The most common question of PDF users is how to convert PDF document to an ordinary Word document.

Why is there a need for PDF conversion in the first place? Before answering this question, a little background on what PDF is should be necessary. The acronym "PDF" actually stands for the words, Portable Document Format. This is a file format that was created by Adobe Systems back in 1993 for purposes of facilitating faster and easier document exchange. It is characterized by a format that has a fixed-layout representing two-dimensional documents independent from the operating system, application software, and hardware used.

More and more users have recognized the importance of using the PDF file format. One of the more prevalent reasons for this is the ability of the Adobe Acrobat PDF to provide fine-detailed images with small file sizes, which make them easy to read and quicker to download. This file format also provides ease for users to zoom in and zoom out images and copy or paste texts and images. Moreover, PDF allows users to reproduce files or images that closely resemble the original when printed.

Perhaps, the biggest disadvantage of using the PDF file format is the need for a user to install an Adobe Acrobat Reader program to be able to read or view PDF files. However, this requisite is very easy to fulfill, as this program can be obtained at no extra cost. It is recommended that the current Adobe Reader version be downloaded. Any version that is higher than the 7.0 version will suffice. The program can be downloaded by clicking on the Adobe icon. Users can save this file either on the hard drive or on a temporary file so that it can easily be found. It is important that the "return" button or key should not be clicked when the computer asks the user where the Adobe Reader program is to be stored.

Some users opt to convert PDF into other file formats like Word, JPEG, and HTML for their convenience. Another reason could also be the fact that some search engines do not index PDF files. To make PDF files easier to integrate into existing web sites, they can be converted into HTML files. Doing this will also make PDF contents more accessible for a larger number of users. Meanwhile, users choose to convert PDF to a Word file format because the latter is easier to edit. Fortunately, various PDF converter utility programs are widely available online. Some popular PDF conversion tools include the 1-2-3 PDFConverter, Universal Document Converter, Smart PDF Converter, and PDF-T-Maker. Though these programs may have different features, they share common characteristics. Most of these file conversion programs allow users to retain original file formatting, even after conversion. Generally, the new file format may be editable, particularly the Word format. These programs may also support partial conversion. That is, a user can choose to convert an entire PDF file or just some sections of the file. Through any of the available file conversion tools, it should be easier to convert PDF files into any desired file format.

Before we look at specific ways to convert HTML to PDF, lets consider the task in more detail. HTML is the programming language that is used to create websites. Obviously, HTML is more versatile -- it supports Flash, animated images, embedded video, background music (this is thankfully rare) and other dynamic page elements. These and some other features of HTML pages can't be converted to HTML, so when choosing a html-to-pdf converter it's important to take into account what HTML features it can handle.

Another factor is how you want to use the converter:

• Do you simply need to convert a single page?
• Or do you want to make an application that lets other people convert certain HTML documents to PDF?
• Would you prefer something you can download and install, or an online service?
• How much are you willing to pay for the HTML converter?

The third and final issue is whether the page that needs to be transformed to PDF was created specifically for that purpose, or is it just some arbitrary webpage. This is important because if you want the resulting PDF to be easy to use, with fulltext search and clickable links, the source HTML should be built appropriately. Some HTML pages uses images to represent text, which means that text won't be searchable. Also, menus and navigation links that rely on JavaScript won't be clickable in PDF format. As a rule of thumb, if a webpage has good accessibility, it will work well when converted to PDF. On the other hand, pages that rely or browser-specific feature or flash-based sites usually aren't suitable for PDF conversion.

Finally, lets look at specific HTML to PDF converters. For the average user, PDFonFly is likely the best choice. It's a free online service that takes a webpage URL and creates a matching PDF file for you to download. The only annoyance is having to enter a captcha, but that's a small price to pay for a quick and painless HTML to PDF service. The conversion quality is very good - the colors and fonts look nearly as good as in a web browser, with a few minor layout glitches for some webpages. If you want to convert a lot of HTML documents to .pdf, take a look at html2pdf (a commercial online service, average quality) or XHTML2PDF (an open source Python library).