[NFBCS] opening a PDF document in Windows using a browser like Edge rather than Adobe Acrobat

[Steve Jacobson]

Curtis,

I would add, and this is perhaps only my experience, that Acrobat often displays a blank screen the first time I open it after starting my computer.  Often, I can close it with ALT F4 and then open it again with the same file and it works fine.  There might be a more permanent solution, but I offer that in case that is the problem here with Acrobat.  Microsoft Edge does do a nice job with PDF's, although I don't know if it supports form fields yet.  Then again, most PDF's don't have form fields anyway.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Curtis Chong via NFBCS
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2024 1:10 PM
To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Curtis Chong <chong.curtis at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] opening a PDF document in Windows using a browser like Edge rather than Adobe Acrobat

Hello John:

Adobe Acrobat continues to be my go to when it comes to reading and processing PDF documents. The fact that you received a blank screen indicates a setting is not quite right in Adobe's software.

A key thing to remember about why using Adobe Reader is truly helpful is that JAWS can perform OCR against a PDF file if it is opened using Adobe but not if it is opened in Edge or another browser.

There are some accessibility settings that Adobe Reader needs to have set which, alas, are not the defaults for that program. I'd be glad to work with you on that offline.

Cordially,

Curtis Chong


From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org<mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org>> On Behalf Of John Miller via NFBCS
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2024 12:00 PM
To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org<mailto:nfbcs at nfbnet.org>>
Cc: John Miller <johnmillerphd at hotmail.com<mailto:johnmillerphd at hotmail.com>>
Subject: [NFBCS] opening a PDF document in Windows using a browser like Edge rather than Adobe Acrobat

Hello,
I had some challenges reviewing my e-mailed hotel confirmation for attending the NFB convention this July at the Rosen Center Hotel.
I called the phone number, placed the reservation on my credit card, and wrote down the room confirmation number.
This has been my practice from prior years.
Thinking about how terrible it would be if the reservation was made for the wrong month or something I went to review the e-mailed confirmation.
First it went to my junk e-mail but I easily grabbed the e-mail from there.
In past years confirmations would have the information in the body of the e-mail but this one came as an attached PDF with the name of the PDF the reservation number.
On my Windows computer I opened the PDF in Adobe Acrobat. This was not very satisfying.  The application just said blank when I asked for it to read the document.
Next I navigated to the attached document with my iPhone.
The PDF opened easily and I reviewed a 2 row several column table.
This seems to be a more and more common way to relay vital travel information.
The header for each column was the date and on row 2 was the dollar value for the reserved stay on that night.

I asked a blind colleague how to get a good experience examining a PDF document such as this room reservation using Windows.
My colleague told me to open the PDF with any browser such as edge.
For example, save the attachment to the downloads folder, navigate to the downloads folder, tap the applications key, arrow down to open with and select edge.
In Edge all the information was there and easy for me to review.
I look forward to quickly reviewing future documents in a browser such as Edge.
I just dodged the confusion for blind people caused by Adobe Acrobat once more.
I also look forward to helping Adobe Acrobat increase its accessibility.
Very best,
John

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