PDF help
We produce a huge amount of printed information for schools and colleges. As a service for teachers, we make as many as possible of these documents available to download from our Website, free of charge.
Copy and paste from a PDF
Teachers can prepare classroom materials by copying and pasting content from our PDFs into a word processor. The formatting may change, but you can then control this yourself.
Exceptions are documents such as draft specifications and forms, where copying the text is not enabled.
Please use our resources for teaching and learning, subject to the copyright conditions.
Why use Portable document format (PDF)?
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader is free software that enables you to read PDF files on any computer. You can download this software, or upgrade to a more recent version, from the download area of the Adobe website. PDF files on this Website can be viewed using Acrobat Reader version 5 and above.
PDF files look the same on any computer: the layout, page numbering, fonts and so on are reproduced exactly, regardless of the set up of your computer or printer, which would not be the case if other file formats were used.
So that documents obtained from the Website look the same as the printed copies distributed by AQA, they are published as PDF files: the de facto international web publishing standard.
For reasons of good practice and to protect our copyright, PDF files published on the AQA Website have security settings: you can read the document on screen, print it, or save it to your computer. You cannot change the document or save it in a different format.
Support
Unfortunately, we can’t offer support for your use of third-party software: installing and using it is your responsibility, however, if you have difficulties try the following.
- Make sure you have Acrobat Reader version 5 or above. If you see a message saying Acrobat reader is unable to open a document, or you see 'done' but the screen is blank, try upgrading your Acrobat Reader to version 5 or above. If you already have version 5 or above, you might need to reinstall it. Then restart your computer and try again.
- Try saving the file, then opening it again in Acrobat Reader, rather than viewing it in your browser. On a PC this is usually done by right clicking on the link and choosing 'Save Target As ...'
- Some of these documents are large files that might take a few minutes to download. You may not be able to print the document before the download is finished.
- If a document is improperly cached (saved) by your browser then you will have repeated problems trying to open it. You may find that clearing your cache will enable you to open it.
- If you can see the PDF on your screen OK but have trouble printing it, check if you are using a PS (postscript) printer driver. Using another driver sometimes causes squares to be printed instead of the correct text. There is a helpful step-by-step guide to troubleshooting printing problems on the Adobe website.
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