Effectively saving something as a PDF is a like taking a photo of an electronic document which can then be viewed on any computer exactly as it was intended by its creator, regardless of whether or not the computer has the same PDF software.

For example, if you created an invoice in Microsoft Word to send via email, the recipient would be able to open and edit the file (and the figures) which, I think you’d agree, isn’t exactly a good idea. By creating a PDF of the invoice and editing the security settings, you can ensure that the recipient would be able to view and print the file but not edit, select or copy the text.

This means that PDFs are often a more secure way of sending data. Among other things, they prevent accented characters from being corrupted or lost and they can be locked with a password to limit access to the file.

Here at TransAction we use PDFs to store accurate electronic images of any documents that we receive for translation. Also, when we are sent certificates for translation via fax or email, we receive these as PDF files.

Once the software has been installed, you simply open the document you want to create a PDF version of, go to the Print menu and select the PDF option. You can then save, print or send the PDF file like any other document.

Acrobat Reader is available free from http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/.