Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format commonly used to exchange documents. The beauty of PDF files is they don’t depend on what computer you use, or what kind of operating system you have, it always looks the same. This is perfect for exchanging documents between offices because they can use different hardware and still open the PDF file. This is also the case for college students like me, because professors prefer papers in PDF to ensure the readability of the file.

Open PDFs
To open a PDF file, all you need is a PDF reader. One of the most popular programs is Adobe Reader, which is available for Windows, Linux and Mac. However, some people feel Adobe Reader is too system intensive at times. If you are one of these people, or if you just want a lightweight PDF reader, Foxit Reader is for you.

Save PDFs
There are many programs that allow you to save files as PDF as well as convert files to PDF. You can actually configure a PDF printer that will allow you to “print” your files to a PDF file. In other words, instead of printing your file on paper via an inkjet printer, it will export any file in PDF format. If you already have a file and need to convert it to PDF, I recommend using a PDF converter such as PrimoPDF or ExpressPDF. If you are Mac user, saving to PDF is available in most versions of OS X by default.  If you are in need of an office suite that allows you to save files in PDF, give Open Office a try.

For more information on Open Office, read my recent post Open Office- The [Free] Microsoft Office Alternative.

For more information on printing to file take a look at these websites.

• Frogmorecs.com – Print to file options and software

• Mrkent.com – How to use Print-To-File

Edit PDFs
To edit a PDF, you will need a PDF editor such as Adobe Acrobat Profressional. However, this software is not free and afterall that is the name of the post. So, to edit PDF files try using an online PDF editor such as PDFescape or PDF Hammer.

For even more PDF software visit Wikipedia’s List of PDF Software.

Images are credited to the following sites respectively:

http://mediakey.dk/~cc/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/PDF-logo.png

http://software.u3.com/Admin/Images/Product/568foxitreader_full.jpg

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Written by Eric

 

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