# Read articles

In PDFs, articles are optional electronic threads that the PDF author may define within that PDF. Articles lead readers through the PDF content, jumping over pages or areas of the page that are not included in the article, in the same way that you might skim through a traditional newspaper or magazine, following one specific story and ignoring the rest. When you read an article, the page view may zoom in or out so that the current part of the article fills the screen.

### Open and navigate an article thread

1. Choose Tools > Select & Zoom > Hand Tool, or click the Hand Tool on the Select & Zoom toolbar.
2. Choose View > Navigation Panels > Articles to open the Articles panel.
   Note: You cannot open the Articles panel if you are viewing the PDF inside a browser. You must open the PDF in Reader.
3. Double-click the article icon to go to the beginning of that article. The icon changes to the follow-article pointer .
   Note: If the Articles panel is blank, then the author has not defined any article threads for this PDF.
4. With the article thread open, do any of the following:

   - To scroll through the article one pane at a time, press Enter/Return or click in the article.

   - To scroll backward through the article one pane at a time, Shift-click in the article, or press Shift+Return.

   - To go to the beginning of the article, Ctrl-click/Option-click within the article.

5. At the end of the article, click in the article again.

   The previous page view is restored, and the pointer changes to the end-article pointer .

### Exit a thread before the end of the article

1. Make sure that the Hand tool is selected.
2. Shift+Ctrl-click/Shift+Option-click the page or press Enter/Return.

The previous page view is restored.