Resource Center

PDF is a dynamic and versatile file format that can dramatically simplify and expedite document viewing, integration, and printing.

PDF stands for Portable Document Format. Adobe PDF is widely used by publishers, web writers, graphic designers, and everyday laypersons; and is generally accepted as the preeminent format for universal document exchange.

There are five attributes that make PDFs so popular and useful:

1) Compatible: PDF is a cross-platform file format—this means it can be used to recreate documents irrespective of where they were originally created. Also, PDF will preserve the document’s original style and formatting exactly as they were intended to be seen.

2) Active: PDF files are highly navigable and contain highly useful navigation tools like: internal and external links, structured bookmarks, thumbnail page views, and more.

3) Accurate: PDF files are both ultra-printable and ultra-viewable.

4) Convenient: PDF files are both smaller in size than original source files and easier to email, download and view.

5) Secure: PDF offers extensive security protections. Users can assign security passwords to PDF documents before sending them to maintain strict control over sensitive information

Below are the five primary methods for creating PDF files.

1) Adobe Acrobat: Main Adobe software for the creation and modification of PDF files. Allows users to create a PDF file by simply dropping-and-dragging a document into Acrobat, choosing the format directly from Microsoft Office, or converting scanned or web documents directly, among other methods.

2) Adobe PDF Writer: Software that mimics a printer driver to create PDF documents from nearly any Windows application.

3) Adobe Acrobat Distiller: Software for workgroup-oriented, automated high-volume conversion of PostScript files to PDF.

4) Adobe Acrobat Capture: Software designed specifically for the conversion of scanned image files to PDF—optimized for character recognition and clean-up.

5) Other software: Other Adobe graphical and publishing software such as FrameMaker, PageMaker, and Illustrator can be used to automatically create PDF files. Also, a surplus of third party software like EZ-PDF, ActivePDF Printer, and even QuarkXPress offer PDF creation capability.