It’s only natural. Just because you have a computer that can handle all kind of files and documents you assume everybody else has a computer that can do exactly the same. But the truth couldn’t be more removed from that. Not everybody has a computer that can play .AVI files, for example. And not everybody has a computer that can open and display PDFs either.
In all cases, the one way out of trouble is to play things as safe as possible, and send your contacts the type of files even an Atari ST could handle. Take everything to its simplest denominator. And as far as PDFs are concerned, that implies having them turned into the kind of files just anybody could visualize: JPGs. There?s no personal computer that could fail to open such images. All computers can do it by default, without users having to download anything or launching any kind of conflictive application.
The objective of this post is to introduce you to some of the better applications that can assist you in such a conversion task.
In general, you must know that there are two ways to get that job done: by using web-based tools, and by downloading and installing a file conversion tool in your computer.
From PDF to JPG on the Web
There is no shortage of browser-based conversion tools you can use for free, and without the need to even register first. A really popular one is Zamzar. Its free version will let you upload and convert as much as five files at the same time, amounting to 100 MB. All you have to do is to upload them (or point the application to where they’re found online) for them to be rendered into the relevant output format (JPG in this case). They will be delivered straight to your inbox – your email address is the one and only piece of information you must supply.
And a very good alternative to Zamzar is the one provided by Neevia Technology, a purveyor of edocument solutions. This company offers a web interface for uploading files that is really simple to use, and that comes with some features not readily available elsewhere (much les for free), such as being able to set down the resolution of what you are converting and the overall image quality. And something as vital as being able to encrypt what you are converting by password-protecting it and making the image unprintable is made possible in a mere couple of clicks. So is watermarking your image.
The only downside of Neevia Technology is the upload limit, which is really harsh (1 MB per file).
From PDF to JPG on your desktop
In general, people resort to desktop converters not because the image quality is better or anything like that, but simply because they are much safer to use. There is information that no sound person would ever upload to the Internet. Who knows who might end up seeing it? These desktop conversion tools are the only safe way to keep such documents ensconced in your computer, and converted far from prying eyes.
PDF-Xchange Viewer for Windows is the one I want to bring to your attention right now, because its free version is capable of taking any document of yours and have it rendered into a JPEG, BMP or a PNG file. When doing so, you can tweak with aspects like its resolution, its page zoom and even the background to be used.
And PDF-Xchange Viewer has the added plus of letting you visualize PDFs, and annotate them as largely as you might want. That is, it lets people both open and edit documents with the same speed and ease.
More importantly, PDF-Xchange Viewer is a self-contained application. You won’t have to install any drivers in order to use it (a problem with other tools for the conversion of images).
So, there you go. I am sure any of the three applications introduced above will let you have any PDF of yours converted and rendered into a JPG anybody could handle. Personally, I always head to the Neevia Technology website in order to have PDFs processed because of the many encryption services that are offered, and that can be implemented with zero effort. But all three services are excellent, and they can all be used for free to begin with. 
