Turn an Electronic Document into a PDF File using Adobe Acrobat

Help Center > Turn an Electronic Document into a PDF File using Adobe Acrobat

This document explains how to create PDF (Portable Document Format) files from existing electronic documents using Adobe Acrobat 7.0. They can be viewed from the Web by anyone who has Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded free from Adobe and is available on most University computers.

Before you start.

You will need:

  • an electronic document that is in its final form
  • Adobe Acrobat Acrobat 7.0 software (full version, not just Acrobat Reader) installed on your computer. This software is available for use in the CTLT or can be purchased at the UW Bookstore.

Open your document.

Open the program that you used to create your document, choose File > Open . . . from the menu bar, and open the file that you want to convert to a PDF document. You can also double-click on your document to open the program and your document.

Create a PDF file

There are two main ways of converting an electronic document to a PDF. Most programs will allow you to create a PDF document by "printing to PDF". To create the PDF, follow these steps:

  1. Choose File > Print.
  2. Change the destination printer to Adobe PDF.
  3. Click "OK".

Or, in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, you can click on a "Convert to Adobe PDF" icon in the toolbar, which looks like the Adobe Acrobat logo. Adobe Acrobat will create an Adobe-PDF icon, which you can click on.

Complete the process by following these steps:

  1. A "Save PDF file as" window will open. Name your PDF document and select where you want it saved.
  2. Click "Save". Your document will then be converted into a PDF.

Check your file and save to its final location.

Open the file to make sure that it converted correctly. There are two ways to check your file:

  1. Double click on your file icon. This should open Adobe Acrobat Reader and your file.
  2. Open Adobe Acrobat Reader and then your file. To do this:
    • Start Adobe Acrobat Reader
    • Choose File > Open...
    • Locate your document, select it, and then click "Open".

Your file can now be saved on a disk or moved to a remote account.

last modified on 04/20/2007 13:35