Hello OCS Staff,

Today’s Tip: PDF Files, A Pain but It’s Getting Easier

In a world of digitized documents, PDF files have become the standard. You will find PDF files
everywhere on the Internet but not every site offers the ability to type on the document. Well
fortunately for you, Adobe (the company that created the PDF file) is making it easier for you to fill out
and print those non-fillable forms.

However, let’s not limit ourselves to filling out a form. Sometimes you need to convert a PDF document
to a Microsoft Word document. In the past, you had to use third party software or some online
conversion tool but not now. Microsoft is raising the bar with Word 2016 and it will convert PDF files for
you.

Convert a PDF file to a Word Document

Let’s start with the easy one first. Follow these steps to convert your file with Word 2016:

1. Open Microsoft Word 2016

2. Choose Open Document
3. Locate the PDF file on your computer that you wish to convert.
4. Select the file and follow the prompts.
5. Your file is now converted to a Word document. Remember to click the Enable Editing button at
the top of the page to begin typing on the document.

It truly is that easy! No more messing around with third party programs. However, if you would ever
need to convert a file (audio, video, image, document, etc.) to a different format try this free online
service:
Zamzar - Free online file conversion. http://www.zamzar.com/

Fill in a PDF File

Unfortunately, not every company or website has the ability to make their forms fillable. The software
to create fillable forms is slightly expensive and not always very intuitive. Nevertheless, Adobe is giving
everyone the ability to make any form fillable for FREE. You read that correctly, for free.
Included with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader DC software is a function called “Fill & Sign”. This new
function will allow you to add text boxes, X’s, check marks, circles, lines, dots, and even digital signatures
to an existing PDF document.

To get started you will first need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. You can get the
software here: https://get.adobe.com/reader/

**Installation Tips:**

1. Uncheck the Optional Software in the middle box before you start your download
2. If you are a special education teacher or someone that works with IEPs you may not want to
download Reader DC. It does not play nice with the WVDE’s IEP writer, you should stick with
Reader 11. https://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/

How to Type on your PDF Document:

1. Open Adobe Acrobat Reader DC

2. Under the File menu, locate Open. Click Open and then locate / open your PDF file.
3. Locate Fill & Sign either in the toolbar on the right side of the window or under the Tools menu
at the top of the screen. Click Fill & Sign to open the tool palette.
4. A small toolbar will appear above your document.

Tool Functions:
 Ab = allows you to enter text, numbers, characters to the document
 X – places an “X” on the document
 Check mark – places a check mark on the document
 Circle – allows you to circle an item on the document
 Line – allows you to underline an item on the document
 Dot – allows you to place a dot on the document
 Sign – allows you to place a digital signature on the document
5. Once you have filled out your document, you simply go to the File menu to save or print your
filled in document.

Enjoy, filling in all those online documents. Yes, this will even work on Ohio County Schools and WVDE
forms.

You can access previous and current editions of Tech Tuesd@ys on the Ohio County Website at:
http://boe.ohio.k12.wv.us/tech-tuesday/

Hope this helps,

OCS Technology Department

304.243.0448