Are you stuck with a PDF and do not know how to handle it? Do you need to create or edit a PDF and are not sure what to do?
PDFs may seem tricky but are very useful once you know how to work with them.
Curious to learn more? By the end of this article, you’ll know the basics of working with PDFs alongside other file formats.
What Is a PDF?
PDFs, short for portable document files, are a common and easy-to-access filetype. If you want to share documents with coworkers or clients, it is often easier to send them PDF files than it is to send Word documents or some other file types.
Most computers and devices can read PDF files, but cannot read Word documents unless the person seeing it has Microsoft Word installed on their computer. OSX can display PDF files natively and Windows can open PDFs when you install Adobe Reader (it’s free).
PDFs maintain a document-like format even though they render like an image. This is useful if you are making a menu, or catalog, and any printed material.
For the most part, PDFs are meant to be viewed and not edited. This is ideal for sending contracts that you do not want clients to manipulate.
Can I Make PDFs Editable?
The simple answer is yes. But editing a PDF is not always a simple thing to do, and sometimes it’s easier to not edit the PDF at all.
Since Adobe created the PDF file format, Adobe Acrobat is what most people use to edit PDF files. It offers a wide range of features and makes editing a PDF pretty easy.
There are a number of other PDF editors, and a few online PDF editors allow you to make changes to files right in your browser. You can even convert pdf to form with the help of these editors. These can be helpful if you need to edit a form or quickly fix a document before sending it out.
The easiest thing to do, most of the time, is to edit the original file.
For example, if you are creating a brochure, it is better to edit the graphic layout in your design software and save the file as a PDF rather than try to modify the PDF itself. Your results will be more consistent depending on how the PDF was originally created.
Can I Convert Different File Formats to PDF?
Yes! Converting different file formats is easy and useful, and a plethora of solutions exist for you to export and convert different file types to PDF format.
You can convert images, Word documents, HTML files, XML files, and more into PDF. Software like Photoshop will let you export directly to PDF, while other platforms like Visual Basic will allow you to convert different files into PDF.
Visual Basic is a programming language developed by Windows. Generating a vb net pdf takes a bit of learning, but is incredibly useful once you know how to do it.
Get Formatting!
If you have trouble with other file formats, look to PDFs. Few file types are as versatile, and it is easy to export and convert many different files into PDF with a little effort.
Did this article help you with PDFs? Let us know in the comments!
