PDFs (Portable Document Format) are secure and easy to distribute digital documents that are ideal for the web or as email attachments. Fortunately, creating them for use on the web needn’t require any special skills or expensive software, putting the era of the PDF easily within the grasp of small to micro-sized companies.
In fact, Apple computer users need only select the pre-installed PDF option in the print control panel to create PDFs. Similar PDF ‘printers’ are also widely available for Windows PCs. Or you might wish to try out one of a number of free tools such as that on offer from freepdfconvert.com or sites like download.com.
Print drivers or free tools generally involve little more than converting an existing document, so if you can produce your digital masterpiece in Office then there will be no learning curve. However, look out for limitations on free downloads. Some may limit users to documents of no more than two pages in length and/or place an advert or credit within your PDF.
Another low cost option would be to download OpenOffice, the free alternative to MS Office. New versions of the software include a menu option to export a document into PDF format.
If you’re new to creating PDFs there are a few things to consider. Firstly, there is security. Be sure that any PDF creation tool offers users the ability to set security rights allowing or disallowing changes to documents, copying of images and text, and printing.
OpenOffice, for example, enables users to password protect documents. This ranges from full encryption to setting a password to open the document and password protecting a document to enable editing by the recipient – handy if you don’t wish to share the PDF with anyone except the intended recipient.
Should printing be allowed, it is best to ensure the PDF is saved at no less than 200 dpi (pixels) to guarantee a readable output when committed to paper.
Web links should be hard-coded in full - the whole URL including the http:// part - into the original document to enable PDF converters to pick up the link.
Remember, too, that what you see isn’t necessarily what you get when creating a PDF from another format. Always check the PDF document carefully before publishing it online. Check that all hyperlinks work and that there are no formatting glitches. For instance, bullet points and other characters can sometimes be rendered as question marks instead – not the professional look any company would like to project. In addition, ticking the appropriate box in preferences during the PDF creation process embeds uncommon fonts and avoids the possibility of junk characters displaying instead of text. Sticking to the most popular typefaces sidesteps this particular problem.
Ensure, too, that all the pages are in the correct order and cropped to size. This latter should only be an issue if the original was created for commercial printing and carried crop marks or bleed etc. Likewise, all images in a commercial print documents should be flattened to make sure they render properly on screen. Images in PDFs where printing is disallowed can be reduce to 72 dpi (pixels) as this is usually sufficient for the web or monitor screen.
Another pitfall to watch out for is layout, try and balance the look of the pages by avoiding large page breaks or acres of white space on the last page.
When venturing into PDF making for the first time, it is advisable to try out a few test documents to master and experiment with the various settings. Depending on the package used, there will normally be a raft of tweaks that can be made to govern how the end product is displayed.
For example, you will want to try out various formatting options to decide which is best for the individual document, its content and intended use. A longer document, say a guidebook or manual, might well benefit from dictating that when the PDF opens it automatically displays the bookmark tabs.
On the other hand, you may prefer to have the PDF open at 100 per cent, or even full screen, for maximum impact.
Take a look over the publication templates that already exist on your computer in such pre-installed packages as Office, Publisher, or in the free download OpenOffice. Apple users should investigate the possibilities presented by i-life, i-Photo and i-work. Software suites like all these invariably contain a host of ready to edit templates to create professional looking reports, brochures, and newsletters etc. that can then be converted to a PDF.
Finally, in order to read PDFs, Adobe Acrobat is required. This is also a free download, and a link to the site should always feature prominently wherever users are being asked to open or download your PDFs. It is attention to small details like this that can save a lot of frustration for your target audience.
