Portable Document Format (PDF) files preserve a document exactly as it would look if it came off a printer.  PDFs can be read on any computer system - Windows, Mac, Linux - and do not change (or allow the reader to change) the font, layout or pagination.

Most PDF files start out as Word, HTML, Publisher, Pagemaker, InDesign or Quark documents that are then converted into PDF files to "lock in" their layout and content.

To display PDF files, your computer needs a PDF reading programme, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader which is free and can be downloaded from the Adobe website.

Adobe's is not the only free PDF reader. These days many others are also available on the  internet and some also include a free PDF writer, which enables you to create your on PDF documents by converting your text documents and images into PDF files.

To see the latest PDF reader download options, just type "free PDF reader" into the Google search engine or read this Wikipaedia article.

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