Working with PDFs in Joomla! 1.5

PDF stands for Portable Document Format. This is a file format that is readable providing the recipient has a PDF Reader application installed on their PC.

Most modern computers have a version of the free Adobe Acrobat Reader installed for this purpose.

When using PDFs on your website it is helpful to provide a link to a download of this application for those visitors who cannot read your PDF files.

Use this link: http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/otherversions/ in conjunction with this image:

You can also obtain from Adobe an image for use as an appropriate image link to a PDF in your website. See the example here.

Take care to read the Adobe Usage Guidelines before using any Adobe copyrighted images in your website! Images are also available from this link or simply right click and save from here.

How can you create a PDF?

How can you create a PDF?

There are many ways to create PDFs:

MS Office

If you have the latest version of MS Office installed then you can save most file formats as PDF. This is not possible in older versions of MS Office.

Open Source (FREE) File Converters

If you have a DOC file and want to convert it to PDF then you can use a file converter application.

Acro CutePDF Writer

This is an excellent application that creates an alternative PRINT option enabling you to print a PDF version of any file instead of converting the file.

Your PDF is not actually printed but is instead saved on your PC. You can of course later print the PDF on paper if you wish. We prefer to upload ours to the web - saves trees!

Download FREE version of this software from here: http://www.acrosoftware.com/download.htm.

Open Office (FREE version of MS Office)

This is the open source equivalent of MS Office.

If you take the time and trouble to download and install this application then it offers one great benefit not available in the expensive MS Office: it enables you to 'export' (effectively 'save as') any file (spreadsheet, powerpoint, you name it) as a PDF.

Another benefit: if you use an earlier version of MS Office and someone sends you a file created in a later version, Open Office will be able to open the later version file (when your earlier version of MS Office will not!).

Download Open Office here: http://download.openoffice.org/.

Here's how to export an MS Word document from Open Office as a PDF:

Note: same process applies to exporting a spreadsheet - try other file formats for yourself!

openoffice_1

Why create a PDF?

Why create a PDF in place of any other file?

Some other file formats are renowned for being used in the transmission of viruses. PDFs do not as far as we are aware share this notoriety.

TIP: Add Terms of Use to your website and make these available from the menu at the bottom of your site. These are important if you want to protect your organisation from possible legal action as a result of someone inadvertantly downloading a virus-infected file from your website.

View Wynchcote's Terms of Use.

PDFs are safer for site visitors or email recipients to open on their PC. They will also open like any web page in a brwser window/tab when your website visitor clicks on a hyperlink to a PDF.

If you are making a legal documnt or perhaps a set of meeting minutes that you do not want others later tampering with then make sure you edit the file to be 'Read Only' prior to upload.

PDF vs DOC Links