Setting up Preferences in PDF by Zaweba

Most people use a program for weeks before they open its settings, and then wonder why they waited. PDF by Zaweba keeps its settings in one window, Edit > Preferences, on Ctrl+comma. It is worth a ten minute look early on, because a few changes there make the app fit the way you work.

Finding your way round

Preferences is split into sections: General, Page display, Documents, Commenting, Forms, Identity, Full screen, Search, Signatures, Security and trust, Spelling, Language, Reading, Accessibility, Colour management, Units, Content editing, Convert and Measuring. That is a lot of sections, so the window is searchable. Type a word such as grid, autosave or units and you are taken to the settings that match, instead of opening section after section looking for one checkbox.

Nothing changes until you press OK. You can try settings, change your mind, and cancel without anything having happened. That makes it safe to explore.

Each section can be reset. If you have fiddled with Page display and can't remember what it looked like before, resetting that section puts back its defaults without touching the rest of your choices.

Sections worth a look first

Units decides how measurements are shown across the app: millimetres, centimetres, inches or points. Pick whatever you think in. Someone filling in UK forms will probably want millimetres; a designer used to type sizes may prefer points.

Page display holds the spacing of the grid that View > Rulers and grid draws, along with other settings for how pages appear. Full screen holds the options for presenting: one page at a time, a black background and turning pages every so many seconds.

Identity is about you as the person using the app. Set it once and you won't need to come back to it.

Security and trust is worth reading even if you change nothing. Its settings are about safety, and knowing what is there helps you understand the questions the app asks you, such as before opening a web link.

Sections for particular jobs

Commenting, Forms and Signatures cover the tools of the same names. If you review a lot of documents, or fill in forms regularly, look at those sections when you start that kind of work.

Spelling and Language set the language used for checking and for the program. Reading and Accessibility are the places to look if you use read aloud, reflow or the high contrast views.

Colour management and Convert matter more for print and for turning documents into other formats. Measuring holds the settings for measuring on the page.

Changing settings sensibly

Change one thing at a time when you are trying to fix a particular annoyance, then press OK and check. If several settings change together it is hard to tell which one helped.

Use the search box instead of memorising where things are. The sections are sensibly grouped, but searching is quicker.

In an office, an administrator may also have set some defaults and locked a few settings. Those show greyed out in Preferences, which simply means the choice has been made for everyone.

Taking the time to set up PDF by Zaweba this way means the app stops getting in your way and starts working the way you expect.