By Reen Rose
Word is a fabulous program. For the most part it is easy to work with and you can quickly make changes to a document. The ease of editing in Word is both a blessing and a curse. It is simple to modify a document, but if you send it to someone they can make changes just as easily. You may also run into problems if you send your document to someone who doesn't use MS Word. WordPerfect is still used and loved by many. A Word document may not look the same if it is opened in a different word processing program. If either of these situations is an issue for you, it may be time to become acquainted with Adobe Acrobat PDF documents.
PDF stands for Portable Document File. If you want to do anything advanced with a PDF you will need the Adobe Acrobat program. Acrobat is not a word processing program; it is more like a translator. Basically that means it doesn't matter what program the file was authored in, or what program is being used to view it, a PDF document will look just the way you intended it to.
The other advantage of sending your documents to others as PDFs is they can't be easily modified. This gives you a certain level of security if you don't want the recipient to be able to make changes. Adobe provides a free Viewer that anyone can download, so opening a PDF isn't an issue.
There are several ways to PDF a Word document:
- Perhaps the most straight forward method is to use the Save As dialog box (File - Save As). Near the bottom of this box you will see Save Type As. Usually this will say Word Document, but if you want a PDF you need to change it. Click on the drop-down arrow and choose PDF from the list. Choose the file name and location and then press the Save button.
- If you are working in one of the newer versions of Word you will see an option to Save As Adobe PDF when you click the File tab. This takes you to a dialog box that is very similar to the Save As box, but you don't have to change the Save As Type.
- If you are in one of the versions with Ribbons there are also options to create PDFs if you go to File and then to Save and Send.
- If you are running the full version of Adobe Acrobat you should have an Acrobat tab to the right of your normal Word tabs. This gives you a button to create a PDF as well as other more advanced options.
When you save your work as a PDF, the new document will automatically open so you can view how it looks now that it has changed file extensions. If you don't like having the PDF automatically open you can stop it from happening. The Save As or Save As Adobe PDF dialog boxes each have a check box that you can uncheck. Look for Open File after Publishing or View Result and take off the check mark.
Saving a PDF does not in any way change your Word document. Word will prompt you to save your Word version before it creates the PDF. If for any reason you need to make a change to your PDF, go back to the Word version, make the necessary changes and then repeat the process to convert it to a PDF. If you don't want both versions of the PDF then choose the same file name and location and save over the old PDF.
If you have been watching a lot of de-cluttering programs and you feel you should only keep one version of your document, make sure it's the Word file. Acrobat is not a word processing program. If you need to tweak your work you should return to Word or whichever program the document was authored in to make changes.
Reen Rose is an experienced Microsoft Certified Trainer and Microsoft Office Specialist Master.
She has been described as 'focused, fun and very effective'. Reen believes in guiding people to become empowered Microsoft Office users by giving them the skills they need to be successful, in an engaging and enjoyable environment.
