Portable Document Format (PDF) Basics

With so many different programs creating different types of files these days, how can you be sure that the document you've sent someone looks the same way on their computer as it does on yours? The solution is to convert your document to PDF.

PDF is "Portable Document Format" and has become the industry standard for exchanging documents that maintain the type styles, images and formatting of the original file. It's the safest option to ensure that your document can be easily opened by the recipient, since they may not always have the same software or fonts to view your file correctly. The software to view PDF files is free and used on almost all modern computers.

Another benefit of using PDF is that it is a compression format, making your original file smaller and easier to transfer via e-mail or internet and can be printed at high quality resolution.

Acrobat Reader is the free software that is used to view a PDF file, but to create one, you may need the full version of Adobe Acrobat software.

However, since PDF is so universal there are many alternative programs for creating (or editing) PDFs. One example is a free program called PrimoPDF for Windows and Vista (available as an online service or downloadable program). There are a myriad of others for almost every operating system, but Adobe Acrobat is the standard commercial solution in use. It should be noted that Macintosh OS X includes PDF capabilities built-in to its operating system - no special software is needed to create a PDF, you simply print, and select the "Print To PDF" button!

There are many ways to create a PDF document with Adobe Acrobat installed, depending upon which version you have and what method fits best with your workflow. You might have a PDF icon in your word processor's toolbar, a "Print To PDF" option in your menubar, or a PDF Writer/PDF Distiller button in your Print dialog box.

Upon creating a PDF you may be presented with some options, such as "Compression", "Embed Fonts", etc. These options may seem intimidating at first, but for general use you can probably go with the default settings. To be sure that your document looks great, it is important to embed fonts, and these options are automatically set if you select "Print Optimized" in Microsoft Word. Compression settings can be used according to what you want to do with your document. For example, a document meant to be viewed online is optimally 72 dpi, but for print-quality documents, 300 to 600 dpi or higher is recommended. A good PDF maintains a balance between low file size and high quality.

PDFs are easy to use and the results are well worth familiarizing yourself with the software involved. You'll be rewarded with better looking documents and happier recipients.