
On the Macintosh select Adobe Reader > Preferences.

To open the Preferences dialog ( Figure 3.1) in Windows, select Edit > Preferences.

You use preferences settings for specifying views and operations, and for choosing alternative ways to invoke actions with tools and menu commands. The work environment you set up, as explained in Chapter 2, "Understanding Acrobat Viewers," handles the toolbars and Reader window. Preferences enable you to customize your work sessions in Adobe Reader. Instead, it gives you information on only the more essential preferences you might want to set up before you engage in any serious Adobe Reader sessions. Happily, this chapter dispenses with an exhaustive list of preferences options that you'll probably forget as soon as you turn to the next chapter.

Adobe Reader's Preferences dialog presents an array of choices no less overwhelming than those offered by many other programs. Preferences dialogs in many software programs look like a messy garage that requires cleaning up on another day.
