PDF document displays larger than original. Why?

[bobtema@adobeforums.com]

Run this little test.

1. Set up a document in any program, type "Test" in 48 pt. type
2. Generate a pdf file from that document.
3. Open the pdf next to the source file, set viewing in each to 100%

The PDF file displays the same piece of text about 20% larger than the original. Why does Acrobat interpret the screen scaling differently than the document that was used to create it?

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

Different products have different ideas of what "100%" really means.
You'd probably find Word, InDesign, and Acrobat were all different.
Acrobat can be adjusted by setting a resolution in preferences, but in
PDF you really aren't designing at a screen size, you are laying out
pages, which then display on screen according to the user's
preferences.

Aandi Inston

[bobtema@adobeforums.com]

Thanks. I went in and set acrobat prefs to system resolution, which is 93 ppi, and it displayed a little smaller than before, but still bigger than the original. I finally keyed in a custom 83 ppi which seemed to be close.