PDF - Portable Document Format
In a digital world, one needs to know at least the basics of computer technology, including the terms, definitions and especially their uses. Today, in a post pandemic world where much of our communication is online, computer skills and knowledge have become more imperative than ever before. We are also facing a future which is going to be completely AI-oriented. Hence, it is important that we have our concepts related to the world of digital tech in the right space.
Those thick files are now old school, biting the dust in most government and private institutions! Almost every institution is engaging a dedicated team to digitise its records because the storage benefits are immense. With the kind of encryption and back-up technologies we have today, the files are as good as safe for a long time to come without needing regular checking and maintenance. That is the power technology has given man.
Day in and day out, we save information in multiple formats - such as docx, pdf, png, jpg and so on. How many of us have bothered to look into its full form or know the uses? We might have studied with least interest in computer classes in school - beyond that? Let us revisit some classic information today. After this, Adobe Acrobat is going to feel like an old-time friend!
What is a PDF?
The humble PDF stands for Portable Document Format. Invented by tech giant Adobe, it is one of the most commonly used file formats today. It was invented by Dr John Warnock as part of the paper-to-digital revolution in 1992. His goal was to help people capture documents from any application, transfer them, view and print them from any machine. Soon this developed into the PDF that millions of individuals and corporations across the world use and trust today.
PDFs too have certain standards to adhere to like the ISO 32000. There are different qualities for PDFs such as the ones for printing, engineering and archiving. One can also create PDFs such that they meet a variety of accessibility standards so that they can be used by people with disabilities. A PDF can include images, words, spreadsheets and so on.
FAQs on PDF Full Form
1. How does one edit PDF files?
PDF files are mainly meant for viewing and not editing. However you can make small changes such as adding comments or highlighting text using Adobe Acrobat Reader. For special purposes, PDFs use a feature called form fields which allows one to create forms and add in new information and save changes.
2. How can one change formats and compress PDF files?
There are many online tools available that can be used to change or convert PDFs into formats such as PPT, Word and so on. Online tools are also available to help us compress large-sized PDF files.
