Understanding the PDF Interface
By the Syncfusion DevTutorials team · Last updated
Tour the PDF viewer: toolbar, navigation pane, page view, zoom, and the page indicator. Then open, search, print, and download a PDF, and explore a city guide in the Chapter 1 project.
Most PDF viewers share the same basic layout: a toolbar of buttons, a navigation pane at the side, and the pages in the middle. Buttons may be in different places, but these parts help you find your way around. In this lesson, you'll tour the PDF sandbox piece by piece, then open, search, print, and download a PDF. At the end, you'll use everything together in the Chapter 1 project.
Open the PDF sandbox now (the button at the bottom-right). It shows the Riverton City Guide, an eight-page guide to a made-up city. Keep it open as you read.
The parts of the viewer
Most PDF viewers have a few main parts. Here they are side by side:
| Part | Where | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Toolbar | Across the top | Buttons for opening, moving between pages, zooming, tools, search, print, and download |
| Navigation pane | Down the left side | Page thumbnails and bookmarks, for jumping around the document |
| Page view area | The big middle area | The pages themselves, which you scroll through |
| Zoom controls | In the toolbar | Make the page bigger or smaller |
| Page indicator (status) | In the toolbar | Shows which page you're on and how many there are |
A Syncfusion trial notice may appear at the top of the page. Click its ✕ to close it. It doesn't affect anything you do in the sandbox.
The rest of this lesson walks through each piece in turn, starting with the toolbar.
The toolbar
The toolbar is the row of buttons across the top. Hover over any toolbar button to see its name and keyboard shortcut. From left to right:
| Button | What it does | Shortcut |
|---|---|---|
| Open file (folder) | Opens a PDF from your computer | Ctrl + O |
| Show first page / Show last page | Jumps to the start or the end | Ctrl + Home / Ctrl + End |
| Show previous page / Show next page | Moves one page back or forward | Left / Right arrow |
Page box (1 of 8) | Type a page number and press Enter to go there | |
| Zoom out / Zoom in and the zoom box | Make the page smaller or bigger | Ctrl + Minus / Ctrl + Plus |
| Text selection tool (arrow) | Select and copy text | Shift + V |
| Pan mode (hand) | Drag the page around with the mouse | Shift + H |
| Undo / Redo | Take back or repeat your last change (comments, markup, form entries) | Ctrl + Z / Ctrl + Y |
| Add Comments (speech bubble) | Opens the comments panel | |
| Search (magnifier) | Finds words in the document | Ctrl + F |
| Edit Annotation | Highlight, draw, add notes and signatures (Chapter 4) | |
| Print file | Prints the PDF | Ctrl + P |
| Download file | Saves a copy to your computer | Ctrl + S |
Don't try to memorize this list. You'll meet each button in its own lesson; for now it's enough to know they exist and where they live.
Other PDF apps put these buttons in slightly different places, and some hide them until you move the mouse over the document, but the same icons do the same jobs everywhere.
The navigation pane
The navigation pane is the narrow strip on the left. It contains buttons that open a panel beside the page:
- Page Thumbnails: a small picture of every page. Click one to go to that page. Great for finding a page you remember by how it looks, such as "the one with the big table".
- Bookmarks: the document's table of contents, if its author added one. Click a heading to jump to it. Great for long documents with named sections.
- Organize Pages: rearrange, rotate, and delete pages (you won't need this one for now).
Click the same button again, or the ✕ on the panel, to close it and give the page more room.
The page view area
The middle of the window shows the pages. Scroll with the mouse wheel, or drag the scroll bar, to move through the document page by page. The viewer shows continuous pages: when you reach the bottom of one page, the next one follows straight after. You'll learn other ways to view pages in Chapter 2.
Two toolbar controls are especially important when reading a document: the zoom controls and the page box.
Zoom controls
- Zoom in (+) and Zoom out (−) change the size in steps: 100%, 125%, 150%, and so on.
- The zoom box shows the current size. Click its arrow to choose a size such as 150%, or Fit Page (the whole page fits in the window) and Fit Width (the page fills the width).
- Ctrl + mouse wheel also zooms, as in most programs.
100% is roughly the size of the printed page. Zoom in to read small print; zoom out to see the whole page layout.
The status: where am I?
The page box in the toolbar is the viewer's status display: 3 of 8 means you're on page 3 of 8. The zoom box next to it shows the zoom level. Many desktop PDF apps show the same information in a status bar or a small floating bar at the bottom of the window, sometimes with the page size too. Wherever it is, it answers "Where am I, and how big is this document?"
The page box is the fastest way to move around a long PDF. Click in it, type the page number, and press Enter: no scrolling through 200 pages to find page 150.
Now that you know the parts of the viewer, the rest of the lesson covers the four things you'll do with any PDF: open it, search it, print it, and download it.
Open a PDF
There are several ways to open a PDF:
- Double-click the file on your computer. It opens in your default PDF app, which is often your web browser.
- In a PDF app, click Open file (or press Ctrl + O) and choose the file.
- Drag the file onto an open browser window.
- Click a PDF link or attachment in an email or on a website.
In the sandbox, Open file opens a PDF from your computer. It stays in your browser: nothing is uploaded.
Search a PDF
Click Search (or press Ctrl + F), type a word, and press Enter. The viewer highlights every match and jumps to the first one. The search box shows how many there are, such as 2 of 6, and its Previous and Next arrows move between them. You'll learn the search options in Chapter 3.
Print a PDF
Click Print file (or press Ctrl + P). Your browser's print window opens: choose a printer and the pages, then click Print. You can also choose Save as PDF as the printer to make a copy without paper. You'll learn every print setting in Chapter 6.
Download a PDF
When you open a PDF from a website or an email, it often opens in the browser without being saved on your computer. Click Download file (or press Ctrl + S) to save a copy, usually in your Downloads folder. Once you add comments, highlights, or form entries, downloading saves your changes with it.
Viewing a PDF in your browser is not the same as having it. If you'll need the document later (a ticket, a receipt, a form), download it and keep it somewhere you can find it.
A few simple habits will help you get the most from these buttons.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | What happens | How to fix it |
|---|---|---|
| Not noticing the page box | You don't know how long the document is | Check x of y in the toolbar |
| Pan mode left on | You can't select text; dragging moves the page | Click the Text selection tool (arrow) |
| Zoomed in too far | You see only part of a line and keep scrolling sideways | Choose Fit Width in the zoom box |
| Closing the tab without downloading | The PDF is gone, or your form entries are lost | Click Download file first |
| Searching a scanned PDF | No matches, even for words you can see | It's a picture: see Chapter 3 |
Exercise
Here is your chance to try each part of the viewer yourself.
The sandbox already shows the Riverton City Guide. If you've opened something else, click Open the practice PDF below to bring it back. Then do each task and press Check.
Chapter project
Put Chapter 1 together. A friend is visiting Riverton next weekend and has sent you questions. Answer each one using the guide, with the tool the task asks for. Then download a copy of the guide to send them.
Explore a City Guide
What to remember
- Every PDF app has a toolbar, a navigation pane, and a page view area.
- The page box (
3 of 8) shows where you are; type a number and press Enter to jump. - Page Thumbnails find pages by how they look; Bookmarks find them by name.
- Zoom in/out and the zoom box (Fit Page, Fit Width) change the size.
- The Text selection tool selects text; Pan mode drags the page.
- Open file (Ctrl + O), Search (Ctrl + F), Print (Ctrl + P), Download (Ctrl + S).
That's the end of Chapter 1. In Chapter 2, you'll learn every way to move through and view PDF documents.