In today’s world of emerging technology, the ability to convert images to PDF is a vital skill. Whether we talk about creating albums from old photographs, digital portfolios or just a convenient means to share multiple images together, generating PDF from images serves the purpose. In this blog, we will cover different methods and tools you can utilize to convert image to PDF, along with some practical use cases.
Why Convert Images into PDFs?
Before we talk about how to achieve the goal of converting images to PDF, let’s first understand some of the compelling reasons to do that.
#1: Compactness: Generating a PDF file from multiple image files makes it simpler to organize data/photos and to share as well. It reduces the clutter and compactly stores images/data
#2: Security: Generating a PDF from image also accounts for higher security and privacy of personal or business information. This is because PDFs can be password-protected and encrypted to allow only for authorized access to files.
#3: Compatibility: PDF files are universally compatible. Therefore, PDFs allow users to open and view them on any device or even browsers while preserving the file layout. This is regardless of the platform used to access it.
#4: Searchability: There are some PDF software that allow users to extract content from PDF to Word or text to make the text searchable, if it is not already. This is especially useful when it comes to searching documents with image-based content.
#5: Comparison: Sophisticated software like Adobe Acrobat, Nitro Pro and few others allow for simple PDF comparison between two files. Such comparison comes handy when there are text comparisons. Even more so, when there is graphic and formatting comparison required.
How to Generate PDF from Images?
Here are 4 simple ways to convert images to PDF without the need of being a tech-nerd.
#1: Single Image to PDF
To convert a single image file to PDF, simply open the image in any software like Paint, Photos or Paint 3D and press ‘Ctrl + P’. This will bring you to the print prompt where you can select to save the image as a PDF. Here, you can define the file path where you would want the PDF file to be saved. That’s it. Your image will turn to PDF. You don’t need any extra tools to do this.
#2: Multiple Images to PDF with Microsoft Word
To convert multiple images to PDF, there is no need to invest in expensive software. That being said, the paid software programs have their own set of interesting features that you might need. However, you can do just fine with Word too.
To create a PDF from multiple image files using Word, copy and paste your images on the pages of your Word document. Make sure to place them in the order you wish. You can also format and add text, reduce or increase margins, align images in the center or on the side and make changes to headers and footers, add pages numbers and so many other things that Word can do.
Apart from this, you can also do some image editing with Word like cropping, removing background, adjusting sharpness/contrast and many others to have the images blend into your document the way you want it to.
And once you are satisfied with the outcome, just hit ‘Ctrl + P’ and you will reach the print prompt which will allow you to save this document as a PDF.
#3: Use Dedicated PDF Software
If you don’t mind investing in a software that is designed to handle everyday PDF work, Adobe Acrobat, Nitro Pro & PDFelement are some very good choices. To avail these for regular use, it is best to install these software programs on your computer or workstation.
These software programs may differ from one another in terms of terminology but all offer simple functionality to choose the images you want to convert to PDF, arrange them in the desired order and click ‘Convert’ or ‘Create a PDF’.
#4: Use Online Image to PDF Converters
If you are comfortable uploading your documents online to generate PDFs, there are a number of free tools available to convert images to PDF with just a few clicks, without any software install needed.
Websites like ILovePDF, Smallpdf and PDF2Go and many similar others allow user-friendly interface for this conversion.
All you would need to do is upload the images, arrange them in order and click ‘Convert’.
Practical Use Cases of Image to PDF Conversion
Now that you know how to generate PDFs from images, let’s also discuss some of the practical use cases for such a need.
#1: Creating Memories
Most people cherish looking at their pictures from events, adventures, travel or just everyday fun moments. What better way to save those memories compactly, and with the ease of sharing as a single file with friends and family.
#2: Archiving Important Documents
With digitization of data, having receipts, important documents, contracts, etc. as a PDF provides many benefits. These benefits include securely storing documents in a safe digital space. This also serves as a backup, so you don’t have to maintain a filing system. This also solves the problem of ever-growing physical documents taking up space.
#3: Digitizing Books & Documents
A good way to preserve handwritten documents or books is to scan those to a PDF. These PDF can also be OCR (Optical Character Recognition) enabled thereby making the documents easily searchable.
#4: Publishing Books & Content
Due to the ease of reach of digital media, many authors and artists resort to using PDF for their content. This is greatly due to the ease of sharing and the power to reach a vast audience across the globe.
#5: Gathering Research Materials
When researchers work on a ton of data including graphs, charts, photos, content, having everything together in a PDF serves as a very useful tool to organize data in one place.
Conclusion
Conversion of images to PDF is being widely adopted by people in both personal and professional lives due to the convenience of sharing and enhanced presentation of visual content in the digital realm.
In this blog, we have covered a variety of tools and methods that can help with the conversion of image to PDF without much hassle. Depending upon your use case, you can choose between these options to see which one would be a good fit of effort, cost and time for you.
