Portable Document Software (PDS)

This is a type of software that can create portable documents. This is most typically the Portable Document Format or PDF. These files can be transferred between systems without losing their formatting or graphics. For this to work, two main functions need to be present and supported. First, a program needs to be able to publish the document in the relevant format, and then it needs to be able to display it – this would be a file viewer. These two functions don’t need to be contained in the same program.

 

Technipages Explains Portable Document Software (PDS)

The two functions mentioned above may not be in the same program, but they usually are. The published file is a coded ASCII file that maintains visual elements no matter what platform it is viewed on. It can then be shared with other users. While software like Word is capable of creating PDFs via the Print via function, it’s actually the Microsoft Print to PDF program that really publishes the file. The most popular and common software to do this is one that combines both functions – Adobe Acrobat. More recent versions of it also support editing a document, such as by adding signatures etc.

Among the free programs that fall in the PDS category, Adobe Acrobat is certainly the most popular, but there is paid software that does the same job as well. Adobe is the company that developed the PDF filetype in the first place – in the 1990s, they came up with it in order to make it possible to preserve style options across systems. Font, colour, images and more that are supported in system A may not be supported in system B. In the case of a Word file for example, they would be lost and replaced with default alternatives or removes altogether. PDF makes it possible to prevent this, and PDS is the software that can be used to create PDFs.

 

Common Uses of Portable Document Software (PDS)

• Adobe Acrobat is a free-to-download PDS program.
• Portable Document Software can be used to publish and view PDFs.
• While Portable Document Software can be used to view PDFs, it’s not the only type of software to be able to.

Common Misuses of Portable Document Software (PDS)

• PDS stands for a certain filetype.