Synopsis:
How can I convert a document to Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format?

Solution:
There are many ways to create .pdf documents. The simple rule of thumb is that if you can print a document, you can turn it instead into a .pdf formatted document.

Microsoft Office 2007 on Windows computers
The simplest and fastest way to create .pdf documents is from within Microsoft Office 2007 applications. There, you can simply SAVE AS PDF -- an action that takes just seconds.

Mac OS X computers
Mac OS X enables you to create PDF files from any application.

• Open a document you’d like to save as a PDF
• From the File pull-down menu, choose Print.
• In the Print dialog box, click the Preview button. Mac OS X will open the Preview application and display your document as a PDF.
• To save the PDF document - from the File pull-down menu, choose Save As PDF, and tell Mac OS X where you’d like the PDF file saved.

OIT Cluster computers
All cluster computers have a special printer called "Adobe PDF". You can create a PDF from within any application by printing to this printer. When you print, you'll be prompted to choose a location and filename for the resulting PDF file. Cluster computers also have the full version of Adobe Acrobat for creating and editing PDFs.

University DeSC computers
Acrobat Professional offers a simple mechanism for creating .pdf documents from Office applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or from any web page or site. Acrobat Distiller is a licensed application that is part of Acrobat Professional (full version). The full version of Adobe Acrobat can be used if you are using a DeSC University machine.

Non-DeSC computers
If you are not using a DeSC computer and do not have access to the OIT keyserver, you have two options:

• Convert files to PDF format using the limited PDF-creation capabilities of OIT's SendMePDF printer service on: \\ntprintserver\send_me_pdf
• Purchase Adobe Professional from OIT Software Sales