Today’s Tech Tip is about creating a PDF document from a Microsoft Office document. “PDF” – which stands for Portable Document Format – is a common file format which you’ve likely seen many times. The advantages of PDFs files are numerous, including…
- Can be read by many programs in all common operating systems
- Secure against most virus infections
- Difficult to be modified
- Can be viewed inside a web browser
- Can be compressed to smaller file sizes
So, let’s say you’ve created a Microsoft Word document that you want to post on your website or share with your colleagues, students, or students’ parents. However, you want it to be a PDF instead of a Word file. Here’s how you do this, for each of the three most recent versions of Microsoft Office:
If you have Office 2003…
1. Start by downloading and installing any free “PDF maker” from the internet. We have found “PDF Creator” to be excellent, so that’s what we’ll use in this Tech Tip. Other reputable PDF makers include CutePDF and PrimoPDF. Be careful to un-check any additional programs the software tries to throw in there while installing (i.e. Yahoo Toolbar).
2. Open your Word document, then click File > Print. Choose “PDFCreator” from the list of available printers, then “OK” at bottom right. (You might think you’d click “File” > “Save as” here, but most 3rd-party PDF makers install themselves as virtual printers – but don’t worry, you’re not actually printing a hard copy of anything!). If nothing happens after 20 seconds, simply repeat this step, and it should work.
3. Give it a title and click Save; select a Save location and click Save again. This PDF file might now open for you to view it, but feel free to close it, since you’ve already saved it.
* note: you can click the links above to download the programs
If you have Office 2007…
1. Start by going to this Microsoft.com webpage: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=7 and clicking the orange “DOWNLOAD” button. Click “Run” and proceed through the download/installation steps.
2. Open your Word document, then click the Office button > Save As. At the very bottom drop-down where it says, “Save as type”, choose PDF (*.pdf). Then, click Save (don’t forget to also name the file and set the save location). This PDF file might now open for you to view it, but feel free to close it, since you’ve already saved it.
If you have Office 2010 (the full client version, not the free version accessible from your SkyDrive)…
1. You’re in luck! A PDF maker is built right in to your Office programs! Open your Word document, then click File > Save As. At the very bottom drop-down where it says, “Save as type”, choose PDF (*.pdf). Then, click Save (don’t forget to also name the file and set the save location). This PDF file might now open for you to view it, but feel free to close it, since you’ve already saved it.
Just a reminder… the above steps should work in all Microsoft Office programs (Excel, PowerPoint, etc…), not just Word. Additionally, the 3rd-party PDF makers mentioned above (PDF Creator, CutePDF, PrimoPDF) can also make PDFs from non-Microsoft Office programs, like internet websites or graphics editors.
