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Adobe Reader

(.pdf)

Adobe Reader is a free program that allows people to read .pdf documents online. There are several advantages to converting your Word documents (.doc and .rft) to .pdf before offering them to your students.

  • The students do not have to have Microsoft Word installed on their computers in order to read your document. Adobe Reader is estimated to be present on approximately 98% of computers, and is a free download for those few that don't already have it.
  • Students can't easily make changes to your document. A pdf editor like Acrobat would be necessary, and that program is not a free download.
  • Internet Browsers do not typically block a PDF document that is attempting to open in the window.
  • PDF documents open much more easily in D2L than Word and RTF documents.

If you'd like to begin converting your Microsoft documents to PDF, we have a couple of options available:

  • Request a copy of FlashPaper, which will convert your documents to FlashPaper and/or PDF documents. Use the Faculty Tech Support Request Form in the gray panel to the right, and we will schedule a time for the program to be installed on your computer.

  • Convert documents for free online using a Google-owned website called Writely.Com.
    • Check out our video or screencapture steps to see how easy it is:
      video version (2 minutes) | paper version: PDF or FlashPaper (18 pages)
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