Converting a LaTeX document to a PDF document

There are three ways to convert from a LaTeX document to a PDF document.

• LaTeX -> dvips -> ps2pdf
  

  % latex myfile (to generate myfile.dvi from myfile.tex)
  % dvips myfile (to generate myfile.ps from myfile.dvi)
  % ps2pdf myfile.ps (to generate the file myfile.pdf)
  

  Because this method involves three step to convert to PDF format, it does not give you the best result. The fonts are converted to bitmap images, which results in a lower quality output.

• LaTeX -> dvipdfm
  

  % latex myfile (to generate myfile.dvi)
  % dvipdfm myfile (to generate myfile.pdf from myfile.dvi)
  

  The program dvipdfm converts .dvi file to PDF format. If you have eps figures in your document, then this method may work the best for you. It requires little modifications to the original LaTeX document for converting to a PDF document. On the other hand, if dvipdfm does not find certain fonts in the document, then you might find blank spaces in your PDF document where the missing fonts should be.

• pdflatex (or pdftex for plain TeX)
  

  % pdflatex myfile (to generate myfile.pdf from myfile.tex)
  

  The most straightforward method, pdflatex converts the LaTeX document directly to the PDF document. It seems to be the most reliable of the three methods. However, if you have eps figures in your document, then you need to convert them to PDF formatted figures before running pdflatex. This requires an additional step of running epstopdf script:
  

  % epstopdf myfigure.eps (to generate myfigure.pdf)
  

  And make sure that the LaTeX document properly load the correct figure,
  

  \begin{figure}
  \includegraphics{myfigure.pdf}
  \end{figure}
  

  Of course, if you omit the suffix of the figure file name, then pdflatex will automatically loads the .pdf figure.

Both dvipdfm and pdflatex have a number of pdf specific options you can include in your document; adding colors to your pdf text, for example. The manual for dvipdfm is found in $TEXMF/doc/dvipdfm/dvipdfm.pdf, and for pdftex/pdflatex is in $TEXMF/doc/pdftex/base/pdftexman.pdf.

This information is available in alternative formats upon request by individuals with disabilities. Please send email to alt-format@msi.umn.edu or call 612-624-0528.

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