Most of our material, including our search pages, is available as HTML web pages but larger reports, policy documents and other material, such as ASIC Gazettes and enforceable undertakings, that are scanned copies of original documents, are published as PDF (Portable Document Format) files. We do this to protect the integrity of our documents and to provide a high quality document for printing out when they are unsuitable for reading online. PDF files always open in a new window.
We also have a few Word and Excel file downloads. These will open within your browser window.
If, after reading our hints on using PDF files, you still have difficulty printing out or downloading files, ontact ASIC's infoline on 1300 300 630 or make an enquiry at www.asic.gov.au/question. and we will either email the file to you or post out a hard copy. Make sure you tell us which documents you want copies of and give us your postal address.
PDF files can only be viewed using Adobe Reader. If you don't already have Adobe Reader you can download it free of charge from the Adobe website. To make the best use of PDF files make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Reader.
After you have installed Adobe Reader on your computer, whenever you click on a PDF download link it will automatically open the file for you in Adobe Reader.
If you are using special screen reading software you may need to convert PDF documents to web pages (HTML pages) or text (ASCII) files. Adobe provides a free service for converting PDF files to HTML or ASCII text which can then be read by many screen reading programs. Please note this will not work with PDFs, such as ASIC Gazettes and enforceable undertakings, that have been created from scanned documents.
To convert a PDF to HTML or text using the free Adobe service:
Click on the link and open the PDF you wish to convert.
Adobe will return it to your browser as an HTML or text document.
Alternatively you can email the PDF file to Adobe. If the Adobe PDF file is on your hard drive, CD-ROM, or internal server, it can be submitted as an attachment to an e-mail message. Email your file to:
Large PDF files may take a long time to open, depending on the speed of your internet connection. If you are having trouble opening a PDF file, try saving the file to the hard drive on your computer and opening it from there. It will open and print much more quickly.
How to save a PDF to your hard drive
Click on the link from our webpage. This leads to the file download page, headed "This file can be downloaded as a PDF file".
Hold your cursor over the file name and RIGHT click.
Select "Save target as" (in Internet Explorer) or "save link as" (in Netscape) and save it to the directory of your choice.
Go to Adobe Reader or your file manager and open the document.
When you open a PDF file on our website it will open in a new window in your browser. Under your browser’s toolbar, you will now see displayed the Adobe Reader toolbar. This has a range of tools you can use. For example,
A print button. See the next section for more detail about printing
Change view (full page, fit to page or page width) by clicking the icons on the toolbar.
To help you navigate through large documents we usually create "bookmarks" to the main headings. These will be listed on the left of your screen. Click on any heading to jump to that page (open up/close up the levels in this list by clicking the plus/minus or pointer symbols).
How do I print a PDF?
We suggest you always print PDF files by clicking on the printer button on the Adobe Reader toolbar. In some instances, you may find that you cannot print using the browser print menu or printer button.
If you want to view the document before printing, try saving the file to the hard drive on your computer and opening it from there. It will open and print much more quickly. How to save a PDF to your hard drive
How do I search for a name, word or phrase in a PDF file?
Apart from a few PDF files that have been created from scanned documents (such as ASIC Gazettes and enforceable undertakings), the PDF files on our websites are searchable.
If you want to search for a particular word or phrase in a PDF file: Click the binoculars icon on the Adobe Reader toolbar.
In the "Search" window, type in the word or phrase you are looking for and click on "Search" (You can restrict your search by selecting the boxes "Match whole word only" and "Match case" or "Case sensitive").
In version 6 or higher you will see a list of all the hits displayed. Click on any you want to view.
In version 4 or 5 the cursor will now jump to the first hit in the document of the word or phrase you have entered.
To go to the next hit of the word or phrase, click on the small binoculars icon.
Continue until the program tells you there are no more hits for the word or phrase.
How do I copy text from a PDF file?
Depending on the version of Adobe Acrobat used to create the PDF file and the version of Adobe Reader you are using to read the file, you may have the option to save it as a text file. If you don't have this option, you can copy and paste text from the file to your word processing package. Copying text from PDFs can however have unpredictable results, particularly where text spans more than one column or includes tables or graphics. You will also lose some formatting. You also cannot copy and paste text from PDFs, such as ASIC Gazettes and enforceable undertakings, that have been created from scanned documents.
To copy text from a PDF file :
open the file in Adobe Reader
click the "T" button (Text select tool) on the Adobe Reader toolbar
highlight the text you wish to copy
click the "Copy" button on the Adobe toolbar (do not use the Browser's toolbar or menu options)
switch back into your word processing package and paste the text into a new document.
If you are still having difficulty printing out or downloading PDF files...
Contact ASIC's infoline on 1300 300 630 or make an enquiry at www.asic.gov.au/question, and we will email the file to you or post out a hard copy. Make sure you tell us which documents you want copies of and give us your postal address.
Hints on viewing our website and printing content from it
Why do I have to scroll horizontally to see the entire page?
Our web site has been designed for a minimum screen resolution of 800 x 600 pixels. If you are having trouble viewing the whole site - needing to scroll horizontally to see the entire page - we suggest you change the resolution of your screen to 800 x 600 pixels or higher.
To do this, if you are using Windows, go to Settings > Control Panel > Display > Settings and move the slides under Display Area until the resolution you want is displayed. If you are using a Mac, go to Apple menu > Control Panels > Monitors and Sound > Monitor and choose the resolution you want.
Why do some links open in a new window?
Links to pages within our website will always open in the same window. You can use the back button to go back to pages you have previously visited. Links to PDF files, other websites and to our search pages always open in a new window. This means that you can return to our website at any time without closing the new page.
Why are company searches and lodgement pages not working today?
ASIC's internet searching and lodging services are normally available on a 24 hour x 6.5 day basis. Any systems maintenance and upgrade activities are scheduled between 6.00am and 6.00pm AEST or AEDT on Sundays and our searching and lodging services may not be available at this time.
Can I print content from your website without the navigation columns displaying?
When you want to print pages from our website, click on ‘Printer version ’ at the top of the page. This creates a cleaner, simpler version of the page that does not include the left and right navigator columns. Then print using the browser print menu or icon as usual.
Why is everything running so slowly today?
You will often experience slow response times when you use the internet. If this happens to you there are several things you can check out first:
Check other sites you use frequently, as often the entire internet is slow. If you find that other sites are also running slow try using our website outside the peak hours of 10am - 4pm (AEST)
Ring your Internet Service Provider and ask them if they are experiencing congestion or problems
If everything else seems okay and you think the problem is restricted to our site, please let us know by emailing our feedback line at feedback@asic.gov.au
Some of the text seems to be the same or similar colour as the background which makes it very difficult to read
You might find that the writing on some websites is difficult to read because it is the same or similar colour as the background. One possible reason is that you have selected certain colour preferences in Windows and/or your internet browser. You can change these preferences:
in Windows by going to Control Panel > Display
in Netscape by going to Edit > Preferences > Appearance > Colour
in Explorer by going to Tools > Internet Options > Colour.
System changes and enhancements