Making use of Multi Purpose Documents

What is a Multi Purpose Document? It’s a document that can be used in different steams of media - print, web or PDF, although not limited to just these three.

Often when you start a project you have a soul aim to create one item - newsletter/brochure/annual report/advert etc. You may have always sent your annual report out as a hard copy document, but now is a good time to consider the bigger picture.

When you start to think about your new project also factor in different media. You need an annual report printed but does it also need to go on to your website? Could you cut the number of printed copies and create a PDF version? The PDF could be emailed or put onto a CD/DVD.

By planning the different versions of the document at the outset we can factor in the requirements when creating the item, rather than it being an after thought and having to try and re-work the item to be usable on the web or as a PDF. It will be more cost effective because we are, on most occasions, only creating one document and not creating one item to work in print, and one item for the web, and then a PDF version.

You may be thinking ‘if I have a printed item I always get a PDF copy’. You may be right but that is probably just a straight forward PDF of the printed item. Take a look at http://shoutpr.blogspot.com/2009/02/not-just-pdf.html which shows you don’t have to have a plain old PDF.