How Do I Convert a File to PDF Format?

There are a couple different options available for converting a document to PDF format:

    From TeX/LaTeX files

    To create a PDF file from a plain TeX file "foo.tex" use the shell command 

    pdftex foo.tex

    Similarly, to create a PDF file from a LaTeX file "foo.tex" use the shell command 

    pdflatex foo.tex

    The programs pdftex (resp. pdflatex) work like the standard programs tex (resp. latex). They just produce an output file foo.pdf instead of foo.dvi (besides all kinds of auxiliary files like foo.aux).

    Note: This method produces usually much better results than the method with ps2pdf described below. It is therefore preferable.

    From Postscript files

    To create a PDF file from a Postscript file "foo.ps" use the shell command

    ps2pdf foo.ps

    From DVI files

    To create a PDF file from a DVI file "foo.dvi" first create a Postscript file with the shell command

    dvips foo.dvi -o foo.ps

    and then follow the instructions above for Postscript files.


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    This page was last updated on February 6, 2003. Questions, suggestions, and general grumpings should be sent to webmaster_at_math.okstate.edu