RTF to PDF Converter

Rich Text Format was created by Microsoft in the late 1980s so that formatted documents could move between word processors that otherwise could not read each other's files. Decades later, it still fills that role. TextEdit on a Mac saves formatted notes as .rtf, older Windows computers wrote them with WordPad, and a great many business programs export letters, statements, prescriptions and case notes as RTF because it is the one formatted file almost every editor opens.

That reach has limits, though. Phones often show an RTF as raw code, web upload forms rarely accept it, and recipients who see a .rtf attachment are not always sure what it is. Converting to PDF keeps the formatting and removes the doubt: the file opens in any browser and prints the same on any printer.

The format is also simple to inspect. An RTF file is plain text with formatting commands mixed in, which is why it is a common choice for systems that generate documents automatically and why it rarely carries hidden surprises such as macros. The downside is that each reading program interprets those commands its own way, so the same file can paginate differently from one editor to the next.

A Word document always knows its paper size; an RTF file may not. The format can record page width, height and margins, but TextEdit and many export functions write only the text and its formatting, leaving the reading program to choose a page. Different programs choose differently, which is one reason the same RTF looks different in two editors.

To make the result predictable, this page starts with Letter paper and normal margins of 25.4 mm, one inch, on the left and right. If your file was written for A4, select A4 under Page size. To keep the page that an RTF file defines for itself, choose Same as source.

RTF covers the formatting most letters and reports need: fonts and sizes, bold and italic, colors, paragraph alignment, tabs, simple tables, page breaks, headers and footers, and embedded pictures. All of these appear in the PDF as the file describes them.

It cannot hold everything a modern word processor offers. Content controls, newer chart types and some kinds of text effects have no RTF equivalent, so a document that went through RTF on its way to you may already have lost them. The PDF shows what is in the file, not what the original document may once have contained.

Character sets are a quieter issue. RTF files from older systems store accented letters through code pages, and the file names the code page it uses, which the converter follows. If a name or address comes out with wrong letters, the exporting program probably declared the wrong code page; re-exporting with Unicode enabled, where the program offers it, fixes the problem.

If your RTF files come from a practice-management, accounting or school system, they are probably letters or reports generated from a template. These often use a fixed font and simple tables, and they convert cleanly. Converting a whole day's exports at once is easy: add up to 20 files, and each becomes a PDF with the same name, ready to attach to an email or upload to a portal that only takes PDF.

For records that must be kept, choose PDF/A at the top of the tool. To combine several letters into one file, use Merge PDF afterwards. Plain .txt exports work through TXT to PDF, and Word or spreadsheet files through the Convert to PDF tool.