Create A PDF File

In our modern day and age, we utilize computer hardware more than anyone believes. We send messages, transfer documents, and present ideas from thousands of miles away from our intended location in the blink of an eye. The most common of these, electronic documents, are a crucial part of personal life and business enterprise alike. And with so many documents moving worldwide, there are many different formats that they can be presented in, respectfully. But this abundance of file formats may be intimidating to some. The most frightening, the Adobe� PDF file format, seems to strike the utmost fear in many computer users today. Well, fear the giant PDF no more, for salvation has come. In this Instructable, I will show all of you how to easily and promptly create a PDF file. I will also go into detail early on about what PDFs are, and what they are capable of.

First though, there are a few key things you will need before progressing:

1. A computer (The very same that you're using to view this Instructable)

2. Adobe Reader (Details Later)

3. Microsoft Word, Open Office, etc. (really any document editing program that is capable of changing fonts, colors, inserting pictures, etc.)

4. Ample time to read through this entire Instructable (although this is a fairly simple process, it would be in best interest if you could just sit and read through this, and not have to worry about other distractions ;)

*NOTE* This Instructable goes into very brief detail on all of the aspects of PDFs. It also contains some VERY basic information, from which those of you more experienced may find a bit TOO basic...but nonetheless, it just scratches the surface of the capability of PDFs. Also, please comment, as this is currently my only published Instructable (positive feedback please).

*ANOTHER NOTE* Yes, you can create PDFs directly in Open Office, the document suite that I have provided information for. There is a button in the top toolbar that utilizes this feature. HOWEVER-I have created this Instructable to show methods of creating PDFs if you do NOT have Open Office. Yes it's free, and it isn't that big of a deal, but why download Open Office JUST to create PDFs? That is why I have provided a method for those using Word, etc.

Step 1 What is the PDF File Format?

So, what is a PDF file? PDF stands for Portable Document Format, and was a file format created by Adobe Systems Incorporated in 1993. It was originally created for document exchange, which as I mentioned before is one of the most common tasks for computer users today. PDFs are capable of amazing things: they can maintain all original aspects of a document, such as fonts, colors, backgrounds, pictures, etc. What this means is that no matter what program they were created in, anything that was in that document when it was created by you stays exactly the same when it comes out as a PDF file. An example? Say I change the size of my text in a Word document to 18 instead of 12, and I place a picture in the lower left hand corner. When I convert it to a PDF, it will look exactly like that (see picture examples below) when I view it.

This is especially helpful for people who don't want to go back and forth from program to program trying to make their file or document work with other programs. It can turn into a real hassle, having to convert your file from a Word doc, to a JPEG, to perhaps a PNG, etc. But PDFs eliminate the need for such calamity. To put it bluntly: one file format fits all-well, not really. You still need a PDF reader to view PDF files, but they are able to keep everything consistent from the original document.

Many companies use PDFs for many different applications. For example, many software downloads available on the Internet come with a Readme file, which tells you what the program does. Although often ignored, these Readmes are usually in PDF format. Another example would be educational boards or organizations. Some of them will put renovation or redistricting plans into PDFs, from which board members or community members can download them and see the plan for themselves. PDFs really do have endless uses in our modern world.

Comments

[cynira]

You did a GREAT Job Explaining..Thank You so much for Sharing.. blessed b~

[Asiwa]

No problem.

[mrmoneybagss]

wow dude you need to clean up step 2 it's got alot of pictures there so split it into like 2 steps or something

[Asiwa]

Thank you very much. I created this for the purpose of making it easy for people to follow the process. Haven't had anyone complain about the PICTURES though....besides, it's supposed to be one step only that shows you where and how to download the software.

[Phil B]

You mentioned OpenOffice.org software for creating and opening documents in MS Word. OpenOffice.org also has a PDF conversion button in the menu on every version since about 1.4.0 (I think) that allows you to make a PDF of any open Word document with one click on the PDF conversion button in the menu bar. It is very simple and very nice.

[rimar2000]

Yes, Phil, I often use this interesting and useful feature of OpenOffice One does not need anything more than OpenOffice. I have installed version 2.4.

[Phil B]

Rimar, It is good to hear from you again. I used OOo 2.4 for several years and liked it very much. I just went to OOo 3.0. My wife was receiving numerous e-mails with attachment documents in the new MS Word 2007. Those end with -.docx and she could not open them. Others in her committees had the same problem. OOo 3.0 and newer open those documents just fine. I was concerned that OOo 3.0 might be slow on my computer, but it runs very much like OOo 2.4 did.

[Asiwa]

Yeah I know, I've worked with Open Office for about 3 years now, but I just wanted to present a way to do PDF conversion in the case that you don't have Open Office, or the like.

[cynira]

You did a Great Job Explaining, I love it. Thank You so Very Much for Sharing. blessed b~

[maruawe]

I use pdf creator to print to pdf for web pages that I want to keep. It is a free program also and will print multiple page documents from any word processor.. with pictures . Your instructable is a good one to help people to understand the use of the portable document format.. Ps check the size of the file pdf verses the original document . google "pdf creator" to get this program it will install as a printer function ,to use go to print and select pdf creator from the drop down printer menu