El PDF It started as a private company format and has ended up becoming a standard. It is currently one of the most used and popular formats for sharing documents, as it provides great flexibility and possibilities. It's no wonder that the .pdf extension is among the top 5 most used for text files right now, along with .doc / .docx, .odt, .txt, .tex, and .rtf.
In this guide you will learn a little more about these formats and also how to work with PDF files. Tasks as everyday as compression, editing, protection, etc. In short, everything you need to know about him ...
What is PDF?
It's a storage format for digital documents that is independent of the software platform, so it can be accessed from any compatible device and machine. Its acronym PDF stands for Portable Document Format, that is, a portable document format.
This type of documents can not only store text, they can also be enriched with vector images, bitmaps, hyperlinks, bookmarks, notes, embedded videos, etc. There are even some interactive documents that you can fill out to make forms. Therefore, it provides great flexibility.
Although it was initially created by a private company, on July 1, 2008, given its popularity, it was released as an open standard and under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO 32000-1 is the one corresponding to this format.
The development of the PDF format would start in 1991, date by which its adoption was quite reduced. Much of the blame was the need for proprietary licensed software to be able to work with it. After that, its use would skyrocket until it became what it is today ...
In addition, given the digitization of today's society, PDF has also contributed to save a lot of paper. Something that is good news in the face of deforestation due to the felling of trees to create paper. Many documents that were previously shared on paper are now made digitally thanks to this document.
Features
All the characteristics that have made the PDF format so popular can be summarized in the following points:
- Multiplatform format, and therefore very useful for getting information to all users.
- It can contain rich text with videos, sounds, hypertext, bookmarks, thumbnails, annotations, etc.
- The format is not lost when other users open them with different software, as it happens to other formats such as docs, etc. This avoids the annoyances of fonts being deconfigured, text moving, aspects, tables, electronic forms, etc. being modified.
- Its size also makes it very useful for the Internet.
- Being an open specification, a large number of tools can be used to work with it. In addition, it can be created from various formats, converting to PDF.
- Supports advanced features like digital signature, compression, watermarks, and encryption for password protection.
- Its standard makes it ideal for long-term document preservation.
- Many platforms and entities use it as a reference format. For example, some publishers only support PDF format for printing books, etc.
To make all of this possible, PDF files have a internal structure very clear. They are made up of parts common to other files, such as:
- Header or header: is the part of the file to identify the PDF standard specification and version.
- Body or bodysuit: is the block where the elements used in the document are described, that is, the content.
- Crosstab table or Cross-Reference Table: is the part with information about the elements used in the pages of the file.
- Tail or trailer: where it is indicated where to find the crosstab.
Also, you should know that these documents support large number of settings, such as being able to embed fonts, different color representations (CMYK, RGB,…), image compression, etc.
Finally, you also have to take into account another important part of this type of document. And is that a PDF, like other files, also has Metadata where a large amount of data is stored about the creator, the software, the username that created it, date of creation and modification, security attributes, etc. Some metadata that you can delete or modify if you want with some existing tools.
PDF types
PDF has gone through a process of evolution, with the launch of different versions along the history:
- PDF 1.0 - 1993
- PDF 1.1 - 1994
- PDF 1.2 - 1996
- PDF 1.3 - 1999
- PDF 1.4 - 2001
- PDF 1.5 - 2003
- PDF 1.6 - 2005
- PDF 1.7 - 2006-Present (Extensions Level have been added)
But beyond the versions, there are also types of PDFs that you should know. For example, some of the most notable are:
- PDF / A: is a standard used by administrations and governments for legal and administrative documents. It is also required for book layout, etc., by some printers. It is the one that complies with the ISO 19005-1: 2005 standard.
- PDF / X: is a format specially designed for printing paper documents. It is also widely used by printers and publishers.
- PDF / E: it is a development similar to the first one, but focused on engineering documents. See ISO TC171 / SC2.
- PDF / VT- Another of the 16612 ISO 2-2010 standards that defines an optimized format for variable and transactional printing.
- PDF / UA: it is a variant of the PDF / A called Universal Access, or Universal Access. It is one that is specially designed for the visually impaired such as the blind or people who have vision problems.
- ...
What can you do with a PDF?
With a PDF document format you can do a multitude of things, or restrict to other users what they can do with a shared PDF. Versatility of this format is larger than many users think. For example, you can:
- Create a PDF from another document, such as a .doc / .docx / .odt, etc.
- Conversions between formats, from and to PDF.
- Edit a PDF.
- Compress PDF to reduce its size and make it more suitable for sharing over the network or sending an email attachment.
- Protection and digital signature. For example, you can encrypt the PDF so that no one can access it without a password, or prevent it from being printed, copying the content, preventing its editing, adding an authority certificate or digital ID, etc. That makes them especially safe to use in organizations and businesses.
You have a lot of very diverse software to be able to do all that. You are free to choose the one you like the most. For GNU / Linux there are free and proprietary programs that are quite good.
Can a PDF be compressed?
Yes, I have already commented on it in the list above. But it is not compressing using compression algorithms to convert the PDF into a ZIP, RAR, tarball, etc., but it can be compress PDF document itself to make it take up less memory. By reducing its size it can be shared in a simpler way so that it is faster to upload / download or send by email.
In order to do that there are several options, one of them is through the SmallPDF website. With your tool to compress PDF you will not need to install any program locally. The method is very simple, just follow these steps:
- Access the SmallPDF website
- Click on the "Choose files" button or drag and drop the PDF into the red toolbox on your website. There are also options to do it from a Gdrive or Dropbox link.
- Once chosen, you must wait for it to finish uploading to the cloud. That will automatically compress it. It will inform you how much the size has been reduced.
- Now you just need to press "Download" so that the compressed PDF version is downloaded to your computer. As you can see, it is now smaller.
On this website you can also undertake Other actions with your PDF documents, how to convert formats, merge, edit, protect, and sign.