For the small business owner, the world is chock full of documents. Every time you write new standard operating procedures, you need new documents.

Plus, there are all those quarterly tax payments. It’s mighty difficult to get those right without some financial documents. Then, there are those onboarding documents for new employees.

Of course, the days of all documents living on paper are long gone. Every year, some process that once required actual paper is now digital and usually in the form of a PDF.

So, that begs the question: What are the business benefits of the PDF file format? Keep reading for a look at the key benefits.

It Works Almost Everywhere

If you’re creating documentation, PDF is a great choice for the final file format because PDF works everywhere. It sees use on a global scale. That means someone in India can reasonably open the PDF you create on your computer in California.

It’s Works on Most Devices

Ever tried to open a file only for your computer, or tablet, or phone to tell you that it doesn’t support that file? It’s an enormous frustration. You almost never see that with PDFs.

As a general rule, you can open them in almost any operating system. Most smartphones can open them or support a PFD reader app. Most web browsers also support opening PDFs or allow add-ons that will let you open them.

It’s High Quality

One of the big challenges with creating documents is ensuring you get high-quality when you convert it to another format. It’s routine that you’ll lose things like formatting or images during the conversion. PDF provides you with a way to hang on to all of that formatting in the way you create it.

It also allows for high quality when printing documents.

Converting Web Sites

It can take a specific tool, such as iTextSharp C#, but you can create high-quality captures of your websites as PDF documents. This can prove helpful for someone like a web developer who wants to put together an offline portfolio they can send to potential clients.

Fillable

Sometimes, a business needs a new customer or employee to fill out a form. Again, paper is awkward and not always helpful for someone who isn’t on-site. You can create fillable PDF documents that only allow changes in specific fields.

That helps ensure that you get back a form with no changes except in those fields.

The PDF File Format and Your Business

For the business owner, the PDF file format offers you many potential benefits. For example, it’s a format used globally and supported by most devices. That means you can send documents almost anywhere and expect the recipient can open them.

It offers high-quality versions of documents. That’s useful not only for printing but retaining your intended formatting.

It’s also useful for creating fillable documents where you must keep specific information intact, such as employee documents.

Looking for more business tips? Check out the posts in our Business section.