Creating Printables

 

You have a great idea you want to share with the world.

You make up a printable.

Now how do you make it, you know, printable?

I was asked this question by a few people when I attended the Build Your Blog Conference earlier this month.

I promised them that was simple and that I would write up a step by step post on how to do it.

So here it is.  Ready?

The first thing that you need to do is save your printable as a PDF whether you have made it in Word, Pages, Photoshop, etc.

Now you need to get it on to the internet.  You can use Dropbox or Google Drive.  I have used both, but I prefer Google Drive simply because I use Google so much.  Both are free services, depending on the amount of space you use.  I’m going to show you how to use both.

Google Drive

Once you get into Google Drive look in the top left corner and click the Upload button.

 

 

When you click it, it will drop down a menu that says “Files” and “Folders”.  Choose Files and it will open up all your computer files for you to choose from.  Find your PDF printable file, select it, and click open.

 

 

This window will pop up out of the bottom right corner and tell you when your file has been completely uploaded.

If you click the file name, your file will open.  It’s a good idea to double check that everything looks right before sharing your printable.

Next you will want to click the blue Share button.  This window will pop open.

 

You will need to click “Change” to change the privacy settings on the file.  Then this window will pop open:

 

 

Change the Visibility Options to public and make sure Access is set so people can view only. (Unless you want to let them edit or comment.)

Click save and  it will take you back to this window.  Grab your share link from the top.  This is the link you want to your printable to in your blog post.

 

 

And you’re done!  See?  Simple.

 

And if you happen to be looking at the file, or you uploaded it a while back and the upload window is no longer there  you can share directly from the file.  Just look in the top right corner and click the share button there.

 

Dropbox

 

Once you are signed in to Dropbox you click the upload button.

 

 

Then you click the “Choose files”

 

 

It will open up your computer files and you choose what to upload.   Then to share you just click the “share link” icon.

 

 

A box will open up with your shareable link.  That’s the link you will link to in you blog post.

 

 

All done!

 

Have any questions about the process of making a printable?  Ask below and I’ll get back to you ASAP.