PDF stands for “Portable Document Format”, and what makes a PDF document practical is that it is universal – anyone on any computer, Mac or PC, can open it, without having the software originally used to create it. It can’t be modified by anyone; it’s essentially a picture of the page.

That means you can save a Pages document in a format your friend on a PC can read. It also means you can send a contract created in Word, and the recipient can’t change it and claim that’s how it was originally.

PDFs are saved like any other file, and can also be organized in iPhoto or Aperture.

To convert a document to PDF format, simply go to the Print dialog box.* In the lower right-hand corner, there will be a PDF button. Click on it, and you’ll have a variety of options, not just for the conversion, but for the action you want to do with it as well.

Choose “Save as PDF…” to convert to PDF and save it on your hard drive for archiving, or future use.

“Open in Preview” will immediately let you see what it looks like.

“Mail PDF” will open up Apple Mail and instantly attach the file, so all you have to do is address it and send it!

“Save as Adobe PDF” gets it ready to be modified in Adobe Acrobat, if you’ll be using it as the basis for an interactive form.

“Save PDF to Aperture” and “Save PDF to iPhoto” will instantly add the file to your photo library. You can then assign it keywords, ratings, and move it into albums. These choices are a great way of creating an archive of important records.

“Save PDF to folder as JPG (or TIFF)” turns the document into a graphic image.

“Save PDF to Web Receipts Folder” from either Mail or Safari allows to create digital receipts to track online purchases.

Once your document is saved as a PDF, its universal file format will allow you to use it in any way you’d like!

*If your print dialog box is very small, click the blue arrow to the right of the printer name to expand it out.