What is PDF?

PDF stands for Portable Document Format. PDF-files are compact and can be shared, viewed, navigated, and printed on various platforms (e.g. Windows, Mac and Unix) exactly as intended by anyone with free Adobe Acrobat Reader software. There are several ways to create PDF-files from your documents.

Creating PDF-files with Adobe Distiller

You need the full version of Adobe Acrobat. Acrobat Reader cannot produce PDF-files. Also, do not use PDFWriter. Instead, use the Adobe Distiller component of Adobe Acrobat. (Here's the reason why (in pdf)).

Instructions for Windows and Mac

1. Print your document to a PostScript file.
2. Start Adobe Distiller and open the "Job Options" dialog from the "Settings menu". Use the following settings:
   • In the "Compression" tab, set the resampling resolutions to at least 300 dpi or switch off resampling altogether.
   • In the "Fonts" tab, check "Embed All Fonts" and "Subset Fonts" and specify a value of 100%.
3. From Distiller, locate and open the PostScript file.
4. Specify a location for the PDF-file. Adobe Distiller then converts the file to PDF.

Instructions for Unix

1. Print your document to a PostScript file.
2. Invoke the distiller as follows:
   distill -embedallfonts on -maxsubsetpct 100 -colorres off -grayres off -monores off <yourfile.ps>

Creating PDF-files with AFPL Ghostscipt

You should use Ghostscript 6.0 or above since you need to embed your fonts into the PDF-file. The current version of Ghostscript is available from the Ghostscript Home Page at the University of Wisconsin.

Instructions

1. Print your document to a PostScript file.
2. Invoke the distiller as follows:
   ps2pdf -dEmbedAllFonts=true -dSubsetFonts=true -dMaxSubsetPct=100 <yourfile.ps>

The Online Documentation of Ghostscript contains a detailed description of ps2pdf options.

Creating PDF-files immediately from Latex

If you prepare your paper with Latex you can also use the pdftex package available from CTAN which directly generates PDF from Tex-files. A brief manual is available from the Tex Users Group, where you can also find links to related material.