How to View a PDF Document in Full Screen View

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Last Updated: December 27, 2023 Fact Checked

Adobe Acrobat enables you to view a PDF document in full screen view. The full screen view is useful when you are reading an online document or making a presentation using a PDF document. In the full screen view only the pages of the document are displayed with items such as the window controls, toolbars, the title bar, the status bar, and the menu bar hidden. You can also set various preferences for the full screen view such as automatically advancing a page after a specified time duration thereby creating a slide show effect.

Things You Should Know

Go to View > Full Screen View. You can also use the shortcut Ctrl+L in Acrobat.^{[1]
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To set your preferences to always choose full screen view, go to Edit > Preferences > Full Screen.
Use Ctrl+L to exit full screen mode. You can also check the Escape key exits box in Preferences to use the ESC key to exit.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

To view a document in full screen view

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Alternatively, press CTRL + L.
Acrobat displays the document in full screen view.^{[2]
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Note: You can also set the full screen view preferences, to enable you to use the Esc (Escape) key to return to the normal view of the document.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

To set preferences for the full screen view

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The Preferences dialog box is displayed.^{[4]
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The Preferences dialog box displays the full screen options.^{[5]
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To automatically advance the document pages, select the Advance every check box and type the time in seconds that each page should be displayed in the seconds text box.
Note: You can browse through a document using mouse or keyboard commands even if the Advance every check box is selected.
Select the Left click to go forward one page; right click to go back one page check box to enable you to page through a document by clicking the mouse.^{[6]
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Select the Ignore all transitions check box to remove transition effects from presentations that you view in Full Screen view.
To specify a default transition effect to display when you page through a document, select a transition effect from the Default transition drop-down list.^{[7]
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The background color is used to color the empty area of the screen, when a page of a document is not large enough to cover the entire screen.
The preferences you have specified will apply to all PDF documents that you view in full screen view.^{[8]
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Community Q&A

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Question

How do I zoom the page while in full-screen mode?

Community Answer

Ctrl + mouse wheel up and down.

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Question

How do I get out of full screen view?

Community Answer

Try hitting CTRL and L at the same time. If it does not work, try hitting the escape button, which is located in the top left corner of your keyboard.

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Question

How can I change the zoom of my PDF for full screen mode? I have my preferences set as "Fit to page" but it's still not fitting properly.

Community Answer

You can hold ctrl and scroll with your mouse. Scrolling upward zooms it out and scrolling downward zooms it in.

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