How do I...?

Create a pdf file?

If you wish to locally create a PDF file, the Adobe Acrobat program must be installed on your computer.  Acrobat does not create original content.  It presents pre-created content in a platform-independent, uniform way for screen and print.  It does so by means of a standard PDF (“Portable Document File”) format, which fully maintains the original document’s integrity: fonts, graphics, design and layout.  Having a PDF reader program (free from Adobe) eliminates the need for the end user to have the content creation program or the fonts used in the original document.  The PDF format is a simple, universal, platform-independent way to distribute documents over the web, via email, on CD, and in print.  Not only is the exact layout of the original document preserved, but Acrobat can be used to enhance documents by adding bookmarks, links and navigation aids, document read/print/modify security, and magnification of the document can be achieved without special front-end processing.

There is a web service from the Adobe web site where you can submit your documents and receive, via email, a pdf version, but this page will not describe how to use it.

Therefore, the method used to create a pdf file depends on the original document which is to be converted.  If it is a Word processing document, spreadsheet, presentation slideshow, or other "Office" style document the method to follow is:

Open the document in the program that created it (like Word, Excel or PowerPoint).

Choose File > Print

On the Print options dialog box, choose to print the file to the printer called the Acrobat Distiller.

Click OK.  You will be prompted for a file name and location.  The document will be "printed" to your hard drive with the name and in the location you have selected.  No actual printing occurs.  The document is simply saved as a PDF file.

If you are using specifically Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint, you can also print to the printer named the PDFMaker or PDFWriter.  The process is the same as above.

These "printers" are installed on your system when you install the Acrobat program.

If the file you want to convert is a plain text file, or a graphics file such as a JPG, GIF, TIFF (or other formats) you can simply open it directly in the Acrobat program in order to convert it to PDF format.  Then choose File > Save As... to save it.

Finally, you can convert a web page or an entire web site to PDF format by starting acrobat, choosing File > Open Web Page... and then supplying the URL of the page or site you wish to save.  Be careful not to go too many layers deep, or the file will be enormous.

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