing and printing PDF files

You must have a program on your computer which is capable of viewing and printing PDF files.

Although any viewer works, we recommend using the GhostScript under both Microsoft Windows and Unix systems and the GSView front end under Microsoft Windows. To install GSView you need the GSView and GhostScript for Windows 95/NT program from it's home page. If you have Windows 3.x you can still run this program using the Win32S emulator program available on it's home page. Since there are so many Unix flavors, there is no point in publishing the executable GhostScript in all possible binary formats, you can rather download the source code of the GhostScript program from it's home page and compile it yourself.

You can also use Adobe's Acrobat Reader to view PDF files. To install Acrobat Reader you can download it from it's home page.

In order to make your browser start the viewer automatically you have to set a new MIME type in your browser. If you use Netscape:

In the Options menu choose General Preferences.
Select the folder Helpers.
Click the Create New Type... button and fill out the dialogbox Configure New Mime Type:
- file/MIME type : application
- subtype : pdf
Click the OK button.
Fill out pdf for file extensions.
Click radiobutton Launch The Application at Action.
Find your GSView or Acrobat Reader executable file with the Browse button and click OK if found.
Leave General Preferences.

If you have Internet Explorer:

In the View menu choose Options.
Select the folder Programs.
Click the File Types button and then the Add button.
Fill out the dialogbox:
- Description : PDF files
- MIME type : application/pdf
- Suffixes : pdf
- Encoding : binary
Find your GSView or Acrobat Reader executable file with the Browse button and click OK if found.
Leave Options.

If everything is set up correctly, then (when you click on a link to a PDF file) your browser will dowload the PDF file and start your viewer automatically. From the viewer you can now view and print the file.

If you used e-mail to download a paper in PDF format, then first you need to decode the e-mail encoding you selected (MIME, BinHex, or UUEncode), if your e-mail reader did not do it already. Then you have the plain non-encoded PDF file and you can start your viewer to view or print it.