Converting a Word Document to an Adobe PDF File

B - Once in Word, prepare the document for conversion - simply make any desired changes within Word. Once you are satisfied with the document you are ready to convert it. In the menu bar at the top of the screen should be an option for "Adobe PDF". Click this and a small menu should appear.

If you need help finding this, just look for the familiar menu section with the words File, Edit, View, Insert, and so on. It should be on this menu choice bar.

After clicking this option you should see the following menu.

C - From this menu, select the option labeled "Change Conversion Settings...". You should be presented with the following box.

I have numbered some of the available options in order to help explain what they do. See below for an explanation.

1 (View Adobe PDF Result): If this is checked, after you create your PDF file, Adobe will start and you will see your newly created file. If you don't care to preview your file immediately following the conversion process, uncheck this box.

2 (Prompt for Adobe PDF file name): If this box is checked, the conversion process will ask you for a filename for the converted PDF file, allowing you to choose any name you wish. If this box is unchecked, the converted PDF will automatically be given the same name as the original Word document, except with a .pdf extension (rather than .doc for the Word file). So if you uncheck this option and convert a file called MyResume.doc, the converted file will automatically be named MyResume.pdf.

3 (Convert Document Information): If checked, this option will convert the properties of the document to PDF-specific properties, preserving the appearance but altering the internal structure of the file. It is best to leave this option checked.

4 (Attach source file to Adobe PDF): If checked, this option will add the original Word document to the newly created PDF file as an attachment, much like an e-mail attachment. The PDF file will have a paperclip in the upper-right corner that, when clicked, allows you to access the original file in its Word format. Doing this will increase the file size of the PDF file. If you need to be able to distribute both the PDF file and the original Word file together in the same document, use this option. Otherwise it is probably fine to leave this option unchecked.

5 (Add links to Adobe PDF): If you have URL hyperlinks in your Word document, this option will preserve those links in the converted PDF file. If you have no links nothing will happen. As such, it is best to leave this option checked.

6 (Add bookmarks to Adobe PDF) and 7 (Enable Accessibility and reflow with Tagged PDF): These options have to do with adding accessibility and creating easier navigation within the converted PDF file, especially in the case of long documents. It is best to leave these enabled.

You can also use the tabs at the top of this box to set other options. Following is an explanation of what is available on each tab. If you want, you can skip this part and get right into the conversion process.

"Security" Tab

Clicking on the Security tab should present you with the following screen.

The numbered setting options are used for:

1 (Require a password to open the document): Checking this box will ensure that any user who wishes to open this PDF file must first supply a password of your choosing. If you only want certain people reading the file this option comes in handy. To password protect your file, click the checkbox that I have labeled number 1 and then type a password in the box below.

2 (Use a password to restrict printing and editing of the document and its security settings): This option makes it so that users can open and view this PDF file, but in order to make changes to or print it they must supply a password of your choosing. You can also select what exactly users are allowed to do in terms of what changes they can make and how they can print the file. If you want to allow users to open and read the file, but not print or change it, this option is very useful. To do this, click the check box I have labeled number 2 and type a password into the text box labeled Permissions Password. You can use the four subsequent options to control what the user is allowed to do once they have supplied the password.

"Word" Tab

Clicking on the Word tab should present you with the following screen.

These options are mainly for Acrobat to convert Word-specific features into a style more conducive to PDF files. You can try playing around with these options to achieve different end results. However, it is probably best to leave them all checked, as this works fine for nearly all Word document conversions.

"Bookmarks" Tab

Clicking on the Bookmarks tab should present you with the following screen.

This is another section that normally is best to leave as is. It controls the conversion of headings and styles in a Word document into bookmarks that are used to better navigate the PDF file in Acrobat. If you wish, you can browse the list of possible things to use as a bookmark and select the ones you desire, though, again, the default settings normally work well for most documents.

D - If you are not already there, click on the Settings tab again. You should be at the same screen you saw at the beginning of step C. From here you can control how your converted PDF will appear. What you do next is largely dependent upon your target output.

Before you go any further, you should attempt to determine, as best as possible, what function your PDF file will be serving and how it will be accessed. Is it going to be put on a website and linked to? Is it going to be printed and circulated? Is having the highest quality possible an important issue? These are some questions you should try to have a general answer to before converting your file(s).

Once you have determined your audience and decided on a desired quality of your PDF file, use the following options to set up the conversion settings.

Creating a PDF for display on a web page (lower quality)
Creating a PDF for printing and circulation (higher quality)
Creating a PDF for printing high-quality images and artwork (highest quality)

Settings for Creating a PDF for display on a web page

PDF files for display on a web page typically can sacrifice a little quality to gain downloading speed. Nobody wants to wait 30 minutes to load a web page in PDF form, so the goal here is to create a file that is small in size while still being high enough in quality so as to be easily read.

For this there is a predefined setting that works quite well. In the drop-down box labeled "Conversion settings:" there should be an option for "Smallest file size". Choose this option. After doing so, click OK.

You should now be back at your Word document. As of yet we have only changed the conversion settings. There is still one step to go - the actual conversion. Skip down to the section of this tutorial labeled Doing the Conversion After Finalizing Settings.

Settings for Creating a PDF for printing and circulation (medium quality)

If you intend to print your PDF document but do not necessarily need the absolute highest quality, this section is for you. Typical uses of medium quality PDF files to be printed include text-only memos and documents. If you have no high quality photographs or graphics in your file, you can save some time and space using a certain predefined setting.

In the drop-down box labeled "Conversion settings:" there should be an option for "Standard". Choose this option and then click OK.

You should now be back at your Word document. As of yet you have only changed the conversion settings. You still need to do the actual conversion. To see how to do this, skip down to the section labeled Doing the Conversion After Finalizing Settings.

Settings for Creating a PDF for printing and circulation (highest quality)

Sometimes you need to produce a PDF file that is of the highest quality possible. If your file will contain high-quality images (especially large, detailed photographs) or needs to be presented as professionally as possible, the high quality settings are certainly the best option.

In the drop-down box labeled "Conversion settings:" there is an option for "Press Quality". Choose this option and click OK.

You should now be back at your Word document. As of yet you have only changed the conversion process settings. You still have to do the actual conversion. To see how to do this, skip down to the section labeled Doing the Conversion After Finalizing Settings.

Doing the Conversion After Finalizing Settings

Once again, click on the menu bar's "Adobe PDF" option. If you forgot where this is, refresh by looking at step B above. In the menu that appears, select the first option, "Convert to Adobe PDF". This will start the conversion process.

If you had checked the option "Prompt for Adobe PDF File Name" in configuring your settings above, you will then see the familiar Save As dialog box:

Type in a file name, select where you wish to save the file, and then click "Save".

Regardless of whether you were asked to provide a filename you should then see the following progress meter.

Once this process completes, your Adobe PDF file is created. If you chose to preview your file in Adobe Acrobat in configuring your settings, Acrobat will now launch. If you did not select to do so, but wish to preview your PDF file anyways, simply navigate to the folder in which you saved the file and double-click on it to open and preview it.
Hint: If you were not asked for a file name for your PDF file, Acrobat automatically placed it in the same folder that the Word document is in.

And that's all there is to converting a Word document into a PDF file. As you become more comfortable with the process feel free to play around with the available options. Try the different predefined settings to see the differences or try out some of the various check-box settings. Also, if you are feeling particularly bold, you can go into the advanced settings and poke around with the different options presented there. Do note, however, that the predefined settings will work just fine in nearly all cases. If you are satisfied with a setting, it is probably best to use it and leave it be.