The graphics I'm extracting from the PDF are at 72dpi resolution. Is there any way I can extract these graphics with a higher resolution?

The information contained within a PDF is actually in the form of PostScript® -- it's the same language printers speak. When you print a document, text and graphic information is sent to the printer in the form of mathematical representations known as PostScript. Since there's PostScript in a PDF, we can extract the information with a program that works with Postscript graphics. The program we use is Adobe Illustrator® 6.0. Here's the method we use:

Take the PDF and drag it on top of the Illustrator program icon. Illustrator will attempt to open the PDF however it can do so only one page at a time. In lieu of this, a special "Open" dialog box appears asking you to choose which page of the PDF you wish to open. You can scroll up to the page you desire with a left and right arrow button so remember which page your graphics are on before you open the document.

When it opens, all the information for the graphics and text will appear as they normally do in an Illustrator document. All you have to do it select the area that contains the graphic you want, group the graphic parts, copy, and paste the information into your favorite page layout program such as PageMaker or Quark Express. Repeat this process for each graph and each page if you have multiple pages. It may seem time consuming, however it takes a lot less time to do this than to recreate the entire graph.

I want the graphics in a higher resolution. Can I simply call you and request the graphics be sent attached to an email or placed on a floppy disk?

No. An amazing feat in and of itself is that these files are created "on the fly" by our server software and the information contained within our databases. In other words, a human did not create your PDF. However, a very clever human did create the program that generates the PDFs.

I have the document I wish, but it wont print. What am I doing wrong?

You're probably doing nothing wrong. Some of the documents we provide for download on the Indiana Department of Education web site are large, complicated, and have many graphics. This can be a strain on computers that have very little system resources -- low memory, too many extensions installed, too many programs running at the same time (etc). This is not something the IDOE can fix. You'll need to take a look at your computer and determine which extensions or system resources to disable.

Another option is to print "a range" of document pages at any given time. For example, let's say you want to print the Mathematics Proficiency Guide Part 7. It might be a good idea if your printing stops after seven pages to tell the computer the next time to print pages 1 to 5...then 6-10...and so on...

What is a PDF?

PDF stands for Portable Document Format. Any document at IDOE can be converted into a form that can be opened, browsed, and printed from almost any computer platform. The ingenious developers at Adobe have developed a method for these operations to take place on any computer with the same results.

Do I have to have the Adobe Reader in order to view/print these documents?

Yes. However, you can open PDF files in other programs such as Freehand -- or any program that will read the Portable Document Format.