Why PDF Remains Relevant for Business in 2024

PDF revolutionized document management when it was invented in 1993. Over three decades later, PDF proves it has withstood the test of time and continues to be a trusted format for billions of people when filing taxes, managing contracts, and creating professional documents. So, what makes this format still essential for business operations?

What Is PDF

Adobe created the Portable Document Format in 1993. It’s hard to imagine now, but at the time, there wasn’t a universal file format that could function across different ecosystems. PDF was designed to bridge that gap. According to Leonard Rosenthol, a PDF Architect at Adobe, the company team wanted to solve “the inability to exchange information between machines, between systems, between users in a way that ensured that the file would look the same everywhere it went.”

The PDF Association says, by 2016, Google indexed 2.2 billion PDF files on the web. Around 20 billion were stored in Dropbox. 2 billion PDFs were opened annually via Outlook.com. Additionally, 73 million new PDF files were saved on Google Drive and sent via Gmail daily. Even in terms of search trends, interest in PDFs consistently outpaced many popular topics, such as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, with only a couple of exceptions during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

As of the latest data from the July 2021 CommonCrawl database, PDF ranks as the third most popular file format on the web, following only HTML and XHTML and being ahead of widely-used formats like JPEG, PNG, and GIF.

When to Use PDFs

Filing taxes

With tax season being just around the corner, PDFs can become a game changer for you. The IRS allows taxpayers to store and manage their documents digitally, provided the files are accessible and can be reproduced in their original form without modifications.

The solution is to scan the receipts as PDFs. This method simplifies the process, saving time compared to collecting and organizing physical receipts. Moreover, merging them into one PDF ensures your records are securely stored and organized in case of an audit or an inquiry.

If you don’t have a traditional scanner or you’re always on the move, a mobile app will be a lifesaver. With the help of a PDF scanner app, you can scan your receipts, systematize them, and even protect them with a password.

Another option is to snap a photo of your receipt with your phone. However, if you’re using an iPhone, be mindful that it usually saves images in HEIC format. The HEIC format isn’t widely compatible outside the Apple ecosystem, that’s why you’d better use heic to pdf converter after taking a picture.

CVs, Cover Letters, and HR Documents

The PDF format is ideal for preserving a document’s layout, making it particularly useful in headhunting.

For job applicants, PDFs are a great way to save and share resumes, cover letters, or even a copy of their LinkedIn profile. While HR professionals often have access to this social network, providing a PDF ensures they have a document they can easily forward to decision-makers, such as top managers or team leads.

From an HR perspective, PDFs can also be a valuable tool. They can use the format to send out official job offers or provide detailed information about the company’s opportunities, benefits, and perks in a visually appealing format.

Publishing on Websites

Publishing documents and forms to fill in on corporate websites is often a convenient solution for businesses. These are application forms, tax documents, policy agreements, and more.

Despite the myth that tracking user downloads of PDF files isn’t possible, it actually can be done. This metric can be analysed using Google Analytics. For more advanced options, you can add a script to the download link to monitor it. If your website runs on WordPress, use a specialized plugin to track PDF downloads. These methods make it easier to measure engagement and gather valuable insights.

Contracts

PDFs are very popular when it comes to sending and signing digital copies of contracts. The format is chosen for its ability to keep all the parts of the document exactly as they are in the original text. Increasingly, businesses are also using AI-powered tools like ChatPDF to quickly review long contracts, extract key clauses, and clarify complex sections without altering the original document, further reinforcing PDFs as a practical, modern format for legal and operational workflows. One of the most powerful features of PDFs is PDF signing. With modern tools, you can sign PDF online, enabling individuals and businesses to securely sign contracts without printing, scanning, or mailing physical copies. Whether using electronic signatures (e-signatures) or more advanced digital signatures with encryption, PDF signing ensures document authenticity and legal compliance. Many PDF tools, such as Adobe Acrobat, DocuSign, and HelloSign, offer built-in signing features that streamline the process.

What makes PDFs particularly useful for contracts is the built-in functionality for electronic signatures. Many PDF software solutions offer tools that allow individuals to e-sign contracts.

Marketing Materials

PDFs are effective for marketing materials as well. Their versatility makes them perfect for creating brochures, catalogs, and proposals that can be printed, shared via messaging apps, or published on a website. Another essential thing here is the ability to make PDFs interactive. You can add hyperlinks, promo videos, pictures, watermarks, and merge several files into one document.

PDFs also come in handy for email marketing. But don’t overload them—email services often impose limits on attachment sizes. Make your PDF lightweight while still delivering the message.

To Sum it Up

PDF has become an essential tool for managing and sharing documents, thanks to its universal compatibility and ability to preserve formatting across devices and systems. With dozens of billions of PDFs in use around the world, it occupies third place in the list of most popular file formats on the web, ranking just behind HTML and XHTML.

PDFs simplify organizing and storing tax documents, maintain professional layouts for CVs and cover letters, and are ideal for publishing application forms and policy agreements. PDF software enables you to securely e-sign legal documents. Additionally, PDFs interactive features enhance marketing materials, making them essential for modern business needs.