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Producing PDF files from Word

If you intend mailing documents or installing them on the WWW it's important to choose the file format carefully. It's probably not a good idea to use a Word format because many people won't be able to view the files. A good alternative format is PDF: free viewers exist (see Adobe's Acroread page) and most computers already have them. The viewers have a print option, and files are likely to be an accurate representation of the original document. To produce PDF files from a Word file you'll probably need to buy Adobe's Distiller (CUED staff can use a copy on the Computer Operators' PC), though OpenOffice might work. Distiller's fairly easy to use but to get the best results (both in terms of file-size and quality) you should select the options carefully.

If you have a recent version of Distiller and Word, it's likely that you can "print to acrobat" from inside Word. If that's not possible, look at the Preparing file for use with Distiller section. Once you have Distiller running, select your options

One of the problems with document transfer is ensuring that the reader has access to all the necessary fonts, so make sure that you choose the "All font inclusion" option to be on the safe side.
First set the "Job options" - if you don't intend readers to print the document out, select "Screen", but normally you'd choose "Print".
Then decide on the "Settings"
- General - choose Acrobat3 in the Compatibility field so that those with older PDF readers can still read your document. Choose "Optimize for Fast Web View"
- Compression - You want to make the file as small as possible, but you don't want to degrade the quality of the document. Even if the user is only going to read the document on-screen (typically about 72 dots-per-inch) you'll need support higher resolution if you want them to be able to zoom. 300 dpi (dots-per-inch) is a reasonable setting, but sometimes 72 or 600 may be appropriate.
- Fonts - Choose "Embed All fonts" and "Subset Embedded fonts". Set the percentage to 100%.
Finally you may want to add bookmarks to your document. Open the PDF file in Acrobat and click on the Bookmarks tab on the left. Go in the document to where you want to set a bookmark and then choose "new bookmark" from the pop-up menu to give the bookmark a name. Repeat this until you've finished, then choose "Document Properties" from the File menu and select "Open Options". If you select "Bookmarks and Page" then the bookmarks will be shown when the document is loaded.

If those options don't produce a viable file (maths can sometimes cause problems) try these alternatives

Create the PDF file from word by doing the following
- Choose Print -> Select "Adobe PDF"
- In "Properties" select the tab "Adobe PDF Settings" and take the tick off "Rely on system fonts only; do not use document fonts".
Create the PDF file from word by doing the following
- In the Print options select any printer that is a postscript printer and choose "Print to file".
- Use note book on the file to remove all text before %!PS-Adobe. Also remove all text after %%EOF at the end of the file.
- Rename the file to file.ps and feed file.ps to Distiller.

Preparing file for use with Distiller

If Distiller needs to be given a postscript file, load the Word file into Word and use "Print" then Select the "to File" option. At this point you'll be presented various options, the wording depending on what type of Windows or MacOS you're using. You want to save as a postscript job, binary data format and use the "All font inclusion" option.