[Blindtlk] A Frantic Plea for Assistance With a PDF File

[Steve Jacobson]

Diane,

At this point, I don't know if we really know what is wrong.  When your daughter opened the file, did it open in Word or in Adobe Acrobat Reader?  This is really 
critical, knowing what sort of a document it is.  There are Windows option that hides the file extension, so that if someone happened to name the file test.pdf.doc, 
you might only see TEST.PDF but it would open it in word.  If your daughter's copy opened in Acrobat Reader, then consider the following.

Do you know how you have your document settings set in Adobe?  Specifically, did you reset the option that determines whether the entire document is loaded as 
opposed to loading a page at a time?  I like to force the whole document to be loaded, but that can cause problems.  How long did you wait as you were letting the 
document to load?  Using a screen reader can slow down the loading process greatly especially on a busy document.  

You might try going into the Acrobat preferences with CONTROL-K, navigate to the "Reading" tab, and change the reading order to "Left to Right, Top to Bottom".  
The default is usually "Infer reading order from document."  The "Infer Reading Order from Document" option takes much longer but sometimes will cause a 
document to read better and will preserve tables.  The "Left to Right" option is much faster doing less analysis, and it sometimes actually does a better job of 
formatting the document, too, so there is no magic answer.

On Mon, 8 Jun 2009 11:05:46 -0400, Graves, Diane wrote:

>Hi Steve,

>Well, I go into adobe and then just do the command to open the file.
>What the screen reader (Jaws) says before it freezes is document being
>processed, and then it just stops doing anything at all.  The reason I
>say that It appears that it is opening in word, is because that is what
>my daughter said when she was trying to look at it for me.  She said
>there was a word logo that appeared.
> 

>After mere frustration gave way to trying anything that came to mind, I
>went into Windows explorer to see what information I would get there,
>and when I did that, it just automatically went into Word and tried to
>open it.


>When I read Marty's suggestion, I called my daughter and asked her to
>try to open the file on her computer.  She tried, and said that the file
>opened fine, so it looks as if is a screen reader conflict.  

>Is there a way to convert the image file so that it will be more
>compatible with the screen reader?.

>Diane Graves
>Civil Rights Specialist
>Indiana Civil Rights Commission
>Alternative Dispute Resolutions Unit
>317-232-2647
> 
>"IT is service that measures success."
>George Washington Carver
> 
> 
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>-----Original Message-----
>From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>On Behalf Of Steve Jacobson
>Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 10:43 AM
>To: Blind Talk Mailing List
>Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] A Frantic Plea for Assistance With a PDF File

>Diane,

>please explain in more detail how it appears that the document is being
>opened in Word before it freezes?  How are you opening the file and what
>exactly is 
>happening?

>On Mon, 8 Jun 2009 07:44:36 -0400, Graves, Diane wrote:

>>Hi Guys,
>> 
>>I'm hoping that one of you computer savvy people might be able to help
>>me.  Please keep in mind that I am  strictly a computer user/operator.
>>When it comes to programming/trouble shooting, I'm somewhat challenged.
>> 
>>Anyway, I have a class which is scheduled to start on Wednesday, and
>the
>>textbook I have received, is supposed to be in PDF format, in fact, it
>>does have a PDF extension, but when I try to open it up in Adobe, it
>>looks as if it is trying to open the file as a word document, and then
>>the system just freezes altogether. This file will not open.
>> 
>>I am reasonably certain that it is not my program or on my end, because
>>my other textbooks are still opening and operating perfectly.  To be
>>sure though, I did download the most recent adobe update, and it is
>>still doing the same thing.
>> 
>>When I first encountered the problem about a week ago, I did contact
>the
>>Disabled Student Services Office, for assistance.  They agreed to send
>>me another copy of the textbook which they did.  This second copy is
>>doing the same thing.
>> 
>>I am going to contact them again today, but, as I've got only a couple
>>of days to work with, I was hoping that someone could offer some
>insight
>>into why the file might be acting like this, and if there is something
>>that I might be able to do to adjust the format, or somehow gain access
>>to the file.
>> 
>>Any helpful hints would be appreciated.
>> 
>>Thanks,
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>Diane Graves
>>Civil Rights Specialist
>>Indiana Civil Rights Commission
>>Alternative Dispute Resolutions Unit
>>317-232-2647
>> 
>>"IT is service that measures success."
>>George Washington Carver
>> 
>> 
>>Confidentiality Notice: This E-mail transmission may contain
>>confidential and/or legally privileged information intended only for
>the
>>individual or entity(ies)
>>named in the E-mail address. If you are not the intended recipient, be
>>advised that any unauthorized disclosure, copying, distribution, or
>>acting in reliance
>>upon the contents of this E-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have
>>received this E-mail transmission in error, please reply to sender to
>>arrange for the return and proper delivery of the transmission.
>>Subsequently, delete the message from your system immediately.
>> 
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