What is a PDF?

Portable Document Format | Adobe Acrobat 2024/05/20 22:27

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Everything you need to know

about the PDF.

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What is a PDF? Portable Document Format | Adobe Acrobat 2024/05/20 22:27

What does PDF mean?

PDF is an abbreviation that stands for Portable Document Format. It's a versatile file
format created by Adobe that gives people an easy, reliable way to present and
exchange documents - regardless of the software, hardware, or operating systems
being used by anyone who views the document.

The PDF format is now an open standard, maintained by the International

Organization for Standardization (ISO). PDF docs can contain links and buttons,
form fields, audio, video, and business logic. They can be signed electronically and
can easily be viewed on Windows or MacOS using the free Adobe Acrobat Reader
software.

Download free Acrobat Reader

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What is a PDF? Portable Document Format | Adobe Acrobat 2024/05/20 22:27

Adobe created the PDF.

In 1991, Adobe co-founder Dr. John Warnock launched the paper-to-digital
revolution with an idea he called, The Camelot Project. The goal was to enable
anyone to capture documents from any application, send electronic versions of
these documents anywhere, and view and print them on any machine. By 1992,
Camelot had developed into PDF. Today, it is the file format trusted by businesses
around the world.
Adobe created the PDF.
In 1991, Adobe co-founder Dr. John Warnock launched the paper-to-digital
revolution with an idea he called, The Camelot Project. The goal was to enable
anyone to capture documents from any application, send electronic versions of
these documents anywhere, and view and print them on any machine. By 1992,
Camelot had developed into PDF. Today, it is the file format trusted by businesses
around the world.

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What is a PDF? Portable Document Format | Adobe Acrobat 2024/05/20 22:27

PDF document conversion made easy.

Warnock’s vision continues to shape the way we work. When you create an Adobe
PDF from documents or images, it looks just the way you intended it to. While
many PDFs are simply pictures of pages, Adobe PDFs preserve all the data in the
original file format—even when text, graphics, spreadsheets, and more are
combined in a single file.
PDF document conversion made easy.
Warnock’s vision continues to shape the way we work. When you create an Adobe
PDF from documents or images, it looks just the way you intended it to. While
many PDFs are simply pictures of pages, Adobe PDFs preserve all the data in the
original file format—even when text, graphics, spreadsheets, and more are
combined in a single file.

https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/about-adobe-pdf.html
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What is a PDF? Portable Document Format | Adobe Acrobat 2024/05/20 22:27

PDF files meet Enjoy paperless

high standards. documents and
You can be confident your PDF
workflows.
file meets ISO 32000 standards When you need to electronically
for electronic document sign a PDF, it’s easy using
exchange, including special- the Adobe Acrobat Reader
purpose standards such as mobile app, or the Acrobat Sign
PDF/A for archiving, PDF/E for mobile app. Access your PDFs
engineering, and PDF/X for from any web browser or
printing. You can also create operating system. For managing
PDFs to meet a range of legally-binding electronic or
accessibility standards that make digital signature processes,
content more usable by people try Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat
with disabilities. Sign.

Adobe PDFs are secure.

When you work with electronic documents, it’s important to make
protection a part of your routine. You can password-protect your
PDF files to prevent others from copying and editing. Redact them
to permanently delete sensitive information. And even find and
remove hidden data.

Learn more about security

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What is a PDF? Portable Document Format | Adobe Acrobat 2024/05/20 22:27

Integrate PDFs with other apps.

We partner with leading companies so you can add Adobe Document Cloud’s PDF
tools to the applications your teams already use. With PDF tools embedded in
Microsoft 365, you can instantly convert Microsoft Word documents, Excel files, or
Powerpoint presentations to PDF format to simplify and streamline your
workflows.

Learn more about integrations

Integrate PDFs with other apps.

We partner with leading companies so you can add Adobe Document Cloud’s PDF
tools to the applications your teams already use. With PDF tools embedded in
Microsoft 365, you can instantly convert Microsoft Word documents, Excel files, or
Powerpoint presentations to PDF format to simplify and streamline your
workflows.

Learn more about integrations

Integrate PDFs with other apps.

We partner with leading companies so you can add Adobe Document Cloud’s PDF tools to
the applications your teams already use. With PDF tools embedded in Microsoft 365, you can
instantly convert Microsoft Word documents, Excel files, or Powerpoint presentations to PDF
format to simplify and streamline your workflows.

Learn more about integrations

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What is a PDF? Portable Document Format | Adobe Acrobat 2024/05/20 22:27

Scan documents to simplify your

work.
You can scan paper documents and forms to save as Adobe PDF and get
smart files that are easy to search, share, and store. Adobe PDFs use optical
character recognition (OCR) technology, so you can edit and comment on
the documents you’ve scanned. More than a PDF viewer, Adobe Acrobat
Pro is a complete PDF solution that lets you create, edit, and convert PDF
files to other formats.

Explore Adobe Acrobat's PDF editing and

converter tools.
Convert to PDFs ›

Edit PDFs ›

Export PDFs ›

Create forms ›

Protect PDFs ›

Collect signatures ›

See all Acrobat features

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What is a PDF? Portable Document Format | Adobe Acrobat 2024/05/20 22:27

More convenience with PDF mobile apps.

Acrobat Reader mobile app

Acrobat Scan mobile app

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What is a PDF? Portable Document Format | Adobe Acrobat 2024/05/20 22:27

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