1. What PDF stands for Adobe asked people in the business district of Salt Lake City what the acronym “PDF” abbreviates. Although everyone responded that they were familiar with PDFs, only 8% actually knew what “PDF” stood for. Do you? a. Portable Data File b. Portable Document Format c. Process Document Form d. Pretty Darn Fast If you selected “b. Portable Document Format,” congratulations -- you beat out 92% of survey participants.  Compressed PDFs have become an integral part of our daily communications and filing systems. Yet, few people actually know what the acronym stands for, or the origins of...

First, do I really need a PDF editor? Admittedly, as creators of a PDF editor and longtime fans of one of the world's most popular file formats, we're biased - but yes, you should have a PDF editing tool you can count on. Here are a few benefits of using PDF:  PDFs save paper and time. Instead of printing, completing, scanning and resending an online form or document, a great PDF editor skips a whole bunch of those steps. Just add text to the form using an editor, save it, and send it. No printer? No problem! If you don't...

When to Convert PDF to Word So when would someone need to convert a PDF to Word? Turns out that’s a tricky question to answer. Below are five potential situations when it may be handy to have access to a PDF to Word converter.   1.) Old file Maybe you got a new computer or accidentally deleted an old document, and for whatever reason you only have access to the PDF version of a file. Then converting the PDF to Word can allow you to go back and make edits without having to retype the entire document. In this...

PDF files were created to retain formatting  PDF, or Portable Document Format, was the first file format of its kind to store and share text and images in a manner that would preserve the formatting of the original document. Regardless of which software, hardware or platform it is being viewed on.  For example, if the original document was created on a Mac, it could easily be sent via email to a colleague using Windows, and they'd be able to see the exact same visual. And vice versa.  Today's online tools can convert almost any file format to a PDF - whether...

Converting a PDF to Word can be a practical solution for many individuals and businesses, offering various advantages and disadvantages. Users in both camps will usually find a wide range of online and desktop software-based solutions that can meet their needs. As I’ve discussed earlier, there are pros of cons of heading down either route. Online solutions tend to be much cheaper (and often free), but may not fully meet a user’s needs given the limitations of browser-based technologies. There are also issues regarding privacy and data protection that make many business users uncomfortable with online solutions. On the other...

1. Prove the image has not been changed If your concerns are limited to the recipient making changes, then you only need to convert your JPG to PDF. Upon converting your JPG, sign your PDF, and this ensures that the document cannot be modified. The risk of an unsigned PDF is that someone may be able to edit the metadata (which is not secured), thereby concealing any edits. This issue is fixed by applying an electronic signature to your document.  If changes are made to a signed PDF, they will show up in the PDF reader. Note that while software...

John Warnock’s vision for the future The initial technology came about as a side project operated inside Adobe by John Warnock, one of the company’s founders. His vision was to provide the technology that would ultimately enable the paperless office. In The Camelot Project, a paper outlining Warnock’s vision, he wrote: ‘Imagine being able to send full text and graphics documents (newspapers, magazine articles, technical manuals etc.) over electronic mail distribution networks. These documents could be viewed on any machine and any selected document could be printed locally. This capability would truly change the way information is managed.’ The initial...

Editing objects directly is tricky in the browser Unfortunately, there’s no getting around this one – if you want to edit objects inside a PDF directly, you usually need desktop software. This means making changes to existing text, for example, or resizing images that are already present in your PDF document. It is true that browsers are becoming increasingly powerful, and this enables in-browser PDF editing. Historically, this was not the case, and why online PDF editors were relatively limited in their functionality. As time goes by, I expect online PDF editors to catch up to desktop editors and eventually...