MS Word is one of the most widely used authoring applications on the market today. As such, a Word document is a popular format to convert into a PDF. When textual content is primary and needs to be reproduced faithfully for electronic transmission, conversion into PDF is the best option.

Computer Set Up

Creating a PDF first requires a few components you need on your computer. When converting Word documents into PDFs you need:

• Microsoft Office Word.
• PDF creation software, such as Investintech’s Sonic 1.2 PDF creator. Installing PDF writer software on your computer downloads certain functions into your computer authoring applications. Downloading Sonic 1.2, for example, installs a PDF printer driver and toolbar icons.
• You should also have a PDF viewer installed as well to view the document as a PDF file. Sonic 1.2 is advantageous in this capacity as it comes equipped with its own viewer.

The Word Document

Next item--the document to be converted. There are basic ways in which you can prepare a word document for PDF creation.

• To start, you’ll need to create your document in MS Word if you don’t already have a file ready to convert.
• If you have graphics such as images in your document, make sure the resolution of the image is high as they might not retain good quality when converted. 200 dpi (dots per inch) and above should be ideal.
• Save the original document so that you have a master copy or “source file”.

General ways of creating a PDF format from a Word document.

The following is a general guideline that will give you an idea of how simple it is to create a PDF on your own.

Creating PDF files in MS Word

• with a PDF printer

You can create a PDF file from the Word document. This results in the creation of a simple PDF. With this method, you create a PDF as you would normally print a document:

1) Have the word document you’re going to convert opened.

2) Set up the default printer in Word to the PDF printer driver.

3) As PDF printer drivers use the authoring application’s printing options, change the printing settings in MS Word as you would have them appear in the PDF format. This includes the order of pages, page range to be selected, etc. Change the settings to your preferences on the Print dialogue box. Confirm the print job by clicking OK.

4) A creation dialogue box will appear. You’ll be given options about general features for your PDF. Select and set these accordingly. Then save the file and specify the folder location in which you want it saved. You have to save it to create the PDF. The file will save with a .pdf file extension.

5) Once saved, if you didn’t select to automatically have the PDF launched after creation, you may have to open the PDF again using a PDF viewer.

• using PDF creation functions

1) Creating a PDF using functionalities provided by your PDF creation software, involves following the same above steps. The only difference is that you will be using the PDF creation application’s specific functions instead of choosing the PDF printer driver.

2) Your authoring MS application should have conversion options provided on the toolbar once the PDF creation software is installed. Once you click on the conversion command icons, you’ll see your document in a PDF browser window. Add the PDF features you want for your document, such as bookmarks, attachments, page appearance specifications, etc.

3) Again, save the PDF how and where you want it.

Fortunately, Sonic PDF Creator provides both of the above conversion methods for MS Word.