PDFs are widely used in the digital world for storing and sharing documents, filling out forms, and creating e-books. However, not all PDFs are the same. There are actually 3 main types of PDFsthat you should know. From simple static files to interactive and dynamic PDF forms, understanding these types is important for anyone working with digital documents.
Types of PDFs
The PDF format has evolved and added more file types over the past 30 years. To support a wider variety of businesses and use cases, six additional PDF standards have been created based on ISO (The International Organization for Standardization). The main PDF standard is regulated by ISO 32000-1. This standard defines how PDFs work and how they should be used. The right PDF standard for your document depends on how you plan to store, share, and use it.
Read more about PDF Subsets here.
PDFs can be grouped into three main types based on how they are created. The creation method also affects how accessible the content (text, images, tables) is inside the PDF.
3 Types of PDFs:
- "True" or Real PDF
- Scanned PDF
- Searchable PDF
1. "True" or digitally created PDFs
True PDFs (also known as digitally created PDFs) are created using software such as Microsoft Word or Excel, or by using the "print to PDF" function in those programs. They contain text and images.
These PDFs have two layers: the image layer and the text layer. The image layer shows how the document will look when printed, while the text layer contains searchable text carried over from the original file into the PDF.
One key advantage of digitally created PDFs is that they can be easily edited and formatted. You can change the text, images, layout, or appearance of the document. However, whether editing is allowed depends on the software you use to open the PDF.
True PDFs can be edited using many programs, including easy-to-use online PDF editors. With a range of features and options, online tools like PDF2Go help you manage your PDFs efficiently. You can also convert PDFs to other file formats and back again.
"True" or digitally created PDFs are a versatile and reliable format that can be used for document sharing and collaboration, publications, forms and applications, manuals, archiving and preservation, reports, and presentations. They are fully editable, searchable, and support interactive features, so they work well for many different tasks.
2. "Image-only" or scanned PDFs
Image-only or scanned PDFs are digital versions of paper documents that have been scanned using a scanner or other imaging device. These PDFs are essentially images of the original document, so they cannot be edited or formatted like a standard or interactive PDF. However, they can still be annotated and highlighted using a PDF reader or editor.
Because image-only PDFs contain only scanned page images and no text layer, they are not searchable. Their text usually cannot be changed or marked up. An "image-only" PDF can be made searchable by applying OCR so that a text layer is added, usually beneath the page image.
Note: To edit "Scanned PDF" files you can use PDF to Word converter software with built-in OCR (optical character recognition).
3. Searchable PDFs
Searchable PDFs are PDF files that let users search for specific text within the document. Searchable PDFs are usually created using OCR (Optical Character Recognition). OCR converts the text in an image or scanned document into machine-readable text. A recognized text layer is added on top of the image layer. Text in searchable PDFs can be selected, copied, and marked up.
This process is usually done with specialized desktop OCR software, a mobile app, or a web-based service.
Searchable PDFs are widely used in businesses and organizations because they help users quickly find information in large documents.
