Short for Portable Document Format, PDF is a file format developed by Adobe Systems. PDF appropriates formatting data from a variety of desktop publishing applications getting in potential to send documents and have them appear on the recipient’s monitor (or printer) as they were intended to be viewed. A properly prepared PDF will maintain the original fonts, images, graphics as well as the exact layout of the file (think of it as an electronic snapshot). A PDF file can be shared, viewed, and printed by anyone using the free Adobe Reader software regardless of the operating system, original design application or fonts.

Earlier PDF was generally applied by graphic artists, designers and publishers for producing color page proofs. With its evolving technology, however, today PDF is used for virtually any data that needs to be exchanged among applications and users. It is an open file format specification and PDF is available to anyone who wants to develop tools to create, view or manipulate PDF documents.

If you haven’t been involved in designing or distributing PDF files directly, your first introduction to PDF technology may well have been a hyperlink on a Web page. When you click the link, Adobe Reader either launches the file or informs you need to download and install Adobe Reader to view the file. Because a PDF is independent of the application or platform used to create it, it has become a popular way to distribute and share documents via the Internet. For several who use Adobe Reader only in association with Web browsing, you may think PDF is something which is relatively new — definitely not so