Making IT Work for you…
Use the file type PDF to exchange documents easily
PDF is a format many people use, but why is it so popular? It stands for Portable Document Format, and was developed by Adobe, and allows documents to be presented to other users in a manner independent of software application, hardware and operating system.
PDF was developed in the early 1990s as a way to share documents, including text formatting and inline images, among computer users of different platforms.
For example, if you email a PDF document from a Windows PC, to a user on a Mac, they can see and read the document even though they are using different hardware, operating system and reader application. PDF is also a great way of saving paper too. Convert your documents to PDF, normally by ‘save as’ in a desktop application such as Word, Publisher and even PowerPoint. Send the file as an attachment to clients and suppliers, which they can either store electronically or print out. This saves your business costs as you are not consuming paper, ink, envelope and stamps.
If the original document is a quote, proposal, or some other complex or important document, sending this as a PDF means that the user cannot change the original very easily.
Another use of PDF is to put flyers, leaflets, posters, and case studies on your website as links to PDF documents. Again, this means that all users have the ability to read or print your business material.
You can even create forms in PDF. Users can complete the fields and send the PDF document back. They cannot edit the content, they can only enter data in the fields that they are prompted to complete.
Some other great features include if you insert a website address, it is turned into a hyperlink, and you can encrypt the file or digitally sign the document, all great security features that encourage using PDF to exchange documents.