What is PDF?

Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) preserves the fonts, images, graphics, and layout of the source file and is viewable by anyone using a PDF viewer regardless of operating system. For more about what PDF is, see the Adobe web site.

OALJ Use of PDF Files

PDF has become a standard format for many government purposes where retaining the original format of a document is important. Thus, for example, it is required for the electronic submission of drug approvals to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and for electronic case filings in U.S. federal courts.

The Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) began using PDF files in its Document Management System (DMS) beginning in the fall of 2000. Final decisions and selected orders of general interest are pushed from the DMS to the OALJ web site for public access. The PDF files you download from OALJ's "Docket Search" are identical to the original slip opinions. The HTML files from "Docket Search" also replicate the format of the original slip opinion, but the PDF version will have better formatting. Retention of the formatting of the slip opinion is only true for PDF and HTML files from the "Docket Search;" ARB decisions and legacy decisions from the "Law Library" part of this web site are not necessarily identical to the format of the original slip opinion.

Downloading Issues and Solutions

Adjudicatory decisions are sometimes relatively large files, and some users have experienced difficulty in downloading. A common symptom is that the first page will download, but subsequent pages do not load. A variety of circumstances may be responsible, such as the version of the PDF reader you are using, whether you are using the reader as a plug-in or a stand-alone application, whether your cache is full, and so forth. Here are some suggestions:

First, it is recommended that you obtain the most recent version of the PDF reader you are using. Most users use Adobe Acrobat Reader, while many users use Acrobat Professional, Acrobat Standard or Acrobat Elements. Third-party PDF reader are becoming more readily used, such as Apple's "Preview."

The most current version of the Acrobat reader is available as a free download from Adobe.

If upgrading to the most recent PDF Reader version does not solve the problem, try the following recommendations of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals:

1. Save the opinion to your hard drive, to view it outside the browser.

This can be accomplished by right clicking on the “View” link, and selecting “Save Target As” from the list of options. After doing this, locate the file on your drive, and double click it to open it. Or, you can open your Adobe Acrobat Reader, and use the “File -> Open” option to locate the file.

2. Reset your Adobe Acrobat Reader preferences to turn OFF the “View in Browser” function.

We have come to realize that it is common for Internet Explorer’s Adobe Acrobat plug in to misinterpret the .PDF file either by not giving the larger files long enough to load, in turn causing a time-out error, or by determining that there is not enough memory for the browser to open the file. This may cause you to get an error that says “Error reading linearized hint data” or, you may simply not be able to see the text on the file, despite the fact that it appeared to open.

To reset the “View in Browser” setting in Adobe Reader version 5 or 5.1:

Open your Adobe Reader and select “Edit -> Preferences”

A Preferences window will open, with numerous selections on the left-hand side

Select “Options”

At the top of the “Options” window, deselect “Display PDF in browser”

Click “OK” at the bottom of the Preferences window

To reset the “View in Browser” setting in Adobe Reader version 6 and above:

Open your Adobe Reader and select “Edit -> Preferences”

A Preferences window will open, with numerous selections on the left-hand side

Select “Internet”

At the top of the “Internet” window, deselect “Display PDF in browser”

Click “OK” at the bottom of the Preferences Window

After completing this reset of preferences, clicking as you would normally on the “View” link for our opinions will open the Adobe Reader, and you should no longer get the errors inflicted by Internet Explorer, regardless of the Opinion size, etc.

Source: Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals Web Site, Opinions Page
(www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/index.php visited Oct. 19, 2005)

In addition, you may be able to open the HTML version of the document from the OALJ Docket Search results page.

If these suggestions do not cure access problems with an PDF file from the OALJ web site, please notify the Webmaster by emailing oalj-webmaster@dol.gov.