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• Adobe Acrobat

Portable Document Format (PDF)

What is it?

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format developed by Adobe Systems for document exchange.  It has become a world-wide standard, and many organizations require it for electronic submissions (e.g., federal grant applications).

For technical specifications of PDF, see the More information section below.

Why use PDF?

PDF files look the same, regardless of platform,  If you send a file in doc, exe, ppt or other application-specific formats, the configuration of those programs on a recipient's computer may affect how it looks (e.g., where page breaks occur, how images are formatted).

Moreover, not everyone has access to the same software on their computer, which can make it impossible to view the document in its native format.  (Visio, Project and Publisher, for example, are not as universally installed as the MS Office core of Word, Excel and PowerPoint.)

A PDF file can be viewed on any Windows or Mac computer using Adobe's free Acrobat reader, which almost everyone already has installed.  (Click the link to download and install it if you don't.)  You don't need the specific applications that generated the original.

PDF-format files are often smaller than the "native" file format of applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio et al., particularly if the "originals" contain graphics.  This makes PDFs easier to transfer on portable media or via email, and they take up less space on computers when stored.

How do you create PDFs?

The standard method is to install Adobe Acrobat on your computer.  The free "reader" version can only read existing PDFs.  The full Acrobat program can create new PDFs from Word, Excel, etc., or edit existing ones.  It can also reverse direction and create a Word (.doc) file from a PDF.

Acrobat has many features beside simple PDF creation:  It can track comments of document reviewers, control document access via passwords (limiting the ability to read, write or modify), apply watermarks and digital signatures, and much more.

Windows and Mac versions of Adobe Acrobat are site licensed at a deep discount for medical campus affiliates.  Call the Technology Store for the current price.  Once a license key is purchased, Acrobat can be downloaded by you or remotely installed by Medical IT (Windows systems only).

Are there other options for creating PDFs?

If you need only to create PDFs from Word, Excel et al, there are simpler and cheaper options:

• For Windows users with Office 2007, a free Microsoft add-in will allow creation of PDF files.  (Medical campus users can download Office 2007 for free at this site's PC/Windows download page.)
• For Windows users with Office 2003, there are freeware PDF-creators like Wondersoft's GotoPDF and CutePDF Writer.
• For Mac users with OS X, PDF creation is already built in.

How do I create documents using PDF software?

For programs like Adobe Acrobat, GotoPDF and Cute PDF, you produce a PDF as though you were creating a file to be printed.  In the print menu, you select the "PDF printer" that will receive the PDF file.  (Various names for this printer are used ... "Acrobat distiller," "Virtual PDF printer," etc. ... depending on the software you use.)   Once printing to the PDF "printer" is completed, a dialog box will appear asking the name for the file you want to create.  It will then be saved (and have the suffix ".pdf" on the file name).

For the Microsoft Office 2007 add-in, instead of using the Print dialog box you "Save as" and select the PDF format.  (You are then prompted for the file name.) For Mac OS X, the Printer Dialog box accessed by Command-P gives you various options.

More information

Portable document format (Wikipedia)
Lots of information and links about PDF

PDF Technology Center (Adobe)
Broad range of materials for PDF developers