A number of people have mentioned a problem opening PDFs when using ScienceDirect where you end up with either a blank PDF or a load of gobbledegook. Not everyone gets this problem, as it seems to depend on which version of IE and Adobe you are using, and it only seems to happen with ScienceDirect.

I have spoken with SD in the past, but to no avail.

There are a number of ways round this:

Don’t use IE. Firefox works fine, for example.

Don’t just open the PDF. Right click the link and save the file. Then open the saved file.

Amend your Preferences in Adobe. Open any PDF, then click Edit from the top, then Preferences, then uncheck the “Display PDF in web browser” box. Close.

Each of these seems to do the trick with the latter option being the most permanent – however I’m not sure if students have the permissions to change this themselves on campus machines.

I have asked IS if anything can be done with Adobe preferences at a campus wide level, but at the moment I don’t know if that’s possible, so please use one of the above solutions in the interim.

Thanks
Jan