All PC Tips

What is a PDF?

PDF (Portable Document File) is a often used file in computers. After creating a file you may like to bring this document to show someone. Or you may want to print the document. But there are many problems and issues while doing so.

1. The other computer maynot have the same application program that you used to create the file. For example you may have created the file using Page Maker. If Page Maker is not installed in the computer where you want to view the file then you cannot open this file in that computer.
2. Or the FONT that you used in your computer maynot be available in the other computer and therefore not viewable.
3. If you had sent the file via email to your friend and your friend does not have the application program to open the file then he cannot view it.

To solve all these problems PDF (Portable Document File) is used. When you create a PDF, the file is created exactly the same way it will appear on the print out. PDF can contain images, tables and graphs. In order to view this file Adobe Acrobat application is required. Adobe provides this software free at www.adobe.com .

But the problem with the PDF files is how to create these PDF files? The PDF writer that Adobe provides is not free. However many other companies have developed PDF writer software and provides it free. There are many types of PDF writers. Some of them inserts the company’s advertisements in the created PDF documents. Some give evaluation copies that are free for use for a limited period of time only. Some may have spyware embedded inside. But there is a free PDF writer available in the internet that is totally free. The name of the application is PDF Redirect v2.1.1. You can download and install this software within few seconds. Here are some tips on how to use this PDF ReDirect software.

If you have created a file in MS Word document and you want to convert this word document to PDF then open MS Word and open the file that you want to convert to PDF. Then From MS Word goto ‘File->Print’ option. This will open the Printer dialog box. In the printer list select the ‘PDF Redirect’ and print it. Now PDF Redirect will convert the word document to PDF and then open the ‘File dialog box’ to choose the folder where you want to save the converted PDF file. Once the file is created you can open it using Adobe acrobat reader.

You can download this software from http://www.download.com/PDF-ReDirect/3000-6675_4-10255233.html?tag=nl.e415

If you have created a document using MS Word and you would like to convert this document to html file so that you can publish your word document to your wesbite then you can do this pretty easily.

If you had used MS Word 97/2000/2002 to create your document then open the document in MS Word application. Now Click ‘File->Save As‘ from the menu. The ‘Save As‘ dialog box will open. In this box, in the ‘Save as type’ drop down list choose ‘html document or Webpage‘ then click on ‘Save‘ button. Word will automatically convert your MS Word document to HTML file.

To create a html file with Frames using MS Word

To divide a web page into many sections ‘frames‘ are used. From the ‘View‘ select ‘Toolbars->Frames‘. A ‘Frame‘ toolbar will be added to your word application. In this toolbar many buttons for different types of frames will be shown. From these, choose the frame type that you want for your page and click on that button. You can add border to a frame or scroll bar to a frame as you wish. To do this, in the ‘Format‘ menu choose ‘Frames->Frame Properties’. A dialog box will open. In this dialog box choose border, scroll bar etc based on your requirement.

To insert ‘discussion forum’ to your page.

When you publish your webpage if you want to enable your visitors to submit their comments about your page then you can do so. But your hosting provider should have installed ‘Web Discussion Server‘. To insert this ‘discussion‘ in the page you are creating using MS Word, from the ‘Tools‘ menu choose ‘Online collaboration->Web Discussion‘ option. A ‘Discussions’ toolbar will be added to your MS Word application. In this toolbar click the ‘Insert Discussion about the Document’ button from this discussions toolbar. In the ‘Discussion subject‘ box write your topic and in the ‘Discussion text’ box write your opinion and click ‘OK’ button. To read the comments click the ‘Show General Discussions‘ button in the ‘Discussions’ toolbar.