Businesses use pdf documents, not pictures. When a business – perhaps your lawyer, accountant, title company, etc. – asks for a scanned copy of a document, they need it in a specific format called “pdf.” This is an Adobe Acrobat type of format and can be viewed or printed using any version of Acrobat. Acrobat Reader is free to download. Some people and businesses have more comprehensive versions of Acrobat called Acrobat DC Pro. Any version can open, view, and print pdf documents.
Acrobat allows users of both Windows and iOS (Mac) computers to view pdf documents. That makes pdf a very common and useful format for scanned documents because users can work with those documents on any type of computer.
Pictures are not pdf documents. They are usually in a format called “jpg” (sometimes they are in a format called “tiff.”). Jpg pictures are much harder or impossible for businesses to use. Unless they are shot and aligned perfectly on the page, they do not print appropriately. Multiple pages or documents cannot be combined or rearranged like they can with pdf documents. Jpg pictures cannot be attached to a pdf document and cannot be sent to other businesses.
The bottom line is – for business purposes use pdf, not jpg.
But – what is a person to do when they don’t have a scanner that will scan documents into pdf? Do not fret! You can download an App to your phone that will convert your phone pictures into pdf format and let you email those pdf documents right from your phone!
Check out CamScanner, TurboScan, OfficeLens and others. Just be sure that you tell the phone to save the picture as pdf! Your business professionals will love you for this.
