PDF

What is PDF?

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a generic computer term. The best-known PDF implementation is Adobe PDF, a file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange.

Most people believe PDF files are an electronic replacement for paper. If they create a PDF file from a scanned document or a Word file to e-mail, they believe the content of that file is locked down and not editable, just as if they were handing someone a piece of paper. For example, an individual may write a proposal and "print to PDF" the final version to e-mail to his or her customer.

So if it's not like "virtual paper," then what is a PDF? Essentially it's a container.

* Text – such as text in a Word document or text editor, including font information;
* Pictures – JPG and TIFF images, as well as other file formats, such as a 3D CAD drawing;
* Metadata – descriptive information, including OCR results that enable the PDF file to be "full-text searchable."

The PDF format is so powerful and has been adopted around the world because it acts as a container for all these various types of content.

The term "PDF" stands for "Portable Document Format". The key word is portable, intended to combine the qualities of authenticity, reliability and ease of use together into a single packaged concept.

To be truly portable, an authentic electronic document would have to appear exactly the same way on any computer at any time, at no cost to the user. It will deliver the exact same results in print or on-screen with near-total reliability.

You use word-processor, spreadsheet or presentation files everyday. But do you also email, post to a website and file using these formats? You could use PDF. What's the difference?

The difference between PDF and formats used for writing (Word, Excel, Power Point, Quark, HTML, etc) is profound. Properly made, PDF files are not subject to the vagaries of other formats. PDFs are not readily editable - and editing may be explicitly prohibited. A precise snapshot, a PDF file is created at a specific date and time, and in a specific way. You can trust a PDF like you can trust a fax. You can't say that about a Word file!

Adobe Systems invented PDF technology in the early 1990s to smooth the process of moving text and graphics from publishers to printing-presses. At the time, expectations were modest, but no longer. PDF turned out to be the very essence of paper, brought to life in a computer. In creating PDF, Adobe had almost unwittingly invented nothing less than a bridge between the paper and computer worlds. Adobe's business -- and yours -- will never be the same again.

PDF is electronic paper

What are the important qualities of paper? Paper is authentic, reliable and easy to use. Most of the world still trusts paper as "hardcopy" to convey ownership, seal a deal, retain proof of delivery, and so on.

PDF is designed and intended to fulfill the role of paper within the computer... to be the electronic equivalent of paper.

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