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What is the difference between the multiple options to create a PDF?

Anonymous
2016-06-20T16:16:40+00:00

In Word 2013, we have multiple options to create a PDF.

  1. File > Save As > *.PDF 
  2. File > Save as Adobe PDF 
  3. File > Export > Create PDF/XPS 
  4. File > Print > Adobe PDF 

What is the difference between each of these options? Why would one method be preferred over the other? For example, why would I choose Option 1 over Option 2? Or why would I 'export' a file to PDF versus 'print a file to PDF?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-06-21T02:05:45+00:00

    Ordinarily I would use the Acrobat plugin. The one time that I found that the native PDF converter worked better was when I was using a font that Adobe wouldn't embed. Using the option to "Bitmap text when fonts may not be embedded" allowed me to get the result I needed. As far as I can tell, this option is not available in Acrobat.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-06-21T19:04:24+00:00

    Thank you for your help, Suzanne. I will proceed with the Acrobat plugin option. I wish Microsoft would include information about the different PDF options (their advantages and disadvantages) in their documentation.

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  2. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-06-20T18:42:51+00:00

    Options 2 and 4 suggest that you have Acrobat installed. If so, you would likely also have an Acrobat tab on the Ribbon, with a Create PDF button.

    I do have Acrobat installed, and I have one more option: at File | Export, I have a Create Adobe PDF button.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-06-20T19:48:50+00:00

    Thank you for your reply, Suzanne. Yes, I have Acrobat installed and have the 5th option as well. Which option is the 'preferred' option for creating a PDF? Should I 'Create Adobe PDF' from the Export option or should I create the PDF using the Acrobat > Create PDF button? What is the advantage of 'exporting' the file to create a PDF (instead of Acrobat > Create PDF)? Can you shed light on the difference between Save as Adobe PDF and the Save As..*.pdf options as well? Any help is appreciated.

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