Downloading files will allow you to peruse the files after you have logged off the Internet.

This is not only more convenient for you but gives you the added benefit of re-reading a document without the added labor of re-locating a Web site, re-locating a page within the site, and then downloading the contents of the page into your computer.

It also saves time spent on the Internet where the abundance of users, particularly during peak periods, make it difficult to access a document that you may want.

You can also print the document at a more convenient time. This ability to peruse a document offline is especially productive if the web site that you need to access is currently "down" or inaccessible for any number of reasons (e.g., the site is undergoing upgrading, the site has been moved to a new server, the site is no longer "up" on the Internet, your modem lines are too busy to allow you onto the Web, etc.)

Many text documents on the Internet are in the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).These documents can be large, multi-page documents such as manuals or entire books! The PDF file is desirable to web design/publishers because it allows the author to maintain his original design (layout, typeface, etc.) You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to be able to read and download the files in their original format.

The Adobe Acrobat Reader is available through the SFSU Computing Services' Help Desk. You may just want to surf through their site to see what other helpful applications you may want or need.

Now to the nitty-gritty:

(N.B. All the instructions are for Mac users. Windows95, NT, Unix and any other platform users will have to 'translate' the instructions below.)

The easiest way, but certainly not the most productive one, is to print a document as you access it on the 'Net. To do this you simply click your mouse once and keeping it clicked down, move your mouse up to the 'File' menu, scroll down to 'Print', and release the mouse. A dialog box will appear and you simply click on the 'Print' button (or press Command-P) and printing should commence.

A better way is to click your mouse once and keeping it held down, move your mouse up to the 'File' menu, scroll down to 'Save as...', and release the mouse (see the screenshot to the left). A dialog box will appear allowing you the choice of where on your hard disk you wish to save this particular document. Since it will most likely bring up your browser files to save into and it gets confusing routing around your files looking for the document once you've gotten offline, I recommend either saving it to the Desktop (there will be a button marked 'Desktop' : simply click on this button and your desktop will appear in the window on the left within the dialog box. Click on 'Save' and voila! the document will be on your desktop, ready to be printed after you've decided to go offline) (See screenshot below)

or clicking on the 'New Folder' button (a dialog box will appear asking to name the folder : go ahead, name it something creative like "Downloaded Docs").(See screenshot below)

You will decide where this new folder will reside in much the same way that you picked the desktop: go to the button above the left window within the dialog box and, scrolling via the up/down arrows to the right of the name of the current location, choose your location for the new folder. Or you can always just choose the desktop as the residence of the new folder by clicking the 'Desktop' button.(See screenshot below) Don't worry, it's much easier than the instructions appear to be and by the second or third document, you'll be an old pro at this!

Remember that you can get help at the SFSU Computing Services Help Desk. You can also call :

• Faculty 338-6382
• General 338-1420