Portable Document Format (PDF) is one of the most widely used file formats for storing and sharing documents. It makes sense since PDFs are a universal file format that maintains layout, fonts, colors and images regardless of the device used to read them. Many people use PDFs to send resumes, receipts, tickets, contracts and school papers because they ensure the documents will look the same regardless of who opens them.

Furthermore, unlike proprietary formats, such as docx, xlsx and pptx, they are less likely to disappear. They’re also one of the easiest files to secure and encrypt in case you’re sending sensitive information.

The best part? You can turn just about any text document or image into a PDF. Let’s look at some popular ways of doing this.

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Kurt Knutsson explains how to save any file as a PDF. (REUTERS/Hannah Beier)

Save files as PDF on desktop

If you’re using a Windows or Mac, there is a built-in option that allows you to save a file as a PDF with a few clicks. This method usually works on files like text documents, images and emails.

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Windows

You can use the print function in many Windows apps to save a file as a PDF.

• Open the file in its default app.
• Click File > Print, click the printer icon or press Ctrl + P.
• In the print dialog window, select Microsoft Print to PDF in the Printer dropdown menu.
• Click Print.

Windows offers a built-in way to save a file as a PDF. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Mac

Like Windows, many macOS apps allow you to save files as PDF when printing them.

• Open the file in its default app.
• Click File > Print, click the printer icon or press Command + P.
• In the print dialog window, click PDF in the bottom left corner and choose where to save it.
• Click Save.

Chromebook

Whether you are viewing a document, image or webpage (even in an Android app), as long as the app you’ve opened it in supports printing, you can save it as a PDF.

• Open the file.
• Click File > Print, click the printer icon or press Ctrl + P.
• In the print dialog window, select Save as PDF in the Destination dropdown menu for selecting printers.
• Click Save.

Save files as PDF on mobile

On Android and iPhones, you can exploit the share function to save files as PDFs. It also only takes a few taps.

Android

There are several ways to export a file as a PDF on Android, with the easiest option being the print function when sharing it.

Settings may vary depending on your Android phone’s manufacturer. 

• Open the file in the default app.
• Tap the Share icon.
• Tap Print.
• Tap the PDF button to download it.

iPhone

On iPhone, you can save a file as a PDF in apps like Photos, Files and Notes. Here are the general steps:

• Open the file.
• Tap the Share icon.
• Tap Print to see a PDF preview of the file.
• Tap the Share icon.
• Tap Save to Files.
• Then, tap “Save” in the upper-right corner of the screen.

You can save a file as a PDF on your iPhone or Android. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Save a file as a PDF on apps and cloud services

Many apps and online services offer built-in tools to convert files to PDF format, whether you’re using popular office suites or cloud-based services. Let’s look at the options available on various platforms.

If you’re using Microsoft Office apps, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, you can just save the file as a PDF.

• Open the file.
• Click File > Save As.
• Under the location where the PDF will be saved, set the file type dropdown to PDF.
• Click Save.

Follow these steps to save a document as PDF in Microsoft Word. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

For Google Workspace apps, such as Docs, Sheets and Slides, you can download them as a PDF:

• Open the file.
• Click File 
• Then tap Download,
• Next, click the PDF Document.

If you want to save a webpage in browsers like Chrome, Edge and Firefox, follow the steps below:

• Open the web page.
• Click the three-dot icon or three-line icon in the top-right corner.
• Click Print.

Even a webpage can be saved and exported as a PDF file. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

• Set Printer or Destination to Save as PDF.
• Click Save.

Follow these steps to save a document as PDF in the Edge internet browser. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

In Adobe Acrobat Reader, follow the steps below (keep in mind that you need a premium subscription to use this feature):

• Open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. It will automatically be converted to a PDF.
• Press Ctrl + S on Windows or Command + S on Mac to save the PDF.

Notetakers like Evernote, OneNote and Notion also allow you to export files as a PDF. For instance, in Notion, you have to do it this way:

• Click the three-dot icon in the top-right corner.
• Click Export.
• Select PDF in the Export format dropdown.
• Click Export.

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Convert a file to a PDF online

You can convert files to PDF using online conversion tools. To convert a file into a PDF using CloudConvert, follow the steps below:

• Go to https://cloudconvert.com/
• Click Select File.
• Select the file you want to convert on your computer or phone.
• Select PDF in the Convert to dropdown. You can upload more than one file.
• Click Convert.
• Click Download.

While these sites provide a convenient means of converting files to PDFs, it’s best to avoid uploading sensitive documents like tax returns, medical records, financial statements, legal contracts or personal identification documents. That’s because they may store copies of those files on their servers, which means they can become vulnerable to security breaches or unauthorized access. For these, use built-in tools or trusted apps (any of the ones mentioned above will do).

Save physical documents as PDF files

You will find many apps for scanning documents and saving them as a PDF on Android and iPhone. The best one often mentioned is Adobe Scan, which you can download on the App Store or Google Play.

Here’s how to use it.

• Open the Adobe Scan.
• If it’s your first time opening it, you will need to sign in with your Apple (iPhone only), Google or Facebook account.
• Tap the white circle in the bottom center of the screen to scan the document.
• Tap Save PDF in the bottom right corner.

Working with PDFs

Once you’ve saved your file as a PDF, you may want to perform various actions to make it more useful or secure. Here’s how to work with your PDF files effectively.

Merging PDFs

You can use online tools to merge PDFs for free.

• On your computer, go to https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/acrobat/combine-pdf.
• Drag and drop the PDFs you want to merge into the browser window.

Adobe’s website offers a free method to combine PDF files. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

• You can rearrange the PDFs by dragging them to the position you want them to be in.
• Click Combine in the top-right corner.

The Adobe website makes it possible to combine PDFs and arrange them in any order. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Shrinking PDFs

Adobe also has an online tool you can freely use to compress PDFs.

• On your computer, go to https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/compress-pdf.html.
• Drag and drop the PDF you want to compress into the browser window.
• Click Compress in the bottom-right corner.

Protecting your PDFs with a password

You can also password-protect your PDFs for free on the Adobe website using the steps below.

• On your computer, go to https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/acrobat/protect-pdf.
• Drag and drop the PDF you want to compress into the browser window.
• Enter the password under Set password. Enter the same password under Confirm password.
• Click Set password in the bottom-right corner.

You can protect a PDF with a password on the Adobe website. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Sign PDFs

There are plenty of ways to sign a document, and the easiest one is to use Adobe Acrobat Reader.

• Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer.
• Select the E-sign tab.
• Click Add signature or Add initials in the FILL AND SIGN YOURSELF section in the menu on the left.
• Type your signature or initials in the dialog window. You can also draw it if you have a graphics tablet or add an image of it. Just switch to the Draw or Image tab.
• Click Apply.
• In the toolbar on the left side of the document area, click the pen icon.
• Select your signature or initials in the menu that appears on the right.
• Place your cursor, which will now look like your signature or initials, where you want to sign and click to insert the signature.

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Kurt’s key takeaways

As you can see, saving any file as a PDF is easy regardless of your device or platform. It takes just a few clicks or taps. Use PDFs when you want to share documents without losing their formatting elements. Remember to follow best practices when sharing them, especially if they contain sensitive information. You can always add an extra layer of security by password-protecting or encrypting your PDFs.

What other format do you like converting files to for storing and sharing? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.

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Dennis and Carole recently reached out to us with a warning about a suspicious email claiming to offer a $100 Sam’s Club reward. 

“We received this yesterday, and my wife fell for the scam and initiated the free gift offer. No credit card other than email transferred,” Dennis said.

The email looked professional, with the official Sam’s Club logo at the top. It read, “YOUR OPINION IS IMPORTANT. Exclusive. YOU CAN GET A $100 REWARD.” It then invited the recipient to “Take a short survey to claim your $100 reward. Click the button below to get started,” with a bold black button labeled “GET STARTED NOW!”

Despite no credit card being entered, the couple wanted to know:

• Will scammers be able to charge their credit card?
• Do they already have credit card info?
• What steps should they take?

Let’s break this all down.

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THE TRUTH BEHIND THOSE MYSTERIOUS SHIPMENT EMAILS IN YOUR INBOX

A couple warns about a new email scam disguised as a Sam’s Club survey. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Why this Sam’s Club email is a scam

At first glance, the email looked like it came straight from Sam’s Club, complete with the logo, blue color scheme and a tempting promise of a $100 reward for filling out a short survey. That’s exactly what scammers want you to think.

This is a classic phishing scam. Cybercriminals copy a trusted brand’s style to trick you into clicking their links or entering personal information. Once you engage, they can:

• Collect your email address for spam lists
• Send more realistic-looking phishing attempts
• Try to lure you into giving up payment or account details in future messages
• Direct you to malware-infected websites

In this case, only an email address was entered. That means there’s no direct credit card risk, yet. However, scammers now know the address is active and that someone at it will click through, making it more valuable for targeted scams later. The next step is protecting yourself quickly, because stopping them now is far easier than dealing with identity theft later.

DON’T FALL FOR THIS BANK PHISHING SCAM TRICK

Experts warn consumers not to click suspicious looking links. (Peter Dazeley)

How to protect yourself after clicking a link in a scam email

If you entered your email in a scam form, take these steps right away to reduce the risk of further attacks:

1) Use strong antivirus software

Run a scan with a trusted antivirus program. Many modern security tools also include phishing protection, blocking dangerous links before they can load. The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have antivirus software installed on all your devices. This protection can also alert you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, keeping your personal information and digital assets safe.

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2) Mark the email as phishing

Use your email provider’s spam or phishing report tool to flag the message. This helps block future attempts and trains filters to catch similar scams. 

3) Consider a data removal service

Data removal services can contact data brokers to remove your personal information from their lists. This makes it harder for scammers to target you with more personalized attacks. While no service can guarantee the complete removal of your data from the internet, a data removal service is really a smart choice.  They aren’t cheap — and neither is your privacy.  These services do all the work for you by actively monitoring and systematically erasing your personal information from hundreds of websites.  It’s what gives me peace of mind and has proven to be the most effective way to erase your personal data from the internet.  By limiting the information available, you reduce the risk of scammers cross-referencing data from breaches with information they might find on the dark web, making it harder for them to target you.

Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com.

Scammers are claiming to offer a $100 Sam’s Club reward. (REUTERS/Rick Wilking)

Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web: Cyberguy.com.

4) Watch for follow-up scams

Scammers often follow up with urgent-sounding emails to “confirm” your account or claim you won a prize. Delete these immediately without clicking links or opening attachments. 

5) Change your passwords and strengthen security

Never reuse the same password across multiple accounts. If scammers target your email address, they may try it with common password guesses. Create unique, strong passwords for each account and store them in a reputable password manager.

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6) Report the scam

Forward the email to:

• Sam’s Club: phishing@samsclub.com
• FTC: reportphishing@apwg.org

Reporting helps both the brand and law enforcement track scam activity.

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Consumers are advised to report phishing emails to the company or the FTC. (CyberGuy.com)

Kurt’s key takeaways

Even if you avoid entering payment details, your personal information still has value to scammers. An email address can open the door to phishing attacks designed to steal passwords, install malware, or gather more sensitive data. Scammers know how to make an email look convincing, especially when they dangle a gift card as bait. By staying alert, reporting suspicious emails and protecting your personal data, you can reduce your risk.

Have you ever received a fake reward email from a brand you trust? How did you handle it? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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As kids pick up a controller and headset to play their favorite video games, companies across the gaming industry are working to make sure all their players are safe on their consoles.  Sean Whitcomb, Program Director for Child Safety and Education at Sony Interactive Entertainment says Sony and other major gaming brands are adding more safety measures, “We offer some family management tools that will help them create an experience that is really about uh shared boundaries and conversations that aren’t really controlling, but more about connecting.”

Young players and their parents can set up the safety tools together to ensure a fun and safe gaming environment. As these features are meant to give families full control over what is, and isn’t shared online, while also letting young gamers enjoy their favorite titles.  “We’re making it easier for this to be a safe experience that everyone is comfortable with,” says Whitcomb.

Beyond just setting up parental controls, Whitcomb encourages parents to actively participate in their kids’ gaming lives. He suggests that one of the best ways to understand what your child is playing is to join them.  He suggests, “Maybe pick up the controller and play with them too. That’s probably one of the easiest ways to understand what your child is experiencing.”

And when it comes to who your kids are playing with, Whitcomb says parents should treat the digital world like a playground, “It’s more like, well, who is this person? How old are they? Where do they live? And why do you wanna spend more time playing with them? …. So, it’s just a conversation that I really recommend parents have with their children.” 

According to Whitcomb you can also score points with your children by using Sony’s parental control features to encourage better habits away from the screen, including more game time as a reward for doing chores around the house.

What if a robot could handle cleaning, serving and even complex tasks around your home or workplace? That’s exactly what X Square Robot hopes to deliver with its latest launch. 

The company just introduced Quanta X2, a highly advanced robotic butler designed for dexterity and versatility. Alongside the robot, it unveiled Wall-OSS, an open-source artificial intelligence (AI) model meant to power robots that can adapt to unpredictable real-world tasks.

These big reveals come with a major funding boost of around $100 million in Series A+ backing led by Alibaba Cloud, with participation from HongShan, INCE Capital, Meituan, Legend Star and Legend Capital.

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HUMANOID ROBOTS HANDLE QUALITY CHECKS AND ASSEMBLY AT AUTO PLANT

X Square Robot announces its newest Quanta X2 model that functions as a robot butler. (X Square Robot)

Quanta X2: Built for daily life and beyond

Quanta X2 isn’t your typical robot. Standing at about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing around 210 pounds, it features 62 degrees of freedom for smooth, lifelike motion. Its seven-degree-of-freedom robotic arm is paired with dexterous hands that can sense pressure changes and perform delicate movements.

The robot can grip, clean or even express emotions through gestures. A modular clamp system lets it attach brushes or mop heads for 360-degree cleaning. With an arm reach of 30 inches, a payload capacity of about 13 pounds and fine precision down to 0.001 inches, Quanta X2 is designed to work in both home and industrial settings.

AI VIDEO TECH FAST-TRACKS HUMANOID ROBOT TRAINING

X Square Robot also unveiled its Wall-OSS AI model to train the advanced humanoid robots. (X Square Robot)

Wall-OSS: Smarter AI for unpredictable tasks

Alongside Quanta X2, X Square Robot introduced Wall-OSS, a new open-source embodied AI model. Trained on vision-language-action data, it helps robots “think” and act more like humans when faced with unpredictable tasks.

Unlike task-specific systems that fail outside narrow scenarios, Wall-OSS generalizes across multiple robot types. It also solves key challenges such as catastrophic forgetting and syncing vision, language and action. By reasoning, planning and executing seamlessly, robots powered by Wall-OSS can move from the lab into the messy real world.

Developers will be able to access Wall-OSS on GitHub and Hugging Face, building community-driven datasets to accelerate adoption.

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X Square Robot is bringing humanity closer to having robot butlers. (X Square Robot)

What this means for you

The dream of a robot that vacuums, delivers food or helps with complex tasks is moving closer to reality. Quanta X2 shows how robots can evolve beyond factories and into homes, hotels and offices. By open-sourcing Wall-OSS, X Square Robot is inviting developers everywhere to help build the next generation of robots. That collaboration could accelerate the day when robotic assistants become as commonplace as smartphones.

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Kurt’s key takeaways

X Square Robot is betting that embodied AI and open-source collaboration will finally push robots past flashy demos and into everyday life. With Quanta X2 and Wall-OSS, it is laying the groundwork for robots that don’t just perform one task, but adapt to whatever you need. The big question is whether these robots can prove reliable, affordable and safe enough for widespread use.

If a robot like Quanta X2 could do your chores, would you trust it in your home? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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