Using PDF Documents

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Some of the documents on this website are PDF files, formatted using Adobe "Acrobat" Portable Document Format.  This ensures that the document you receive has the same layout as the original, making this format especially suited to documents intended for printing.  There are many other advantages:

• PDF is a universal format suitable for all common computer operating systems - MS Windows and NT, Mac and Unix
• Acrobat Reader software is available free of charge from Adobe.
• PDF files are compressed and take less time to download
• Larger documents have bookmarks on the left hand side.  This is an electronic contents index - clicking on a bookmark will take you directly to the relevant page in the document.
• The page magnification (zoom) size can be selected by the user to ensure readability that meets individual needs.
• PDF files can be locked to prevent unauthorised copying and modification.

Free Acrobat Reader

Acrobat Reader software is needed to view and print these documents. It is provided free by Adobe. If you do not already have it, download it now.

Download Times

As some of these documents have many pages, the files can be quite large in size (anything from 100 Kb to 1 Mb) and it can take several minutes to download them to your PC, depending on the speed of your Internet connection. The size of the file will usually be indicated for files over 100 Kb and you should expect a transfer rate of around 180 Kb per minute if you have a modem connection, around 400 Kb per minute via ISDN and faster for a Broadband connection.  Please be patient and wait for the download to complete.

View On-Line or Save?

It is recommended that you save the PDF files to your PC so that you can access them off-line, especially if you intend to print the documents or want to look at them later.

The best way to do this is to right click on the link (i.e. click with the right hand mouse button) and select "Save Target as... " from the menu that pops up.  Alternatively, once the document is displayed on your PC, you can use the "Save" icon on the Acrobat toolbar to "Save As".

What do you think?

ASME would like to know your views on the use of PDF: Do you like PDF and want us to use it more often?  If you would prefer us not to use PDF then please let us know the format that you would prefer us to use.  E-mail your views to info@asme.org.uk

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All queries should be directed to:-

ASME, 12 Queen Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1JE.

Telephone: 0131 225 9111 Fax: 0131 225 9444
Email: info@asme.org.uk