New Thing Ten: Creating PDF Files

As a free add-in from Microsoft, you will have the ability to save files in PDF format in Office 2007. This means that you can create a Word document and then save it to PDF format to send to people or put up on a web page. You will not need an additional program (for example, Adobe Acrobat) to create PDF files anymore. You will still need Adobe Acrobat if you want to edit PDF files or convert a file that's currently PDF to a Word document.

Some important notes:

--This feature is not available 'out of the box' in Office 2007. If you've just installed Office 2007, you will not see 'PDF or XPS' as an option under 'Save as.'
--The ability to save Office documents as PDF files is a free add-in from Microsoft.

To install the PDF add-in to Office 2007:

1. Login as 'Administrator' (if you're still on Windows XP)
2. Enter Word (or Excel or Powerpoint--you only need to add this feature once and it will be available in all Office applications).
3. Click on the Office button and select 'Save As.'
4. Select 'Find add-ins for other file formats' (If you already have the add-in installed, the menu will not contain this option but will have 'PDF or XPS' instead).
5. Click on 'Install and use the Save as PDF or XPS add-in...'
6. Click on 'Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS Add-in...'
7. Follow the instructions at the Microsoft Download Center for installing the PDF or XPS add-in

You can also access the add-in by going to Office Help and typing 'add pdf' in the search box.

Posted by dcoates at January 30, 2007 03:49 PM