How to Make a PDF Catalog

According to the United States Post Office, it processed 79.5 billion pieces of advertising in 2012, much of which was catalogs. If you are planning a catalog mailing, you need to get the files to your commercial printer successfully. A PDF file is an excellent option because the format is an open standard. If you are unsure how to best save a publishing software file as a PDF, a few options may help.

If you produced your catalog using a Microsoft Office product such as Word or Publisher, you can save the catalog as a PDF directly from the program. Click "File" and "Save As." Browse to and select a location for the file. Click the "Save as Type" box and select "PDF." Click the "Options" button to open the Publish Options box, where you can set the quality of the PDF and its pictures. Higher quality means larger file sizes, but higher quality is best for printing. Click "OK" to close the box. Type a name in the File Name box and click "Save."

If your software doesn't include an option to save the file as a PDF, you can use doPDF. After you download and install the doPDF application, open the catalog file. Click "File" and "Print." Select "doPDF" from the list of printers. If you want to change the output quality, click "Printer Preferences." Click "Print" to save the file as a PDF. Other similar software options include CutePDF Writer and Pdf995.

If you have a catalog in a file format you can't open, convert it to a PDF using a free online converter such as PDFConverter.com by clicking "Create PDF." Click "Choose File" and browse to and select the file you want to convert. Type in your email address and click "Start." Your PDF file is emailed to you. Other similar converters include Online PDF-Converter and Online-Convert.com.

If your catalog is spread over several files or you need to combine multiple catalogs into one PDF file, use a free online merge tool like Neevia Technology, PdfEdit995 -- a product of Pdf955 -- or Online PDF-Converter. Using Neevia Technology's solution, you browse to and select the files you need to merge, making sure you select the files in the order you want them to appear in the final PDF. Click "Upload and Merge" to merge the documents. When the program is finished, click on the link to view the file or right-click and click "Save Target As" to download the file.