Compelling Reasons to Use PDF Format When Distributing Documents

When you want to distribute a document and share it with others, it is a good idea to export it as a PDF. The fact of the matter is while there are other document formats that are popular such as DOC, none has the benefits that PDF brings to the table. Like a lot of software products many of us just use them without knowing what features might be useful for your business. For example did you know (according to Wikipedia) that a PDF file can be encrypted for security, or digitally signed for authentication.

If you want to know why you should be using PDFs to distribute documents, here are a few compelling reasons that you should consider:

PDFs are universal and preserve formatting

Unlike other formats that are platform-specific, PDFs are universal and can be viewed on any device or platform with a simple and easily-available PDF viewer. More importantly however the formatting of the document will be preserved across platforms as well.

In other words when you distribute documents in PDF you don’t have to worry about the formatting and whether or not it will remain the same. In fact, your recipients will see a document that looks exactly the way it appears on your screen.

PDFs are secure

As far as security goes, few document formats hold a candle to PDFs – and not just because they can use passwords. The fact of the matter is that PDFs cannot be edited without leaving a trace behind, which is why PDFs are considered to be legally accepted documents.

Due to how secure PDFs are, you can rest assured that your documents will remain unaltered while they’re being distributed. On top of that if they are altered you’ll be able to identify the issue quickly and effectively.

PDFs are interactive and support a wide range of multimedia

While you are generally able to add images and hyperlinks to most document formats, with PDFs you can do far more than that. It fully supports multimedia so you could incorporate audio or video clips if need be, as well as other interactive elements such as input fields.

Naturally having an expanded range of options can be useful if and when you want to create documents for distribution. For example you could add a form to collect feedback right from within the document itself.

PDFs have good compression

Compared to most other document formats, PDFs have much better compression and you will be able to reduce the file size of your document by exporting it as a PDF. That will make it much easier to distribute, as you will be able to transfer it more quickly and are less likely to run into issues such as the file size limitation on email attachments.

It is worth noting that while it is easy enough to download free PDF readers, finding a good PDF editor can be more difficult. Still if you can shop around and find a basic editor that will allow you to manage your PDF files it will make it easier to deal with them. All in all however the benefits that PDF brings to the table still make it the best format when distributing documents especially nowadays when cybercrime is on the increase.