What is PDF?
PDF is a fixed-layout document: it records what is drawn where on a page rather than paragraph structure, so the layout is identical everywhere and can never reflow.
About the format
PDF is Adobe's fixed-layout document format. It records what to draw at which coordinate on a page rather than which paragraph a sentence belongs to. The layout is therefore identical everywhere, which suits contracts, papers and scans. The cost is that PDF is inherently hostile to reflow: line breaks are usually visual, extracted text often carries hard returns and scrambled column order, and scanned PDFs contain images only, with no text layer at all.
| Extensions | .pdf |
|---|---|
| Typical use | Documents, papers, contracts and scans where the layout must stay exact; also a print and archival format. |
Converting from PDF
Converting into PDF
Other formats
Converted it — now what do you read it with?
Tide Reader opens TXT and EPUB, detects chapters on import, lays the text out the way you like it, and syncs your reading position across Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. Drop the converted file in and start reading.
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