7.5 Printing, PDF and sharing
What you send looks like what you saw.
Before:00. Getting Your FootingUnlocks:08. Word — Long Documents & Expert
What you send should look like what you saw, and this topic covers the last mile: print preview and scaling, exporting to PDF, embedding fonts, and shrinking a file before it is emailed. It closes Word's core module because output problems are where your skills meet other people's machines. The common confusion is why a document changes on another computer — nearly always fonts the other machine lacks — which is what embedding and PDF export exist to solve. The archival PDF variant gets a mention for documents that must stay readable in years.
Work through these
Print preview, scaling and page breaks
The preview shows where pages actually break, and scaling settings decide whether the document fits sensibly. Checking here is faster than printing and finding out.
Exporting to PDF, and PDF/A for archiving
Exporting to a portable document freezes the layout for the reader, and the archival variant is meant for documents that must remain readable for years. Knowing both exist is enough.
Embedding fonts; why a document changes on another machine
A document can look different on another machine because a font it used is not installed there. Embedding fonts is the fix, and it explains an otherwise baffling problem.
Reducing file size before emailing
Documents grow large mostly because of uncompressed images, and reducing the size before sending is a courtesy that also avoids bouncing messages.
Practice file
- wd-01-formatting.docx
Two pages of unformatted text with manual spacing to fix using styles.
Opens in Word. Every name, number and address in these files is made up. No account needed to download.
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Links last checked 29 Aug 2026.
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