Creating PDF versions of your documents

PDF is the recommended way to make newsletters, instruction sheets, spreadsheets, or other documents available on your web site.

If you make documents available as word processor or spreadsheet files, then many of your site visitors will be unable to open them. Converting them to HTML often gives unsatisfactory results which take time and patience to improve on. The simplest solution is to save a copy of the document as a PDF file. These files can be opened by almost every site visitor, and they will appear on screen and print correctly.

Step 1 - install a PDF creator

We recommend PDF Creator which is simple to download, install, and use – you just have to make sure you download the correct version for your computer. For a Windows computer we recommend you download the latest full release, choosing the file that ends with ...GNUGhostscript.exe. At the time of writing this file is PDFCreator-0 8 0 GNUGhostscript.exe.

Step 2 - save your document as a PDF file

Your PDF creator works just like a printer. When you want to save your document as a PDF file, select "Print" and choose your PDF creator as the printer. You will then be asked to give a file name, and the document will be saved in PDF format on your computer.

Help! I saved it, but I cannot open it to check that it saved properly. Perhaps you do not have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. If that is the case, download and install it from the Acrobat website. It's quite a big download for a dial-up connection. If you prefer, install Acrobat Reader version 5. It will work perfectly well and it's a much smaller download than the latest version.

Step 3 - put a link to the PDF file on your website

When you are using the HilderBuild online editor, open the HilderBuild Word Processor window and type the text that will link to the document. For example, if it is a newsletter for August 2005, type "Newsletter August 2005". Select the text that you have just typed and choose "Insert link" or click the .

Help! The is disabled. You must already have typed some text and selected it. Until you select some text the will be disabled.

When you choose "Insert link" or click the the Hyperlink window will open. Indicate that you want to link to a file on your computer. Browse until you find the PDF file that you just saved. Click "Upload and link to". As soon as you save your website, the link will be active.

See also

• Using our online editor
• Preparing pictures for your website