Creating PDF Documents


This page provides information about creating Adobe PDF documents for submission to SIGCSE.

These Questions Are Answered Below

  • What is Adobe PDF format?
  • How Can I Convert My Documents to Adobe PDF Format?
  • How Can I Convert My LaTeX Documents?

What is Adobe PDF format?


Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) documents are a standardized and convenient method to exchange data files without affecting the original appearance. SIGCSE will accept electronic submissions of papers only in this format.


How Can I Convert My Documents to Adobe PDF Format?

You have a number of options for converting your Word, WordPerfect, or Postscript files into Adobe PDF.

Option 1: The most convenient option is if you have a recent version of Microsoft Word that allows you to save as a PDF document. Other word processing software may have similar features.

Option 2: Another option is if you already have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer. Refer to your software documentation for instructions but the general idea is that you will select PDF Writer as your printer. Instead of printing your document, the software will create a PDF file.

Option 3: Export the Word document from within OpenOffice, available at openoffice.org.

Option 4: Adobe has an online service to convert your Word, WordPerfect and other formatted documents into Adobe PDF format ( Create Adobe PDF Online). The converted file is either sent to you via e-mail or available through FTP. You may register for a trial membership of the Adobe Online service and convert five files at no charge.


How Can I Convert My LaTeX Documents to Adobe PDF Format?

There are two primary ways to go from LaTeX to PDF.

Option 1: Generate your dvi file from your LaTeX source. Run dvips on the dvi file to produce a postscript file. (dvips can be used to generate postscript from the dvi file for direct output to a postscript printer or to a file.) Then use a postscript utility such as ps2pdf to convert the postscript file into pdf. The following commands will produce a postscript file with type 3 fonts, which are more readable onscreen:

dvips -Ppdf -G0 filename.dvi -o filename.ps
ps2pdf -dPDFsettings=/prepress filename.ps filename.pdf

Option 2: There are experimental versions of pdfTeX and pdfLaTeX available for most platforms. These systems do not generate dvi files from your LaTeX source, but generate pdf directly. A standard teTeX (Unix) installation of TeX has these available.