Portable Document Format (PDF), developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated, is the open de facto standard for electronic document distribution worldwide. Adobe PDF is a universal file format that preserves all of the fonts, formatting, colors, and graphics of any source document, regardless of the application and platform used to create it.

PDF files are viewed with the Adobe Acrobat® Reader™, which is free for anyone to download and install from the Adobe Web site. If you already have the Adobe Acrobat® Reader™ installed on your computer, all you need to do is to click on any of our document links, and the document will be automatically displayed on your screen in a new browser window. You may then scroll through the document at your leisure, or print it on your printer. Keep in mind that the PDF file must first be downloaded to your hard drive before it can be viewed by the Reader. The amount of download time is a function of the size of the PDF file and the speed of your Internet connection, so please be patient.

Note: You must have version 4.0 or greater to read these documents. If you have an older version of this program (i.e. 3.0), our documents will not display and/or print properly. Please follow the instructions below to upgrade your version of the Adobe Acrobat Reader® to the most current version. Be sure to uninstall your older version before installing the new one, to avoid potential conflicts.

If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat® Reader™ installed on your computer and wish to install it, or wish to upgrade an existing copy to the most current version, please follow these instructions:

First, Click here to download a free copy of the Adobe Acrobat® Reader™ (5.5mb) from Adobe's Web site. Please note that this action will open a new browser window.

When the Adobe Web site is displayed, navigate to the link for downloading the free Reader and click. Follow the instructions provided by Adobe. When the file begins downloading, be sure to note the name of the folder on your hard drive which will contain the file (Ex. "C:\Downloads"), and the name of the actual file (Ex: "Acrobat405.exe").

When the download has completed, you will still need to install the software. To do this, navigate to the appropriate folder, using Windows Explorer or a similar tool, locate the downloaded file name (Ex: "Acrobat405.exe"), and double-click on the file name to begin the installation process. Since part of the installation process is to register "PDF" as a file type associated with the Adobe Acrobat® Reader™, all future PDF files will automatically invoke the Reader when you click on the file name.

Once the Reader has been installed on your computer, you may delete the original downloaded file (Ex: "Acrobat405.exe") from your hard drive to conserve disk space.