While there are several popular text and document formats such as DOC, RTF, ODT or TXT – PDF occupies a very special position. It has become one of the most widely-used document formats, especially online.
However while PDF is a format that has numerous benefits and advantages – that doesn’t mean it is the best format to use in every situation. Just like all other formats, there are certain circumstances where using PDF is definitely a good idea, and others where it is not.
If you want to know when to use PDF, one place to start is by understanding the situations where it is best to use PDF:
- When the recipient is using a different (or unknown) platform
If you’re sending your document to a recipient and you aren’t sure what platform they’re using, or know that they’re using one that is different to yours – PDF is normally a good choice. Because it is a universal format that reproduces layouts, formatting, text, images, and other elements accurately on all platforms – you won’t have to worry that it won’t be displayed properly.
- When file size limitations exist
Assuming file size is important for any reason then PDF trumps most other forms of documents due to the fact that it has generally smaller file sizes. That is why if you’re emailing or distributing documents and there is either a hard limitation or you just want the transfer to be fast – using PDFs can help
- When security or restrictions are important
In some cases you may want to ensure that your document is only opened by a specific person, or that it remains unaltered and in its original form. If that’s the case then the security features of PDF will come in handy as you can password protect your documents and it will keep a record of any alterations that are made.
- To create interactive or media-rich documents
One of the newer features of PDF is the support for various interactive components. For years PDFs have supported hyperlinks and images, but they now also support rich media, audio, video, and other elements as well. In short you could create far more interactive and media-rich documents with PDF than most other formats.
As you can see in certain situations the benefits that PDF brings to the table could be a tremendous advantage. Honestly the only drawback that you’re likely to face is the fact that PDFs can be difficult to edit. If that’s your concern however, you could try using Movavi PDF Editor as it will let you edit and alter your PDF files by adding, removing or rearranging pages – and more.
Using Movavi PDF Editor you can merge PDF, extract pages and save them individually, or even add images to existing PDFs. It is designed to be easy to use, so you should have no problem making alterations to your PDF document almost immediately, and in doing so can overcome the main limitation of PDF documents in general.