How to create a PDF file from a Prism graph or layout.

Prism 5 and later

Prism 5 can export graphs or layouts as pdf, without any add-on software. It is a choice on the Export dialog.  From a graph or layout (or a gallery with several graphs or layouts selected) click the Export button, or drop the FIle menu and choose Export.  When you create a pdf this way, Prism exports the graph(s) and any other text, tables, images, etc. and leaves a small margin. It does not make the pdf page equal to the size of paper you print on. Rather it makes the 'page' just big enough to contain all the information on the graph or layout, with a small margin.

If you prefer the pdf to be the size of a printed page, don't use Prism's export command. Instead, use File..Print. With Prism Mac, there will be a pdf button in the lower left of the Print dialog. This is a standard part of the Mac OSX, and lets any program "print" to a pdf file. With Prism Windows, you need to purchase extra software (Adobe Acrobat or equivalent) to print to a pdf page.

Prism 4 Windows

Prism 4 Windows can not,  by itself, create pdf files. You need to use another program. The standard is Adobe Acrobat.  Acrobat works like a virtual printer to create PDFs, which can be read with Adobe's free Acrobat Reader. Once Adobe Acrobat is installed, you can create PDF files by choosing File...Print from Prism (or any other program) and then choosing "PDF writer" as the printer you wish to use. Note the distinction between Adobe Acrobat, which creates pdf files and is not free, and Acrobat Reader, which views pdf files and is free.

Several other companies create software that let you create pdf files, and some of these programs are quite a bit less expensive than Acrobat.

Once you have installed Acrobat, or some other program, you can 'print' to the Acrobat file directly from Prism. Or you can copy and paste the Prism graphs into Word, and then create the PDF file from there.

Prism 4 Macintosh

If you use Mac OS X, you can create a pdf file from any application without needing to buy any special software. This is a terrific feature of Mac OS X , but is obscure and hard to discover in older versions of OSX. From a Prism graph or layout (or from any other application), choose File..Print. Newer OSX versions have a PDF option right on the dialog. Older versions require that you click "Preview" from the Print dialog. A new window will open for the Print Preview application. From that application, drop the File menu again and choose "Save as PDF" and choose a file name.