NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science

• Home
• About Us
  • Mission & Strategy
  • NCCOS Centers
  • Organization
  • Staff Locator
• News & Features
  • Feature Stories
  • News
  • Q&As
  • Multimedia
• Research
  • Search by Location
  • Search by Stressor
  • Search by Ecosystem
  • Advanced Search
• Publications & Products
  • Recent Publications
  • Entire Collection
  • Peer-Reviewed
  • Non Peer-Reviewed
• Data
• Stressors
  • Climate Change
    We study the consequences of global warming, such as sea level rise and ocean acidification, to help communities make wise decisions
  • Extreme Natural Events
    We forecast effects of HABs, hurricanes, and coastal storms to help protect human health and reduce economic impacts to coastal communities
  • Invasive Species
    We assess the entry of non–native species to assist coastal managers to develop strategies that benefit coastal habitats and economies
  • Land & Resource Use
    We analyze effects of land use on coastal ecosystems and resources to determine ways of decreasing the human impact
  • Pollution
    We determine sources of contaminants and pollutants so coastal managers can protect human health and the coastal environment
• Ecosystems
  • Coastal Oceans
    We provide the scientific foundation that ensures proper conservation and management of coastal ocean ecosystems
  • Coral Reefs
    We assess conditions, monitor trends, produce maps, and predict changes to provide decision-makers information to better respond to changing environmental conditions
  • Estuaries
    We identify links between human activities and ecological disturbances observed in estuarine environments
  • Marine Sanctuaries
    We assist NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuaries Program by providing the science needed for the formulation of sanctuary management goals
• Opportunities
  • For Students
  • Postgrads & Job Seekers
  • Volunteers
  • Funding

You are here: Home › Adobe Acrobat Help

Adobe Acrobat Help

Many links on NCCOS web sites go to files in a PDF format. Such links are coded with an Adobe logo that looks like this:  . PDF files can be opened using Adobe's Acrobat application. You can download a free copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader from Adobe's website. This software does two things:

1. The software installs a plug-in for your internet browser so you can view PDFs online while connected to the internet;
2. The software also installs the Adobe Acrobat Reader application, which will allow you to read any PDF file on your computer, whether or not you are online.

A lot of content on the NCCOS website is in PDF format because NCCOS produces many large publications. The PDF format is the best for such documents, which, due to length, are mainly for downloading/printing instead of reading online (though you can read these online if you wish). Also, because some of these documents can be quite large, download problems can arise. This page is meant to provide solutions in case you have downloading issues.

Optimize your PDF downloads

In order to optimize any PDF download, we recommend that you save downloaded files directly to your computer instead of viewing them in your web browser. This will optimize your download time because the Adobe Reader plug-in will not need to launch in your web browser; you will be able to open the PDF in the Adobe Reader application at your leisure.

the right-click menu in Internet Explorer

the right-click menu in Firefox

In order to save the file directly to your computer, right-click on the link and select "Save Target As" (Internet Explorer) or "Save Link As" (Firefox) and then select a location on your computer to save the file. Don't forget to note where on your hard drive you saved the file.

• My browser is showing a blank window
  
  This can happen when you are downloading a very large PDF file. The file is downloading. Front cover images in particular can be quite large and result in slow download times. It may appear that your computer isn't doing anything but it is probably downloading a large front cover image. Some publications contain very detailed maps which can also affect download time.
  
  
• I clicked on the link and nothing happened
  
  Adobe Acrobat may be waiting for you: periodically Acrobat will check online to see if there are any updates to the software available online from Adobe. Online updating is very common; most modern Microsoft and Apple operating systems do this already to update their operating system software, but it will not automatically check for online updates to any other software you may have installed.
  
  If you haven't opened Acrobat in a while, Acrobat will check for updates when you open the application. It may appear that your computer froze, but before you assume it's frozen, look to see if there is an Adobe update box in your system tray/dock. You have the option to update the software at a later time.
  
  If this does not resolve your issue, then try saving the file directly to your computer as explained above. Lastly, if the file you've downloaded and saved still does not work, send an email to: nccos.webmaster@noaa.gov