Summary: PDF, or Portable Document Format, is a common format for sharing documents. Turning your Word document into a PDF can be as simple as printing.
PDF, or Portable Document Format, is Adobe's solution for creating documents that can be read almost anywhere. By downloading Adobe's free reader, a PDF file can be read on almost any computer, and even portable devices such as PDAs.
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But how do you create a PDF in the first place? |
As is often the case, there are several answers...
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The "official" way is to purchase a copy of Adobe Acrobat. Acrobat's purpose in life is to create PDFs. It installs several tools, including a Word macro that makes creating PDFs from Word a single-click operation. It also installs a Windows printer driver that will allow you to create PDFs from any application that can print.
Adobe also has an on-line solution Create Adobe PDF Online, that will allow you to create PDFs. It's a subscription service, but the first five PDFs are included in a free trial.
A Google search turns up many PDF conversion programs, ranging from free to inexpensive. Their capabilities vary, so it would be wise to investigate and try a few before investing any money.
Yet another solution is the free Open Office. Open Office is a free suite of office applications, including a word processor much like Microsoft Word. Open office can read Word documents and can create PDFs. Again, the feature set is similar, but not identical to Word and Acrobat, so compatibility may still be an issue. But the price is right, and it's a well supported open source application with a very active user community to help.
For the record, if you're planning on professional PDF content creation as part of a business strategy, the investment in Acrobat is probably worth it. No issues of compatibility or missing features that way. If you're just experimenting, then the free or inexpensive converters are a good way to go.
Related:
Adobe - Acrobat
Adobe - Create Adobe PDF Online
Sun - Open Office
Article C2371 - June 17, 2005
There is a good website for you.
http://www.eng.pdf-soft.com/
Posted by: KURE at June 20, 2008 7:13 PMTry http://www.printinpdf.com to convert your word document to PDF. I tried my thesis for conversion and 182 pages PDF file for free is great.
Posted by: Jay at July 10, 2008 3:58 AMTry http://www.pdftodocconverterpro.com to convert back your PDF files to word documents.
Posted by: Ed at October 6, 2008 6:19 AMI use pdf995 for years; it is technically a printer driver - you will be prompted for a file name to save to. If you don't want to pay the license of US$ 9,95, you will get a nag screen in your browser. So far, I didn't do things I could not convert nicely this way. If your program can print, you can use the "printer" pdf995 - that's all. It may be Windows only, though.
Posted by: Werner Popken at October 28, 2008 9:19 AMJay from July 10, 2008, you were right. The website you linked to allowed me to convert my word file into a pdf in about 15 seconds and it was breathtakingly easy. Thanks for the tip. Everyone should go there.
http://www.printinpdf.com/
Posted by: jt007 at March 6, 2009 2:38 PMTurns out if you get Office 2007, you are all set. For both converting to PDF (via save as feature) and also converting from PDF to Word!!! I just found this out today and I've been using 2007 for a while. Here's how to do it:
1) Save as pdf - there's actually an add-in from Microsoft here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4D951911-3E7E-4AE6-B059-A2E79ED87041&displaylang=en
or go to the download site and search for: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS
2) Converting PDF to word doc. Right click a PDF file and choose "open with" then select Word 2007 (sorry doesn't work in 2003). Now the first time you do this, it will install a converter in the typical way that office installs components that are not already installed (you will need access to the original CD or network install source unless the install files were cached locally during installation). Here's the interesting tidbit, Word is just installing the SolidPDFConverter program (which indicates that MS bought a license for this program and incorporated the feature into Office software). Why would I say such a thing, because the installer box says as much during the install "Installing SolidPDF Converter..."
That's it. Upgrade to 2007 and you'd be all set I think. It may only come with a particular flavor. I've used the converter both ways in "Office 2007 Pro" and "Office 2007 Enterprise". Anyone have a software matrix and could say what other 2007 flavors support this feature?
Posted by: Brett Anderson at March 26, 2009 2:19 PMYOU CAN USE www.freesaveaspdf.com
Posted by: GOOD at April 2, 2009 3:18 PMOn linux or unix style platforms, try anytopdf (command line converter), based on openoffice.org, openoffice.org basic macros and perl.
Posted by: anytopdf at April 16, 2009 8:40 PMyou can try Tweak pdf to word.
Posted by: linky1124 at June 10, 2009 12:35 AMit is free to try.
try it in http://www.tweakpdf.com/
Thank you for the very helpful information! I appreciate all the comments here - they helped me solve my problem. Great answers for the everyday user.
Posted by: Pearl at June 19, 2009 8:36 AM