Since the introduction of the Internet, electronic files have been steadily rising in popularity. It has come to the point where today, electronic documents are excessively used for all-purpose.
Even in the professional field, you are regularly exposed to these electronic files, formats, and documents, no matter what kind of jobs you have. Thus, it becomes essential for you to be familiar with the terms, the types, and what they are meant for.
Therefore, in this article here, we will be concentrating on two of the most popular formats of documents— PDF and Word files. We will understand and discuss the differences between the two. Let us get started.
What are PDF and Word documents?
Documents are a type of file that contains information and can be read via a computer. These documents come in various types and formats, of which PDFs and Word are two prominent types.
Portable Document Format is the full form for PDF and is one of the most commonly used file formats. The reason being, it can be accessed via any device and can be opened through any software.
Also, any sort of document type can be saved or converted to a PDF format and can be accessed. For example, PDF to Word is a standard conversion.
On the other hand, Word documents are written documents only and can only be opened via Microsoft Word.
What are the differences between the two?
If we are looking at differences, then there are quite a few differences that we can note. We have listed a few down below. Let us take a look at them.
- Word documents were created by Microsoft, and PDF was created by Adobe.
- Microsoft Word is used to create and edit Word documents, whereas to create PDF files, Adobe Acrobat is required.
- If you create a Word document and convert it to PDF, you can still edit the document in Microsoft Word. However, if you make a PDF file through Adobe acrobat, it can only be edited through PDF editors, which are third-party applications.
- You can only open a Word document via Microsoft Word. However, for PDF, it has open source and can be opened through multiple software.
- The content format in a Word document may vary when opened through different devices. However, for PDFs, the content in which it was initially saved will not change no matter through which device it is accessed.
- PDF files have the option of file protection. In a sense, you may use passwords to grant specific people access to the document’s contents. However, for Word, getting password protection is a bit difficult and thus can be accessed and edited by anyone who has the file and Microsoft Word.
Conclusion
There you have it, the fundamental difference between a PDF and a Word document. Knowing about these two types of file format is extremely necessary for today’s time.
They are widely used, and if you know your way around with them, everyday work could be extremely easy for you.
