What are PDF files, and why does ROOTS use them?

PDF stands for 'portable document format'. ROOTS uses the PDF format for publishing electronic copies of the children's activity sheets and craft templates because it preserves text and images as in the printed material, and allows for high quality reproduction without distortion.

Opening, saving and printing PDF files

PDF files can only be viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded for free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.

To open a PDF file on the ROOTS site, select the underlined link to the appropriate file (pictured). The PDF file should open automatically within the web browser window, together with an Acrobat Reader toolbar along the top of the document. The file may take a couple of minutes to download. You can then save or print the file using the options from the Acrobat Reader toolbar.

An alternative way to save a PDF file to your computer if you are using Internet Explorer on a Windows PC, is to right-click on the underlined link once and choose 'Save Target As...' from the pop-up menu.

It is always best to save PDF files to your computer before printing them.

Acrobat Reader gives you a number of options when printing, and you should explore the help files in Acrobat Reader to learn more about them. For example, you can enlarge or reduce the documents, centre them on the page, and choose landscape or portrait as appropriate.

Troubleshooting PDF files

PDF files can be difficult to work with. If you experience problems, check the following things:

• Do you have the latest version of the Acrobat Reader software available for your system? If not, it is best to upgrade it now by visiting http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Early versions of Acrobat Reader did not always work well within web browsers. The latest version is much more stable, and also allows better options for copying and pasting text from PDF documents.
• Save the files to your computer before working with them.
• You may face memory shortages as PDF files can be quite large and their graphical nature can mean they take a lot of memory to print. If you find that parts of the page are missing when you print, or you get memory error messages, clear any unwanted files from your computer, restart the machine, and try to print the document you need as the first action you take in your new session. You may also need to reset your printer. If you face severe memory problems, you may only be able to view or print one PDF file within each session.

What are the copyright restrictions on what I can print out and what I can do with the printed copies?

Unless otherwise specified on the resource page from which you download the PDF file, you can print out and photocopy any PDFs from the ROOTS web site, provided that:

• the reproduction is for non-commercial local use by the church or institution that has purchased / subscribed to ROOTS;
• copies (printed, photocopied, or in electronic format) are not given, lent or sold to others;
• you include an acknowledgement to ROOTS for Churches Ltd on each copy (including emailed copies), and where specified, you also reproduce any copyright acknowledgements to third parties, for example the author of a particular resource (in the case of the worksheets, this acknowledgement is normally included within the PDF file itself).

You may not reproduce any material from ROOTS on your own / your church's web site without prior written permission from ROOTS for Churches Limited.

If you wish to use the material in any way that is not covered above, for example for commercial use, please contact copyright@rootsontheweb.com.