PDA Digital Downloading Instructions

Viewing PDF files

The files are in PDF format. Here is a list of programs that can be used to view PDF files. If you have a problem with one of these programs, try a different program or drag the file icon to your browser. Most browsers can read PDF files.

  1. Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat
  2. Internet browsers such as Internet explorer, Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, and Safari.
  3. Foxit PDF Reader
  4. Nitro PDF Reader
  5. Sumatra PDF Read

>>> Adobe Reader - free download.

>>> Foxit Reader - free download.

Downloading PDF instructions:

  1. Your files are available for download immediately after purchase and can be accessed at the PDA bookstore
  2. Please login with your PDA WEB User ID and password, by clicking “Account” in the upper right navigation area.
  3. Then select “Download recent Purchases” from the available list. The digital file you purchased will be listed here.
  4. Click on the file you want to download. The browser will ask you to choose "OPEN" or "SAVE"
  5. Choose "SAVE" to write the file to your local disk drive.
  6. After you save the file, you can open the PDF file with Adobe Acrobat Reader. You will prompt for a password; the document password is the same as your PDA password at the time of your download and cannot be changed. Once you have purchased your digital file you have 30 days to download it before your purchase lapses.

If you have any questions please contact PDA at info@pda.org or 301-656-5900.

Downloading problems with PDF files

Problem 1: When you open the PDF in Internet Explorer, you receive an error message: “There was an error opening this document. The file cannot be found”. Internet Explorer could not download the file to a temporary workspace on your computer. Please try the following:

  1. Right click on the Internet Explorer icon (the blue “e”) and select “Properties”.
  2. Click on the “Advanced” tab.
  3. In the “Security” section, uncheck the “Do not save encrypted pages to disk” option.
  4. Click “OK” or “Apply” at the bottom of the window.

Problem 2: When you open the PDF, you receive an error message: “Could not open the file ‘XXX.pdf’ because it is either not a supported file type or because the file has been corrupted”. The entire file was not downloaded. Also, Internet Explorer may have an incomplete copy of the file stuck in its cache and this will prevent future downloads from succeeding. In order to clear the bad copy of the file out of the browser cache, please do the following:

  1. Close all Internet Explorer windows.
  2. Right click on the Internet Explorer icon (the blue “e”) and select “Properties”.
  3. Click on the “Delete Files” button in the “Temporary Internet Files” section.
  4. Restart Internet Explorer and try to download the file again. Once you start the download, it isn’t finished until you see a “Download Complete” message.
  5. (optional) You might want to go to “Advanced” Settings Tab and in the “Security” section check “Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed”.

Problem 3: When you open the PDF, you receive a message "Adobe Acrobat encountered a problem and is about to close...". This is most likely caused by a problem in Adobat Acrobat Reader. Please try the following solution:

  1. Download the Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool from Adobe Labs.
  2. Run the Cleaner Tool to completely uninstall Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader.
  3. Re-boot your computer.
  4. Re-install Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader. There is a link to Adobe Reader Download at the top of this page.

Problem 4: You Open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader but the "Edit->Save" option and the Save icon (an image of a disk) are disabled. You cannot save the file.

  1. Try "Edit->Save As" option in the Reader's main menu to save the file.
  2. Try downloading the file again and save it BEFORE you open the file in a PDF reader.

If the solutions above do not work, try one of the following workarounds:

  1. Open the PDF in a browser such as Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome, or Safari. "Drag and Drop" the PDF file icon onto your browser window.
  2. Open the PDF on a different computer. If you can open the PDF on the second computer, then you should run the Acrobat Cleaner Tool on the first computer.
  3. Download and install a PDF reader that is not from Adobe. Try the Foxit Reader link on this page.