Many
Web documents are posted in Adobe Acrobat format. (You can recognize these
files because they end in .pdf or may be called PDF files.) To read
these, you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can download the reader
for free.
To check whether you already have the Reader, click here. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader successfully installed on your machine, you will get a message: "Congratulations, You have Adobe Acrobat Reader!"
If you do not have the Reader, you can download it, free of charge, from http://get.adobe.com/reader/. The page that appears will look like this:
You may see either a free McAfee download or a free download for the browser Chrome. Chrome is a great browser, but it is not certified to work with Blackboard. We always recommend using Firefox as the browser to use with Blackboard.
Whichever "freebie" appears, to avoid having unwanted software slipped onto your computer, we recommend you read these instructions thoroughly before attempting installation:
- On the main Reader page, you see a pre-checked option for a non-Adobe product (in this case, Chrome). These are products Adobe uses to boost their earnings. Unclick that box. (If you really want therse products, you can get them from UNC-Chapel Hill Shareware site
- If you are using the Windows XP, SP2 or SP3 operating system (as seen), click "Download."
- If you are not using Windows XP, SP2 or SP3, then click "Do you have a different language or operating system?" (See red arrow.) Choose your platform, i.e. Windows (e.g. Vista), Mac or other operating system, language, and the version of Acrobat you want. Again, be sure to uncheck optional non-Adobe applications to prevent installation on your computer.
