Adobe released a PDF Embed WordPress plugin provides additional ways to display PDFs online in a way that makes them user friendly, pleasantly interactive and useful.
The new plugin makes PDF more usable on the web, with four different ways to view a file without any of the inconveniences.
Adobe’s plugin page in the official WordPress plugin repository explains:
“Adobe Embedded PDF Viewer is a FREE plugin that allows you to easily embed high-fidelity PDF viewing into your posts and pages with collaboration, security, and analytics.
Deliver the highest quality PDF rendering available and streamline user experiences with custom viewer modes and digital collaboration through annotation tools. Extend the viewer with PDF usage analytics to understand how users interact with your documents.”
Adobe PDF on the Web
The strength of PDF (Portable Document Format) is that it’s platform and OS agnostic.
Adobe PDF documents are viewable regardless if a user is on an Apple, Linux, Windows, Chrome or Android device.
The downside of PDF documents is that they have to be downloaded and opened in a separate app.
Anyone who’s tried to read a restaurant menu online knows what a hassle it is to wait for a download then wait for an app to spawn in order to view the menu.