How to Publish Word Documents as Tagged PDF, Web Pages and Print-Ready Files

The Tutoring Club now runs at several sites, and the volunteer manual has many readers. New volunteers read it on a phone. The coordinators edit it. The community center wants a printed booklet for the front desk, the grant office wants an archived copy, and the website needs a page that says the same thing. If each of those is made by hand, they drift apart within a month.

In this tutorial you will treat the Word file as the single source and publish it in several formats: a tagged PDF with bookmarks, a PDF/A archive copy, a folded booklet, a web version and a plain-text summary. You will check each output and set up a simple system so the next update takes minutes, not an afternoon.

Pick the right output for each audience

Start with the reader, not the file type. Ask two questions: Does this person need to change it? and Where will they read it? The answers point to one format.

Most documents need two or three of these, not all six. For the volunteer manual the club picks: the .docx for coordinators, a tagged PDF for volunteers, a booklet for the front desk, and a PDF/A copy once a year for the records.

Export a PDF well

Before any export, run Review› then Accessibility› then Check Accessibility and fix what it finds. A PDF can only carry the structure that is already in the Word file: real heading styles, alt text, table header rows and descriptive links, as in Intermediate Tutorial 8.

Then go to File› then Save As (or Save a Copy), choose PDF in Save as type, and click Options… before you save. File› then Export› then Create PDF/XPS Document opens the same choices.

Name the file so the reader knows what it is and which version, such as Tutoring Club - Volunteer Manual v1.3.pdf, and tick Open file after publishing so you go straight to checking it.

Check the PDF before you send it

Opening the PDF and scrolling is not a check. Spend five minutes on these tests, every time you publish.

That difference matters. Print to PDF sends the pages to a virtual printer, so you get what a printer would get: ink on paper, no structure. Save as PDF (or Export) writes the document's structure into the file. Use Print to PDF only when an app has no other way to make a PDF.

Prepare print-ready files

A file that looks right on screen can still print badly. Settle these before you send anything to a printer or a print shop.

• Paper size. US printers use Letter (8.5 × 11 in); most other countries use A4. Set it in Layout› then Page Setup› then Size in the source, not only in the Print screen. If you share files with a partner abroad, say which size the file is in.
• Margins. Most office printers can't print to the edge of the paper. Keep at least about 0.5 in (1.27 cm) of margin and keep text and page numbers well inside it.
• Bleed is not a Word strength. Print shops use bleed (color or pictures that run past the trim edge) and crop marks. Word doesn't create either. For a full-color cover that runs to the edge, ask the shop what they accept, or design the cover in a layout app and keep the inside pages in Word.

A folded booklet. Word can arrange pages so that a stack of printed sheets folds into a booklet, with pages in the right order:

1. Open the full Page Setup dialog: click the small arrow in the corner of Layout› then Page Setup, or Layout› then Page Setup› then Margins› then Custom Margins.
2. On the Margins tab, under Pages, set Multiple pages to Book fold. Word switches the orientation to landscape; each Word page becomes half a sheet.
3. Set Sheets per booklet to All for a short manual. Add a small Gutter for the fold, then click OK.
4. Check the page count: each sheet holds 4 pages, so aim for a multiple of 4 (8, 12, 16). Add a notes page at the end rather than leave odd blanks in the middle.
5. Print with File› then Print and choose Print on Both Sides with Flip pages on short edge, or Manually Print on Both Sides.

Always print one test booklet. Fold it, read the page numbers in order, and check that nothing sits in the fold. Print preview (Ctrl+P) shows each half page, but only paper shows you how the fold and the printer's margins really behave.

Publish to the web and share a view-only link

Word can save a web page with File› then Save As and Web Page, Filtered (*.htm;*.html). Filtered removes most of Word's own extra code, but the result is still messy: inline styles everywhere, odd spacing, and pictures in a separate _files folder. It rarely fits the look of your website, and it is hard to update.

Better options, from best to good:

1. Paste clean text into the website's editor (CMS). Copy from Word and paste with Ctrl+Shift+V or the editor's paste as plain text, then apply the site's own headings and lists. Short pages stay readable on phones.
2. Link to the tagged PDF. For a long manual, a short web page with a summary and a link such as Volunteer Manual (PDF, 8 pages, updated October 2026) is often best. Say it's a PDF in the link text.
3. Link to the live document. If the file is on OneDrive or SharePoint, click Share, open the link settings, choose who can use the link and set it to Can view. People always see the latest version and can't change it.

Plain text and email. For an email update, write a short version on purpose: three or four sentences and a link. If a system needs a .txt file, use File› then Save As with Plain Text (*.txt). Word shows a File Conversion box; choose Other encoding and Unicode (UTF-8) so Korean and Spanish characters survive.

Keep every version in sync

The rule that keeps outputs honest: one source .docx, and every other file is made from it. Nobody edits the PDF, the booklet or the web page directly. To change anything, change the source and regenerate the outputs.

If several people edit the source, connect this to your review workflow (Tutorial 3 of this level): publish only from a version that has been approved, and record the version number in the approval note. In Tutorial 8 you'll coach other volunteers, and this folder system is one of the first habits worth teaching them.

Common mistakes

Practice