PDF or PYT?!

I hear PDF and instantly think, P.Y.T.(Pretty Young Thing) by Michael Jackson. I know, it's a stretch, but its the whole acronym thing. I realize converting documents is an old technology to write about, but I feel it's still an issue with administrative professionals. I'm surprised that in today's world of freeware and constant software upgrades we [admins] still get requests to convert files to PDF. Okay, I'm not completely surprised, not everyone has the budget to buy Adode Acrobat. Fine, I understand. But I want to share with administrative professionals that you now give your co-workers an alternative option. Wait...go ahead, convert that one last document. Then inform your co-worker that they can now convert their own documents for FREE.

• If you have MS Office 2007, there is a free Microsoft Office Add-in Patch that will allow Access, Excel, InfoPath, OneNote, PowerPoint, Publisher, Visio and Word files to be saved as a PDF. *Note, fellow coworkers, this patch should already be on your computer. To confirm, open a file in one of the above programs, click on the Office button, select Save As and look under the Save As Type. If the patch has already been added (mine has) you'll see a *.PDF option.
• If you don’t have MS Office 2007 and are comfortable with downloading freeware, CutePDF™ Writer may be a good option for you. I am not comfortable downloading freeware, so I have not used this option. However I've seen it on my braver friends and coworkers computers and it seems to be a reliable option.
• If you're a chicken like me and don’t want to download freeware. It's okay. There is hope for you still! (well not about the chicken part.) The site, PDF Online, allows you to upload your file and covert it online. It's really easy and the site emails the converted file to your inbox. I'm much happier about this free option. Now, I wouldn’t convert my company’s secret R&D files through this site, but I’d be comfortable with converting general documents.