PDF: Most Popular Format for Digital Archiving

Law firms rely on massive amounts of documentation both within their organization and with outside partners, all of which need to be stored in a way that is reliable and accessible.  Keeping every hard copy is impractical purely for storage reasons and also because of the difficultly employees will have when they need to quickly locate old documents.  Portable Document Formula (PDF) is an extremely popular file format for reading, organizing, and archiving documents.   PDF has become the standard format for exchanging and saving files, making it easier for users with a variety of software applications to share information.  PDF is especially dominant with online forms and documents.

The benefits of using PDF files include:

• Integrity – the original content and format of documents are retained when saved as a PDF; this can be especially crucial for legal documents that require authentic

• Implementation – PDF documents are relatively easy to implement and can be created from a number of different sources, including paper scans, a web page, or other electronic documents; they are relatively universal for users as almost every computer with internet access has the capability to read PDF files

• Digital service – PDF files contain the original content plus any extra electronic data such as XML, digital signature, digital comments, or interactive features; in this way, the information stays on the document and there is no danger of it being lost when transferred

• Archiving – perhaps the best use of PDF is the archiving and preservation of documents within an organization; saving computerized files makes it easy to organize information to find it later and maintain the security of electronic files.