Quickies – Almost Geek

What is a PDF?

PDF is short for Portable Document Format. In short, PDF is universal; A document that displays the same on any device that supports reading PDFs and pretty much every device from your smart phone (even some dumb phones) to your tablet and computer can display PDF files.

Content creators use PDF files to insure all text and images get displayed the same everywhere.

How Do I Create a PDF?

You can create PDF files easily in office suites like Microsoft Office and Open Office. If you are using a Mac, OS X has a “Print to PDF” function built-in. You can using that in any application by opening the Print Dialog (command P for short)

Google’s Chrome browser has a built-in PDF “printer”. Create a PDF file of any website by simply selecting Print from the wrench menu and select “Print to PDF” as your destination printer.

There is also a way to generate a PDF from any program that can print. You do this by installing a virtual printer. This basically tricks the program into printing to a file instead of a real printer. I’ve always used Primo PDF for this functionality.

3 Easy Steps to Creating a PDF from Any Program:

Download and install Primo PDF
Create a PDF from any program simply by opening the print dialog (Ctrl P) and selecting Primo PDF as the printer.
Save the file on your hard drive.

Your done! Have a better way? Sound off in the comments.

Start New Habits With Google Calendar.

Google Calendar has cool built in reminder features to remind you of an event . You can setup an email, SMS, or Pop-up reminder. I find SMS (text message) reminders to be most helpful. As someone who grabs my phone and reads my texts from overnight before my feet hit the floor in the morning, texts from Google Calendar are a great way to remember something you need to do first thing in the morning.

My new habit was taking a daily multivitamin. The bottle had been sitting on my dresser for over a year and had expired. I threw the old bottle out and made a New Year’s resolution to take one daily. I had bought the vitamins with the best of intentions but since I don’t take medication aside from the occasional antibiotic I never remembered it.

Enter Google Calendar. I set up taking the pill as a daily recurring appointment at 7am with a text reminder an hour before. When I wake up the text is there to remind me. It took me about 3 weeks to get into the habit and not need the text in the morning.

I also use this feature for reminders when I’m out and about. Say I’m going to the laundromat and need to stop for groceries on the way home. I’ll set it as an event with a text reminder 2 hours from now. No more shopping lists for me on short trips. 🙂