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I.
Introduction
PDF (Portable Document Format)
PDF (Portable Document Format) is a cross-platform, device-independent page
description language and file format developed by Adobe Systems. Its primary use is to
render, store, and transmit formatted pages, capturing the entire page structure of a
document just as it would have been rendered by a Postscript printer.
Most common file formats can be converted to PDF using Adobe
Acrobat
Standard or
®
®
Professional or other PDF rendering applications, some of which are available at no cost.
Many professional book, magazine, and other printers prefer to be supplied with PDFs for
printing because it is a standardized format and because unless a PDF is deliberately
edited, its contents can be considered safe from unintended alteration. Properly
generated and handled, PDFs can basically be thought of as a faithful electronic
representation of the print version of any document.
One of the key differences between a PDF and an image file format (like jpeg, gif, etc.) is
that PDF preserves formatting elements such as fonts and graphics by embedding them
into the file in a manner that can be managed via various settings.
PDF is an excellent means of displaying content from a variety of common consumer
applications, including the Microsoft
Office suite of applications and their
®
OpenOffice.org open source counterparts, on the Sony
Reader. The key to generating
®
PDFs that will display clearly on the Reader is to size the PDF properly when you create it,
and to set margins, font sizes, etc. within a range that is suited to the Reader's screen size
and resolution. This instructional document is intended to provide all the information
necessary to create PDFs that are ready to be viewed in the Sony Reader from a variety
of common applications.
PDF Creation Software
On a computer running the Microsoft Windows
operating system, you will need to have
®
PDF creation software installed in order to generate PDFs from within the common
desktop applications covered in this instructional document. Two good options are
Adobe Acrobat (either Acrobat Standard or Acrobat Professional) and PDF Creator.
Adobe Acrobat Standard and Professional, unlike the free Adobe Reader, are used to
create, edit, and add features to PDFs. (Adobe Reader can only be used to view them.)
The Professional version of the Adobe Acrobat software includes a number of features
and capabilities of interest to professional users, but Acrobat Standard is often sufficient
for creating PDFs for the Sony Reader. These applications are available for purchase at
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/.
PDF Creator is an open source alternative to Adobe Acrobat Standard or Professional for
generating PDFs from documents created in Windows applications. It has been released
under the terms of the GNU General Public License and is available for download at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/.
Once you have successfully installed one of these applications, you will be able to
create PDFs using the print menu of your applications.
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