PDFs are one of the most common document forms that we see today. It is used for almost everything, from saving papers to signing contracts virtually, to saving entire web pages.
However, what is a PDF? Is PDF generation easy for the average Joe who isn’t a software engineer to create?
Here is a quick guide to what a PDF is and how you can generate one at the tap of a keyboard button.
What Is a PDF?
A PDF or a Portable Document Format is a type of file that was developed by the Adobe co-founder Dr. John Warnock in the 1990s. The idea was for people to be able to send any kind of document from any software anywhere digitally.
No matter the software, the document would be the same as long as it had a PDF reader. Now, every operating system has a PDF reader, making it one of the extremely few formats that cross-operating system barriers.
How Do You Generate a PDF?
Generating a PDF is not a difficult process. That is if you have one of these options:
Most Electronic Files
As stated, you can virtually save anything in PDF format. When dealing with electronic documents especially, there is an option to save the document in PDF.
Go to the document home where there is the option Save As. Here you might be able to save it as a Word document, Excel sheet, Powerpoint, etc. based on the file.
Choose the option for PDF and it will transform the document into a PDF document.
Online Resources
If you are trying to transfer a webpage to a PDF, this is a simple process. The HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, links everything in the webpage together, this includes the texts, graphics, videos, and whatever else is there.
In most web browsers there’s an option to convert the HTML and save the page as a PDF document.
Go to the options window and click Save As. There should be a window that pops up and allows you to save the webpage in various ways, one of which is in PDF format. You can also use the C# convert HTML to pdf.
Be careful to make sure the PDF is readable both online and offline. This is because sometimes the document might only be readable if you are connected to the internet, which would defeat the purpose of the PDF.
Learning PDF Generation
PDF generation seems like it would only be easy to do for software developers, but surprisingly it’s easy even for the average American to create themselves.
PDFs give the liberty of document exchange to anyone that has access to technology, and you should be able to use it to its full potential.
Don’t be the one who doesn’t have a PDF reader on their computer. It could cause problems in the workplace. Let PDF help you make things easier today.
For other articles like this one on how to operate some of the best software out there, take a look at the rest of our blog.
