PDF vs MS Word When to use them?

To answer that question, we must see what both software have to offer.

When should you use PDF format

1. Printing

This format offers the opportunity to print a certain page layout in high resolution without changing the design and content. The PDF page is What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG), which means that you’ll print exactly what you see in a digital format.

Doc format isn’t largely accepted by professional printers and there’s a slight differentiation almost always from the original. The PDF files have a print-ready option that sends it directly to the printer.

2. Web Content

The format is suitable for uploading quality documents on the internet. The PDF can’t be modified easily by others and you’ll know it will open appropriately.

Moreover, you can add a table of content for seamless navigation, comments, bookmarks or links towards your website. Portable Documents are searchable on the internet, so ensure you’ve optimised them properly for search engines.

3. Archiving

The PDF files are suitable for storage due to their small size when compressed. The PDF/A format was created exactly for archiving purposes so that the layout remains the same on all platforms.

Adding metadata would make the organisation and categorisation of the documents a seamless process.

4. Business Documents

Businesses use the Portable Document Format because it ensures the same appearance. Legal and corporate documents must remain the way they were created.

5. Can be viewed by anyone

The Word document requires MS word to be opened and viewed. To unlock pdf you can get through with the free Adobe Reader, which comes installed on most Windows devices.

When to use Word

1. Images

The images attached onto a word document can be easily copied and used elsewhere. With PDF files, this isn’t possible because they are embedded within the file.

2. Writing

The Adobe Acrobat isn’t a writing software like MS Word. The later is a word processor that has various writing benefits such as grammar & spell checking and etc.

3. Editing

As a word processing tool, Microsoft Word serves a great job as a document editor as well. There are sophisticated formatting tools to compose your document the way you want. You can easily change fonts, styles, sizes and edit long texts easily.

Summary

Now that you know the benefits of both software, you might be wondering which one to choose? Well, the truth is that both formats should be used at the same time.

The Word format is best suitable for the creation and editing of the content, while PDF is more used for viewing and sharing purposes. It is best to start with a Word document and then convert it when you’ve decided to share it with the world.