A PDF (Portable Document File) is created by the software Adobe Acrobat Distiller. It’s used to keep formatting and graphics, compress file size and allow documents to be read by computers that don’t have the software the original was created in.
You have to buy Adobe Distiller to create PDFs, but Adobe cleverly gives the reader software away free from its web site — www.adobe.com
PDFs aren’t all that great
Not everyone will have Acrobat installed.
Many people are loath to download the Reader.
Older Acrobat Readers can’t open newer files.
Sometimes the file size remains mammoth.
It’s incredibly hard to read a PDF online.
Many large corporations now strip attachments from incoming e-mails.
People are incredibly busy and zip through e-mails fast. With a PDF, you’re asking them not only to open your e-mail, but also to give you another click. Then to wait for the Acrobat software to open.
Once made, you can’t change a PDF.
A far better solution is to design your newsletter as an e-mail, so that people will immediately see it in their inbox. PDFs are convenient for you — not the viewer. Remember that.
By the way, for your graphic designer to create a PDF, it’s almost as simple as one push of a button. That’s it. You should expect one with each print newsletter you do.
Tip supplied by Debbie Mayo-Smith of Successful Internet Strategies—www.successis.co.nz
