Once you have a Word document in final form, there are two ways to save it in PDF (Portable Document Format) format. The first uses the Acrobat PDFWriter, the second uses Acrobat Distiller on a PostScript file. If you are trying to do this on a PC, you might not have either of these! Come to campus and use a Macintosh then.
In the Scientific Computing Lab, the easier way to do it is this. Prepare your Word document (or Excel spreadsheet, Maple worksheet, whatever). Click the Apple and select Chooser. You'll get a screen like this:
I have clicked on Acrobat PDFWriter. Click the upper left corner to close Chooser. Now your computer is set up to "print" to the PDFWriter instead of to a printer. When you return to Word (or whatever), pull down File, Print, and you should get a screen which helps you save a PDF file. You might have the option of giving a name, some keywords, etc. When you get to choose a filename, do not put spaces in the filename (web servers such as personal.bgsu.edu often cannot handle spaces in filenames), and make sure it has the extension .pdf.
If you need to print something, open Chooser again, click on Laserwriter 8, then scroll through the AppleTalk zones until you get to ITS Scientific Comp. Lab: (Naturally, if you are in a different lab, use a different name!) Then close Chooser.
In Room 401 and maybe in your office, it is harder. You need to save the file as a PostScript (.ps) file, then convert it to PDF. First, pull down File, Print, and make Destination be File.
Click Save
Give it a name ending with .ps, for PostScript. Save it somewhere sensible, like the Desktop or your public_html folder.
Now launch Adobe Acrobat Distiller. You may find it under Apple, Applications, or you may need to use Apple, Sherlock to search for it. If so, search for Distiller:
Double click Distiller, then pull down File, Open, and find the .ps file you want to convert to .pdf.
Distiller will probably suggest a sensible new filename like syllabus.pdf. Go ahead and Save.
Now the .pdf file should be on the Desktop for you to view and then put on a web page, email to someone, or post on My BGSU.