PDF (Portable Document Format) files, with the file extension ‘.pdf’, consist of a portable document format file , normally used for the purpose of distributing documents, usually read-only, preserving the layout of a page.
It is common to use them for specific documents such as manuals and user guides, electronic books and scanned documents, as well as application forms that can be printed and filled out physically, or digitally if the file in question has been digitally designed for this purpose.
In fact, they can contain not only text, but also images, hyperlinks, interactive buttons, embedded fonts and forms, among other basic elements.
It is a file originally created by Adobe in the 1990s, with the purpose that users could open the documents on any hardware or operating system, without the need to use a specific application to create them.
All you need when reading them is a PDF reader , or in short an application compatible with opening and reading them. In any case, one of the main advantages is that today most web browsers meet the specific requirements to be able to open them without needing another program.
How to open and view a PDF file on Windows and Mac
There is no doubt that one of the easiest ways to open and view a PDF file is using a web browser that supports this functionality, so doing it is basically following the same steps on both Windows and macOS.
To do so, we just have to right-click on the file we want to open, in order to display the secondary menu of the operating system, click Open with and choose the browser that we are usually using (in this case, for example, we choose Google Chrome ).
In any case, when it comes to enjoying greater control and better compatibility, it is best to opt for a desktop reader . One of the most recommended options is Acrobat Reader (Windows, Mac) developed by Adobe itself, totally free, which stands out precisely because it is the official tool to read these types of files.
After installing the program, all we have to do is double-click on any PDF that we want to open, and even choose this application as the default program for opening these types of files.
