Whether you're signing an I-9 document for a human resources, sharing workout tips with your best friend, or putting together documentation for a patent application, it's terrifically important that the recipient of your files can actually open them, make edits, or save them.

Enter the PDF, those files that aren't quite Word documents. Here's how to master the PDF

What is a PDF, anyway?

© Ann E. Yow-Dyson - Getty Images Warnock At The 1989 PC Forum

PDF stands for Portable Document File. Back in 1991, Adobe co-founder John Warnock—and former CEO up through 2000—began the process of designing the PDF through an idea he referred to as "The Camelot Project." Basically, Warnock wanted anyone to be able to access files created in various applications, so that they could be sent electronically and accessed through any computer. The next year, the PDF was born.

In short, the PDF is an open standard that allows documents to be exchanged and opened by anyone, regardless of operating systems, hardware, or software limitations that would otherwise cause issues. If you ever have received a Word document from someone using a different version of the software than you have on your own laptop, perhaps even just from a different year, you've experienced that frustration.

The International Organization for Standardization maintains the PDF's standards, which allow the documents to contain links and buttons, form fields, audio, and video. According to Adobe, they can be signed electronically and anyone can read the files on Windows or Mac by using free Acrobat Reader DC software.

How To Merge PDF files

© Apple Text, Website, Technology, Software, Screenshot, Web page, Electronic device, Operating system, Font, Multimedia,

The convenience of PDFs ultimately comes down to their universal nature and their ability to store all of a file's original data even when you combine multiple images, spreadsheets, or videos into a single file. And here's exactly how you can combine those PDF files into one document that's much easier to share with others:

On a Mac:

1. Open a PDF in Preview.
2. Choose View > Thumbnails to show page thumbnails in the sidebar.
3. To indicate where to insert the other document, select a page thumbnail.
4. Choose Edit > Insert > Page from File,* select the PDF that you want to add, then click Open.
5. To save, choose File > Export as PDF.

To combine just a part of one PDF with another:

1. Open the PDFs that you want to combine in Preview.
2. In each document, choose View > Thumbnails to show page thumbnails in the sidebar.
3. Press and hold the Command key, select the page thumbnails that you want to add to the other document, then let go of Command.
4. Drag the selected thumbnails into the sidebar of the other PDF, then release where you want them to appear. If your Mac has macOS Sierra or earlier, drag the thumbnails directly onto a thumbnail in the other PDF.
5. To save, choose File > Export as PDF.

On a PC:

Method 1: Use an online tool called PDF Joiner.

1. Visit http://pdfjoiner.com/
2. Click the teal Upload Files button in the middle of the page. A file explorer window will then open up.
3. Select the files you'd like to merge. You can put together up to 20 at once with PDF Joiner, so just hold down the Ctrl button while clicking on files so that you can select multiple.
4. Click Open. The files will begin to upload to PDF Joiner (this could take a few minutes, depending on how many and how large your files are).
5. Click Join Files in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. This will prompt a obtain of your new, single PDF with all of the data from the other files in one place.

Method 2: obtain the free PDF Creator app.

1. Visit https://ninite.com/ and check the "PDFCreator" box in the Documents section of the page to obtain the tool.
2. Double-click the purple Ninite icon and wait for the PDF Creator app to install.
3. Double-click PDF Creator on your desktop once the obtain is complete.
4. Go to the Start Menu > File Explorer.
5. Select the files you'd like to combine by holding the Ctrl button while clicking files, just as in the method above.
6. Click and drag your selected files into the PDF Creator window and drop them there.
7. Click Merge at the bottom of the PDF Creator window.
8. Click Merge All.
9. Enter a new name for your composite PDF and click Save.

© Adobe null

Worrying about PDF files on Microsoft Teams should soon be a thing of the past after the collaboration tool launched new in-built integration with Adobe Acrobat, allowing for easy group access to documents directly within the app.

In a post on the Microsoft Teams Blog, the company announced that Acrobat can now be set as the default app to open PDFs in Teams, offering features such as collaborative sharing and reviewing, comments and annotations, and access to PDFs stored across Microsoft Sharepoint and OneDrive.

The change will require an organization’s IT admin to set Acrobat as the default PDF app within the Teams admin center, with Microsoft publishing a guide to set up the feature. From there, all PDF files sent from individual chats and group channels will benefit from the change.

All Teams users will benefit from Acrobat’s basic PDF reader functionality, but will need an Acrobat Standard or Pro account to add comments, export and convert to other file types, compress and password protect PDFs.

Microsoft was also hurry to point out that PDFs that are collaborated on using Acrobat are sent, temporarily, to Adobe Document Cloud servers for encryption, and then deleted from those servers after twenty-four hours. 

Adobe, for its part, has published a white paper discussing the security procedures that govern its Document Cloud services. There, it claims that documents sent to the cloud already have their visibility set to “private”, meaning only users who have collaborated on a document can view it, and any external sharing actions must be taken by those users.

This isn’t the first collaboration between Microsoft and Adobe. Its Adobe Acrobat Sign feature, allowing the printing of authentic “e-signatures” into documents, has already been made available as add-ins for Microsoft 365, Teams, and SharePoint. 

Moving forward, Adobe will offer “Live Sign” within Acrobat Sign In for teams, which it hopes will provide a “real-time signing experience” without the need to meet in person.

Windows 10, 8, and 7 operating systems feature a built-in virtual printer that enables users to save documents, photos, and webpages to PDF (no third-party software is required). Here's how to do it.

The virtual printer (also known as Microsoft Print to PDF) can be accessed from the Windows Print dialog box (File >Print). It enables you to convert your text documents, spreadsheets, photos, and web pages to the PDF format. Here's a simple example with a text document:

In Word, click on the File menu > Print to open the Print dialog. Next, click on the Printer dropdown menu and select Microsoft Print to PDF from the list of printers:

You can change the orientation (Landscape or Portrait) by clicking on Properties button and choosing the desired preset. Once you have defined your print options, click on OK to proceed to the next step.

The Save Print Output As dialog box will show up. Choose a filename and location to save your PDF file. Finally, click on Save to create the file.

do you have more questions about pdf? check out our forum!

Microsoft has announced that it has deeply integrated the Adobe Acrobat app into Teams. Just like the standalone Adobe Acrobat app offering, users will now be able to view, edit, export, organize, combine, convert compress, protect and access PDFs from Teams chats, channels, OneDrive, or SharePoint.

Therefore, if you use Adobe Acrobat as your default PDF file viewer in your organization, you will now be able to do this within the Microsoft Teams app. What's more, users don't require an Adobe Acrobat subscription once the admin sets it as the default PDF file viewer via the admin center. However, if you need access to premium features such as combine, protect, and export, you'll need to have an Acrobat Standard or Pro account.

Check out the Adobe features that will be available to you in Teams below:

Adobe Acrobat further indicated that:

Adobe understands digital security is a key priority for organizations. PDFs shared or collaborated on are sent to Adobe Document Cloud servers in the region in which the user is located for transient processing and then deleted within 24 hours. The documents remain encrypted both in transit and at rest during this process. The modified documents with the comments are then stored in the original SharePoint or OneDrive.

Both Microsoft and Adobe Acrobat are working together closely to make the app deployment easier for admins through the M365 Admin Center and ensure that the user experience is at its best in general. Users should expect significant updates and improvements in the future.

Share your thoughts with us regarding Adobe Acrobat integration in Microsoft Teams.

via: Microsoft, Adobe

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The best PDF editors offer advanced features for creating, editing, and collaborating on PDF files. 

Top tools even include eSign software, OCR software, and the ability to convert files to and from the PDF filetype.