PDF. Three letters that continue to change the world.
PDF. Three letters that continue to change the world.
What is PDF?
PDFs run your world. You know you use PDFs to make your most important work happen. That's why we invented the Portable Document Format (better known by the abbreviation PDF), to present and exchange documents reliably — independent of software, hardware, or operating system.
The PDF is now an open standard, maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). PDF documents can contain links and buttons, form fields, audio, video, and business logic. They can be signed electronically, and you can easily view PDF files on Windows or Mac OS using the free Acrobat Reader software.
We invented the PDF.
In 1991, Adobe co-founder Dr. John Warnock launched the paper-to-digital revolution with an idea he called, The Camelot Project. The goal was to enable anyone to capture documents from any application, send electronic versions of these documents anywhere, and view and print them on any machine. By 1992, Camelot had developed into PDF. Today, it is the file format trusted by businesses around the world.
We invented the PDF.
In 1991, Adobe co-founder Dr. John Warnock launched the paper-to-digital revolution with an idea he called, The Camelot Project. The goal was to enable anyone to capture documents from any application, send electronic versions of these documents anywhere, and view and print them on any machine. By 1992, Camelot had developed into PDF. Today, it is the file format trusted by businesses around the world.
Because looks really do matter.
Warnock’s vision is alive, well, and evolving. When you create an Adobe PDF from documents or images, it looks just the way you intended it to. While many PDFs are simply pictures of pages, Adobe PDFs preserve all the data in the original file format — even when text, graphics, spreadsheets, and more are combined in a single file.
Because looks really do matter.
Warnock’s vision is alive, well, and evolving. When you create an Adobe PDF from documents or images, it looks just the way you intended it to. While many PDFs are simply pictures of pages, Adobe PDFs preserve all the data in the original file format — even when text, graphics, spreadsheets, and more are combined in a single file.
PDFs have standards.
You can be confident your PDF file meets ISO 32000 standards for electronic document exchange, including special-purpose standards such as PDF/A for archiving, PDF/E for engineering, and PDF/X for printing. You can also create PDFs to meet a range of accessibility standards that make content more usable by people with disabilities.
No paper printouts needed. Ever.
When you need to electronically sign a PDF, it’s easy using the Adobe Acrobat Reader mobile app, or the Acrobat Sign mobile app. Access your PDFs from any web browser or operating system. For managing legally-binding electronic or digital signature processes, try Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Sign.
PDFs have standards.
You can be confident your PDF file meets ISO 32000 standards for electronic document exchange, including special-purpose standards such as PDF/A for archiving, PDF/E for engineering, and PDF/X for printing. You can also create PDFs to meet a range of accessibility standards that make content more usable by people with disabilities.
No paper printouts needed. Ever.
When you need to electronically sign a PDF, it’s easy using the Adobe Acrobat Reader mobile app, or the Acrobat Sign mobile app. Access your PDFs from any web browser or operating system. For managing legally-binding electronic or digital signature processes, try Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Sign.
PDFs are all about security.
When you work with electronic documents, it’s important to make protection a part of your routine. You can password-protect your PDF files to prevent others from copying and editing. Redact them to permanently delete sensitive information. And even find and remove hidden data.
Integrate with the apps you love.
We partner with leading companies so you can add Adobe Document Cloud’s PDF tools to the applications your teams already use. With PDF tools embedded in Microsoft 365, you can instantly convert Microsoft Word documents, Excel files, or Powerpoint presentations to PDF format to simplify and streamline your workflows.
Integrate with the apps you love.
We partner with leading companies so you can add Adobe Document Cloud’s PDF tools to the applications your teams already use. With PDF tools embedded in Microsoft 365, you can instantly convert Microsoft Word documents, Excel files, or Powerpoint presentations to PDF format to simplify and streamline your workflows.
Integrate with the apps you love.
We partner with leading companies so you can add Adobe Document Cloud’s PDF tools to the applications your teams already use. With PDF tools embedded in Microsoft 365, you can instantly convert Microsoft Word documents, Excel files, or Powerpoint presentations to PDF format to simplify and streamline your workflows.
Get more out of scanned documents.
You can scan paper documents and forms to save as Adobe PDF and get smart files that are easy to search, share, and store. Adobe PDFs use optical character recognition (OCR) technology, so you can edit and comment on the documents you’ve scanned. More than a PDF viewer, Adobe Acrobat Pro is a complete PDF solution that lets you create, edit, and convert PDF files to other formats.
