What is pdf

Different types of PDFs require different ways of working with them, for example when searching or extracting information. Try for free Buy now Contact sales. What is a PDF? Multi-Dimensional The PDF format allows you to integrate various types of content — text, images and vector graphics, videos, animations, audio files, 3D models, interactive fields, hyperlinks, and buttons.

If you need to access the PDF later, you'll want to save a copy to your computer. This process will vary depending on your web browser, but in the example below the Save PDF button can be found near the upper-right corner. As we mentioned earlier, PDFs are primarily meant for viewing, not editing.

However, there may be times when you encounter a PDF that allows you to enter certain information, like name and address. These PDFs use a special feature called form fields , which allow you to type new information into the document and save your changes.

For example, this PDF contains several form fields for entering your name, address, and other information. PDF files can contain not only images and text, but also interactive buttons, hyperlinks, embedded fonts, video, and more. You'll often see product manuals, eBooks, flyers, job applications, scanned documents, brochures, and all sorts of other documents available in the PDF format.

Web pages can even be saved to PDFs , in their full formatting, for later reference. Because PDFs don't rely on the software that created them, nor on any particular operating system or hardware, they look the same no matter what device they're opened on.

It's completely fine to use, but we find it to be a somewhat bloated program with lots of features that you may never need or want to use. You may or may not need an add-on or extension to do it, but it's pretty handy to have one open automatically when you click a PDF link online. See our list of the best free PDF readers for more options. Just upload your PDF to the website to do things like insert images, text, signatures, links, and more, and then download it back to your computer as a PDF.

It also supports including checkboxes, dates, and regular text, but you can't edit existing text with it or easily fill out forms. If you want to extract part of a PDF file as it's own, or split a PDF into several different individual documents, there are several ways to pull that off. Most people wanting to convert a PDF file to some other format are interested in doing that so they can edit the contents of the PDF.

Converting a PDF means that it will no longer be a. Using these types of programs to edit a converted PDF is probably a much more comfortable thing to do compared to an unfamiliar PDF editor. If you instead want a non-PDF file to be a. Some even serve as a PDF printer, allowing you to virtually "print" pretty much any file to a. PDF file. PDF stands for "portable document format".

Essentially, the format is used when you need to save files that cannot be modified but still need to be easily shared and printed. Today almost everyone has a version of Adobe Reader or other program on their computer that can read a PDF file. Important: Once you have saved a document as a PDF file, you cannot convert it back to a Microsoft Office file format without specialized software or a third-party add-in.

Was this helpful? Yes No Warning: Your browser has javascript disabled. Without javascript some functions will not work, including question submission via the form. Toggle menu visibility. Ask A Question. To save a file in. Toggle action bar FAQ Actions.