PDFs are one of the most common and preferred file formats today. PDF files are not only widely used in the real-estate, medical, and legal industries, but they are also seen being used in small businesses, at home, or schools & colleges. It started to gain popularity in 2008 when Adobe released it as an open standard, which led to the worldwide usage of the file format.

PDF files have many useful advantages over other file formats such as PowerPoint or Word format. This article will give you various reasons why PDF files are much better than Word documents. In case you didn't know or are not familiar with PDF, we also got you covered.

What is PDF?

PDF or Portable Document Format is a file format developed in 1993 by Adobe to present documents, such as images and text formatting, in a way that is not dependent on the operating system, hardware, or application software. In 1991, the co-founder of Adobe, Dr. John Warnock, set the paper-to-digital revolution with a notion he calls The Camelot Project.

The project's objective was to allow anyone to send electronic versions of these documents wherever you are, capture documents from any application, and print and view them on any type of machine. So, in 1992, PDFs were developed from the idea of the Camelot Project. Today, it is the file format that is trusted by all types of businesses worldwide, which is why you should consider converting your Word to PDF right away.

PDFs are Universal

PDF files are not dependent on the operating system, hardware, or software you are using. It is true for the fact that you can easily edit and manage your Word documents using Microsoft Word, but if you are using a different operating system, say, for example, a Mac computer or laptop, you would have trouble or experience compatibility issues whenever you access them on a Windows computer.

On the other hand, PDF files will virtually appear the same on any device regardless of their operating system. Additionally, PDF files can easily be viewed and accessed on mobile devices nowadays. Other than Adobe Reader, there has been an abundance of these tools such as PDFBear, GoGoPDF, and many more.

More Secure

Another benefit, if you plan on converting your Word documents to PDFs, is that PDF files are more secure and support data encryption, which means that you can protect your files from anyone wanting to access them. Also, PDF files offer a more secure and safer approach whenever you transfer any data on the internet.

Legalscans.com stated that a document is reliable and valid if it can leave a detectable digital footprint, a prerequisite that PDF files have. For this reason, it makes PDF more dependable and reliable whenever you use them as legal proof or use them in court. PDF files can't easily be tampered with or altered without the right editing software, making fabrication and falsification of the content stored inside to be complicated.

Password Protection

PDF files normally need quality protection and security level, as these files may potentially contain some sensitive information that file owners don't want to know about or have access to. However, you can easily install passwords to your PDF files with PDF tools such as PDFBear or GoGoPDF.

Protecting your PDF files with passwords gives it sufficient protection from hackers, cybercriminals, or any malicious activities that would prevent the data or information stored inside from falling into the wrong hands. This advantage guarantees that the information or data stored is only accessible to the people who possess or know the correct password.

Preservation of Visual Elements

Unlike Word documents, PDF files smartly maintain every visual element made into the file, meaning that every font style, font size, graphics, embedded media, images, or text will also be converted into your new PDF file.

Smaller File Size

One can easily convert various file formats into a PDF that has a much better and higher resolution resulting in a PDF that has a very high and nice quality. Even though they have a much higher quality and resolution, PDFs still occupy less space, which you can easily keep in your personal computer or your company's computer servers.

Takeaway

These are just some of the reasons and nifty advantages whenever you choose to convert your Word documents into PDF files. They are secure, but they also occupy less space, making them more efficient than any other file format.