PDF stands for "portable document format."

Though there are many uses for PDFs, one of the most practical uses is that if you save a document as a PDF you can transfer it files created in ANY program from a volunteers home to be printed at the church office. For example, say a church communication volunteer only uses PrintShop, another only PageMaker, and the church office only has MS Word and MS Publisher. How do you print communications they create for the church?

This brief little video shows you a great little program you can use to create PDFs. Cute PDF is a free program (it has a paid version, but the free works great). For some specialized uses printers require PDFs be created with Adobe, (which costs $99-$499), but this program works great for most church communication uses

If they all have Cute PDF (which anyone can download for free), they can save the file as a PDF and then email it to the church. The church can print out the publication using the PDF and the church office does not need to have the program that created the communication.

The only negative of this situation is that any corrections need to be made by the original creator of the communication, but if all goes well this is a great tool.