It has been more than two decades that PDFs have been with us and they are a very useful piece of technology. PDFs are mostly used to deliver important content that can include eBooks, proposals, reports, etc. The thing about PDFs is that they offer a fixed layout which means that the layout and formatting of the documents are going to remain the same. Plus, they can be converted to and from a number of different formats such as JPG to PDF, Word to PDF, etc.
We cannot deny the importance of PDFs but using PDFs can have certain downsides as well. Let’s discuss some of the reasons why you should stop using PDFs:
1. Not Mobile Friendly
Yeah, it is true that the layout of PDFs is fixed which means that if you open a PDF file on a PC, mobile phone, or tablet, the elements and formatting of the document won’t change, however, fixed-layout also has a problem. Since most of the documents are designed for PC, they are difficult to use on a mobile device. You will have to move the screen around here and there, zoom in and zoom out to be able to read the PDF properly.
For PC and tablet users, it is not a huge problem because of the bigger screen but for mobile users, the hassle is real. Mobile screens aren’t that big and it is very annoying to scroll around and zoom in & zoom out after every couple of seconds just to read a document.
2. Require PDF Reader To Access
PDFs are offline documents and require you to download them before you can view them. For desktop users, they can do it without an issue and PDFs can be opened without downloading on most PC web browsers but for mobile users, it still remains a huge task.
Not only do the mobile users have to download the file but also download a third-party viewer app that can help them view the document. In a technology-driven world where everything requires ease and convenience, these little extra steps can frustrate and annoy many users.
3. Hard To Edit
PDF is basically a document-preservation format that allows users to transfer data from one format to PDF. This is meant to transfer a document to people who might not have a program that is compatible with the original format of the documents. For instance, if you have made a spreadsheet in Excel then the recipient might not have Excel available to view that document. In such cases, you can convert Excel to PDF and the other person will be able to view the document.
However, this is as far as the functionality of PDF goes. To edit PDF documents, you need to convert them into other formats such as Word and then make all edits. Natively, you can only edit PDFs through a handful of softwares only that are mostly paid ones such as Acrobat Pro.
4. Reader Engagement Can’t Be Tracked
Tracking reader engagement in a PDF is not possible. PDFs don’t have the ability to collect data. The only thing that can be seen is how many times a PDF was downloaded and that is it. You can’t find the engagement time of users, which pages or topics users found interesting, which links they click on, or even whether they opened the document or not.
So, with PDFs, you can’t really track statistics and if you are using it for business purposes then the statistics aren’t going to be there which will create problems such as that you cannot find out how the content is performed in the audience and you cannot see the engagement of your audience with the content.
5. Sharing PDFs Is A Problem
Sharing PDF is a huge problem because you might have never seen a PDF go viral and if you did, it would be one of those lucky times. Technically, sharing PDFs is possible but sharing them is usually not the norm. PDFs aren’t very social-friendly and users don’t want to get involved in something for which you will have to download it first, then a specific reader, and then read it. So, another problem with PDF is that its sharing is minimized. No matter how good the content may be, most users would tend to avoid PDFs.
