What is a .pdf?

Modified on Fri, Jul 21, 2017 at 12:38 PM

PDF stands for Portable Document Format, a file format developed by Adobe Systems. PDFs capture the fonts, images, and format of a document, making it possible to send a document and have it appear on the recipient's monitor or printer exactly as it was intended.

There are several advantages of the PDF file type:

PDFs can be read on both a PC (using Acrobat Reader) and a Mac (built-in).
PDFs preserve all the formatting of the original document, and therefore look as they should, regardless of operating system.
PDFs are more compressed than saving a document as an image file.
PDFs are more secure because they are created as read-only documents and cannot be edited without leaving a digital footprint that it was modified.
PDFs can be further secured by making them password protected or by adding a watermark.

To view a file in PDF format on a PC, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free application distributed by Adobe Systems. All Lesley-issued PCs come pre-installed with Acrobat Reader.