Datasheet

Tools, task buttons, and toolbars

Tools are grouped together in separate toolbars in the Toolbar Well below the menu bar. The default view

when you launch Acrobat contains several toolbars visible in the Toolbar Well. You can remove various tool-

bars from the Well, move them around the Acrobat window, close them, and add different toolbars to the

Toolbar Well.

In addition to loading and unloading toolbars, a new feature in Acrobat 8 permits you to add

or remove individual tools from any toolbar. Before you learn how to add and remove individ-

ual tools, let’s first take a look at the Toolbar Well.

The Toolbar Well, where the toolbars are contained, is collapsed and expanded according to the number of

toolbars you add to it. When a toolbar is contained within the Toolbar Well, it is said to be docked. When a

toolbar is dragged away from the Toolbar Well and rests atop the Acrobat window, it is said to be undocked

and appears as a floating toolbar.

Task buttons

One of the many different toolbars in Acrobat is called the Tasks toolbar. This toolbar houses various Task

buttons. In Figure 1.16 the tasks toolbar is shown with the label descriptions to describe each tool’s pur-

pose. Task buttons differ a little from other tools in that they all support pull-down menus where menu

commands related to specific tasks are addressed.

FIGURE 1.16

The Tasks toolbar contains several Task buttons all containing pull-down menus.

The Tasks toolbar features commands for creating PDFs, working with comments and reviews, exporting

PDFs to different formats, securing PDFs, working with forms, and digitally signing PDFs. The Tasks tool-

bar also features the new Task button containing commands for engaging in Acrobat Connect meetings.

You’ll find all these features covered in many of the following chapters.

Loading and unloading tools

The default tools you see in the Toolbar Well when you first open Acrobat is but a mere fraction of all the

tools available to you. Fortunately in Acrobat 8, a nifty new window has been added to the program to help

you easily manage tools.

It’s important to realize that you have toolbars and tools. Tools appear as individual icons contained in a

given toolbar. You can choose to show only one tool in a toolbar or all the tools that belong to a given tool-

bar and anything in between. The tools within toolbars can be added and deleted from the parent toolbar.

If you’re familiar with earlier versions of Acrobat and you don’t find tools loaded in the various toolbars, your

first stop is to open the More Tools menu at the top right corner of your screen. Select More Tools from a

context menu opened on the Toolbar Well and the More Tools window opens as shown in Figure 1.17.

NEW FEATURE

Getting to Know Adobe Acrobat

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