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• The content is designed to be printed off by users
• You need to display complex content that is not web-friendly e.g. complicated diagrams or floe flow charts.

Otherwise we recommend publishing in HTML format. All PDFs published on GOV.UK should have a Gateway number.

Drawbacks of using PDFs

While PDFs are a useful document type for sharing internally, we do not use PDFs to share information on the web for these reasons:

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• HTML documents are easier to read online
• HTML documents are easier for users to locate in the search engines
• HTML pages can be easily located on mobile devices
• We need to comply with 'open standards' - we need to make sure we do not discriminate against people with disabilities.
• For example, content must be accessible by someone who has a visual impairment.