How to Prepare a Document to Be Saved as PDF

Want to share your document with others, even if they don't have the fonts and application that created it? Use PDF (Acrobat) files to share professional-looking documents in an industry-wide standard format.

Difficulty: Moderately challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Adobe Acrobat Reader

1. Obtain the Adobe Acrobat Distiller or Acrobat Exchange to create PDF files.

2. Test your document by printing it on a PostScript printer. If it doesn't print correctly here, it's not going to create a usable PDF.

3. Use PostScript fonts and be certain you have both parts (PFB and PFM for Windows, and both screen and printer font for Mac OS).

4. Check the manual for the program you are using to create the document. Each program interacts with Acrobat differently and might have different recommendations.

5. Use the PDFwriter print driver available with Acrobat, if your program doesn't print to Acrobat directly.

Tips & Warnings

• If your PDF file is too large and you are using graphic files, you can try compressing the graphics. You can usually do this in the page setup or print portion of the program you are using to print to Acrobat. Be certain the compression doesn't adversely affect the final PDF you are creating.
• After the PDF document is created, enhance it with links and bookmarks (see Related eHows).