Illustration by Stephen Shankland/CNET
Since 2018, Google has let you type doc.new, slide.new and sheet.new into your browser address bar to fire up a blank document for G Suite’s Google Docs, Google Slides and Google Sheets. Now there’s a new option using the same approach from Adobe: PDF.new.
Adobe invented the Portable Document Format standard, which is now widely used for digital documents like bank statements, congressional testimony, lawsuits and owner’s manuals. The pdf.new website, launched Thursday, offers quick access to an Adobe online drag-and-drop tool to turn an image file or a Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint document into a PDF you can download.
Several related new services from Adobe include Sign.new to create a PDF form that can be digitally signed; JPGtoPDF.new specifically for converting JPG, PNG or BMP images to PDF; and CompressPDF.new.
They all exemplify new ideas made possible by the expansion of internet address domains beyond familiar ones like .com, .edu and .net. Google is a big fan of this top-level domain expansion, using .google for its own websites and others like .dev for developer-focused sites.
Other .new users include Spotify with playlist.new, Stripe with invoice.new and eBay with sell.new.
Adobe’s tools are free to use once each per day. If you want more, Adobe offers premium options through its Creative Cloud and Document Cloud subscriptions.
