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BobVA · 10-22-2006, 03:24 PM

If the PDF files you want to read are unprotected (not encrypted and don't prohibit copying text) you can convert them easily to an RTF file. You can set the font size in that to whatever you want with your word processor and then downloand it to the Reader. The reader can also enlarge/reflow the text further with a button press.

PDF files, if placed directly on the reader, only have two zoom levels. One that shows the entire page and one that (theoretically) removes the outside white space. As stated above, you can also rotate the document to display in landscape, which effectively enlarges the print as well.

That all said, if the PDF you have is formatted for 8.5x11 inches you can probably forget about comfortably reading it directly on the reader, unless it has unusually large type. As an example, take your PDF and print it with borders to mimic the screen size of the reader, and see how it looks. Probably not so good.

I've converted a bunch of academic PDFs by just opening them in Adobe Reader, doing a "select all", "copy", then pasting into Word. Bump up the base font to 15 points, save it as an RTF and it's good to go. BUT these files didn't have elaborate formatting, lots of diagrams, etc. Try this with your PDF's and see how they look in Word. If it's OK, the Reader might work for you.

Another option, if you have something that can create PDF's, is to directly reformat them for the screen size of the reader. If you do a search on the forum, you'll see some settings that others have developed that look good on the Reader. It handles PDF's quite well if they are properly sized - in fact the built in owners manual is a PDF file.

If you want to read highly-formatted, graphics intensive 8.5 x 11 inch documents, or those that don't allow you to extract/manipulate the text, I'm not sure the Reader is what you're looking for, but I'll defer to the more knowledgeable forum members.

Best of luck!
Bob

10-22-2006, 03:24 PM	#5
BobVA Addict Posts: 230 Karma: 1500 Join Date: Oct 2006 Device: Kobo Clara, Sony PRS950, T1, T2, T3	If the PDF files you want to read are unprotected (not encrypted and don't prohibit copying text) you can convert them easily to an RTF file. You can set the font size in that to whatever you want with your word processor and then downloand it to the Reader. The reader can also enlarge/reflow the text further with a button press. PDF files, if placed directly on the reader, only have two zoom levels. One that shows the entire page and one that (theoretically) removes the outside white space. As stated above, you can also rotate the document to display in landscape, which effectively enlarges the print as well. That all said, if the PDF you have is formatted for 8.5x11 inches you can probably forget about comfortably reading it directly on the reader, unless it has unusually large type. As an example, take your PDF and print it with borders to mimic the screen size of the reader, and see how it looks. Probably not so good. I've converted a bunch of academic PDFs by just opening them in Adobe Reader, doing a "select all", "copy", then pasting into Word. Bump up the base font to 15 points, save it as an RTF and it's good to go. BUT these files didn't have elaborate formatting, lots of diagrams, etc. Try this with your PDF's and see how they look in Word. If it's OK, the Reader might work for you. Another option, if you have something that can create PDF's, is to directly reformat them for the screen size of the reader. If you do a search on the forum, you'll see some settings that others have developed that look good on the Reader. It handles PDF's quite well if they are properly sized - in fact the built in owners manual is a PDF file. If you want to read highly-formatted, graphics intensive 8.5 x 11 inch documents, or those that don't allow you to extract/manipulate the text, I'm not sure the Reader is what you're looking for, but I'll defer to the more knowledgeable forum members. Best of luck! Bob Last edited by BobVA; 10-22-2006 at 03:31 PM.