What Is a PDF File
PDF is short for Portable Document Format. A PDF file includes all the components of a printed document encoded as an electronic image, and you can navigate, print, or send PDF to another person.
Dr. John Warnock, a co-founder of Adobe Inc, developed this file format. The PDF files were created to allow anyone to download documents from any application, transfer electronic copies of those documents anywhere, and view and print those documents on any computer.
This file format has become very popular nowadays, and PDF files are actually the image of documents. A PDF file has one or more page images that the user can zoom in or out. A PDF's pages can also be scrolled through backward and forwards.
Here is a short video about PDF files. We hope you can learn some useful information from this video. Here are the timelines of this video:
- 00:08 PDF introduction
- 00:38 PDF main features
- 01:13 Is a PDF file pretty convenient
- 01:43 Disadvantages of PDF files
Now, we are going to introduce what are the PDF documents used for in the next part. By the way, you can add this passage to your bookmarks or share it on social media in case you need to reread it.
What Are the PDF Documents Used for
PDF files have many advantages that attract users to choose them, and different users choose PDF documents for different reasons. What are the PDF documents used for? Here are the answers:
?Resume. Have you created a resume and saved it in a Word format, then found it shows up in a different format on other computers? This is an annoying thing. Users can save the resume in a PDF format to avoid this situation, and the saved PDF file will always show the same format.
?Contract. When users are going to send a contract to the clients and do not want the clients to change the contract, they will save the contract as a PDF format.
?️Print. If you want to send your papers to someone else and let him print your papers, you should send the PDF files to ensure the format is correct.
You may know that PDF files can stay in a fixed format and are not easy to edit. When you want to make sure the format of a document will not change and do not allow other users to edit it, you'd better save the files in PDF format.
How to Open the PDF Files on Windows
Most computers have a default PDF viewer program, and we will teach you how to open PDF files on Windows without difficulties.
Step 1. Locate your PDF files on your computer.
Step 2. You can double-click the file, and the PDF file will open with the default program. Or you can right-click the PDF file and move your pointer to "Open with". Then you can see all the programs that can be used to open a PDF file. Choose "Microsoft Edge".
Step 3. You can also install Adobe Acrobat on your computer and open PDF files with Adobe Acrobat when the PDF won't open. This program allows you to easily create, open, and edit PDF files.
How to Open the PDF Files on Mac
Mac previewer can open PDF files, and users can also open PDFs with Safari. We will show you the two methods:
Open PDF Files on Mac with macOS Previewer:
Step 1. Find the folder which contains your PDF files.
Step 2. Click "Preview (default)" after selecting "Open With" from the context menu when you right-click the desired PDF file. Or you can open the PDF with the default macOS Preview by double-clicking.
Open PDF Files on Mac with Safari:
Step 1. Find the folder which contains your PDF files.
Step 2. Right-click the PDF file and open it with "Safari". Then, a Safari window will open, and your PDF files will open with the window.
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Free PDF Editor - Top 6 Best Free PDF Editors 2023 Update
You can also try to open, edit, and convert PDF files with PDF editors. Check this passage to know more.
![PDF editors](/images/en/cooperate/pdf-topic.jpg)
How to Deal with PDF Documents' Problems
While using PDF files or other documents, you may encounter issues. The most common issues you may encounter are accidental deletion and file corruption.
Users may delete some essential PDF files by mistake, or the computer virus makes your PDF files disappear. PDF files may be damaged or corrupted because of a system crash, malware attack, or other sudden issues.
How to recover deleted PDF files, and how to repair PDF files? We have a perfect solution for both situations.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a third-party PDF recovery tool and also a PDF repair tool. Whether you lost PDF files on your computer, SD card, or external hard drive, this program will help you get them back. With its PDF repair feature, you can easily repair corrupted PDF files.
What Are the Differences Between PDF and JPG
In short, PDF is a document format, and JPG is an image file format. Although both two formats can contain photos, they are totally different:
- JPG files are relatively small because they compress image data only. Users may lose image data when they save JPG files, and this kind of data loss will not happen if you are using a PDF file format.
- Although PDF files are not easy to edit, you still have ways to edit them. On the other hand, JPEGs cannot be broken down into parts since they compress all content into a single layer.
- You could choose JPGs over PDFs due to their smaller size since they will likely take up less space on your hard drive, portable disk, or cloud. However, the storage of papers and photos may be more dependable with PDF files.
Conclusion
Have you tried to open or edit PDF files on your computer? If you don't know how to do that before, you should now know how to open PDF files on Windows and Mac. If you encounter issues like losing PDF files or file corruption, don't forget to download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to troubleshoot.
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Daisy is the Senior editor of the writing team for EaseUS. She has been working at EaseUS for over ten years, starting as a technical writer and moving on to being a team leader of the content group. As a professional author for over ten years, she writes a lot to help people overcome their tech troubles.
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Dany is an editor of EaseUS who lives and works in Chengdu, China. She focuses on writing articles about data recovery on Mac devices and PCs. She is devoted to improving her writing skills and enriching her professional knowledge. Dany also enjoys reading detective novels in her spare time.
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