How to create a PDF file on Mac and Windows

Now that so many people are working remotely, it is more accepted than ever that official documents are sent digitally – and most are sent as PDFs.

In case you are not familiar with the history of this format, PDF stands for portable document format and was created by Adobe in the early 1990s to allow people and organizations to create accurate digital versions of paper documents. The idea was that the document would be an exact, immutable copy of the original (although some PDFs can now be edited, you can create a PDF that you cannot).

Since then, PDFs have become a standard for sending official documents. If you need to send something with any kind of legality, you will probably be asked to send it as a PDF.

You can create a PDF from a printed document by scanning it and saving the scan as a PDF. But what if you are viewing a document online and need to save it as a PDF?

It is very simple, for both Mac and Windows PC users. And it is done in the same way in both: you “print” the document in a PDF file. These instructions are for printing a web document using the Chrome browser, but this works for any application that has a print function.

• Click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
• Click “Print …”

• The print window will appear with a preview box on the left and a series of features on the right. Next to the “Destination” label, click on the drop-down menu and select “Save as PDF”.

• If you have a multi-page document and want to create a PDF using just one specific page or range of pages, click on the drop-down menu next to the “Pages” label, choose “Customize” and type in which pages you want to save. (This works in exactly the same way as if you were sending the pages to a printer.)

Please note that when printing a web page in PDF, you will print the entire page, not just what is currently visible in the browser. Therefore, it is a good idea to check what is being printed in the preview box and print only the necessary pages – it is much more difficult to edit a PDF document later.