It’s impossible to say exactly how many PDF files are out there floating around, but what I can say with confidence is that the format has become a highly popular method for distributing information between people. Today I thought I’d share a few thoughts on why I think the PDF format has become so successful and such a necessity for tens (if not hundreds) of millions of people across the globe.
In a nutshell, the Portable Document Format is the bridge between the old paper world and the new electronic document world. A missing link invented by Dr. John Warnock that solved the fundamental challenge of exchanging visually accurate documents electronically.
The PDF format has succeeded because of its:
- Portability. Small in size and self-contained.
- Reliability. Virtually anyone on any computer system can view.
- Accuracy. Look and print the same on any computer.
- Openness. Anyone can develop tools to create and edit documents.
- Familiarity. PDF files are in many ways like paper (simply an electronic version), which is appealing and easy to understand for many people.
PDF in the workplace
Because of factors like these, PDF has become a great way to standardize information exchange.
For an office worker in a government agency or industry such as law, finance, marketing, or publishing, who needs to maintain high-quality work while reducing the time to complete tasks and projects, the PDF format’s capabilities ensure key requirements can be met, like:
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Sharing documents reliably first time.
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Reviewing documents faster in teams.
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Controlling access to and changes made to documents.
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Ensuring related documents are kept together.
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Making documents usable and intelligent.
It seems so simple and obvious looking back at just why the invention (and ongoing development) of PDF has been so significant to the world of electronic documents.
I’ve listed many points on why PDF has become so successful, but there’s an additional point which has contributed significantly to the PDF file format’s long term importance and ongoing success: PDF/A and its many subsets.
Much like archivists might choose special materials and storage schemes to ensure paper documents last well into the future, much planning has gone into PDF to ensure content in the format will be accessible decades into the future. (See our recent Long-term digital archiving with PDF/A post.)
So what do you think? Are there other reasons that have contributed to its success? Perhaps there’s one killer reason why PDF works for you? Share your thoughts below.
