I was in the process of designing a WordPress based website when I was asked to link downloadable documents to certain pages. The documents were in a Word format and needed to be converted into a PDF format. This is something that I hadn’t done before so I had to play around on the back end of WordPress for a moment and after three attempts that failed, I went to ask one of my best friends whom by the way is always there for me even when I doubt myself. You probably know them; their name is “Google†Ha! I love that I can Google anything and within moments I am knowledgeable about something that I had no clue about previously. So, if you find yourself needing to convert a Word document to a PDF and link it to a post within WordPress… I’ve got you covered!
Let’s start from scratch! PDF stands for portable document format, and is used mostly to transfer documents over the internet. What’s so great about PDF files is that they can’t be edited which avoids errors like broken links or fonts that aren’t compatible etc. PDF files are viewed using Adobe Acrobat reader, a downloadable application supported by all operating systems Linux, Windows and MAC OSX. There are many sites that will allow you to convert a Word doc to a PDF file without downloading any programs and you’ll have your document converted in a short period of time.
Disclaimer: I’m NOT a MAC girl yet! I’m on a PC until I convert to Apple everything!
Converting your Word Document to a PDF file on a PC:
First open your document in Word. Choose the appropriate file and click print. You’ll need to choose the document converter whether it be Adobe PDF printer or a Universal document converter. If you’re using Adobe PDF printer, you can just click OK, create the filename and location for your PDF file, then save it. If you’re using the Universal Document Converter, click Properties then choose Document to PDF, Color, Multipage in the scroll bar. Click OK then Print.
Now that part is done you want to be able to attach the PDF file to your post and create a downloadable link for the people that come to your site. In WordPress you’ll be in your dashboard and in an existing post already, put your mouse where you want your PDF link to appear. Click the add media icon, it’s at the top next to all the media icons for images, video and music. A window will pop up asking you to choose the file you’d like to upload, click choose files to upload and then select the PDF file you’d like to attach to the post. WordPress will upload the file to your web server, and the window will change. You have the option to enter a Title, Caption and Description.
-Make sure you add a Title as this is what people will click on to get to the document
-Once you have entered the Title and any other info, click the Insert into Post button. AND you are done!