[kacir]

Originally Posted by mdmorrissey

I get PDFs from my Word files from lulu.com,

So use your word file to generate epubs.
Or, even better, copy content from Word to Windows Write program and save it as rtf file. Such rtf file is very good for many book reading devices.
Or use BookDesigner program with the rtf file.
Or ask us - Mobilereaders to help you.

Originally Posted by mdmorrissey

and there are a couple of places online where you can convert for free.

I did not ask you how you create pdf file. I was asking if you still have the document you used to generate pdf file.

Originally Posted by mdmorrissey

but I thought generally PDFs were pretty much the same (hence the advantage and attraction), but obviously I'm wrong. Still, all the PDFs I download from the net seem to come up in my both Mac and Windows without any problems. That's what I meant, from my non-expert point of view: if only an ereader could just download and read those PDFs as easily as the computer will do...

Yes. Right.
You have 24 inch monitor on your PC. I only have 5 inch screen on my PocketBook.

The main feature of pdf file is that it ALWAYS looks the same. On any computer, on any printer. So if you convert your document to pdf, the layout is locked. Most of the formatting information from the original document is thrown away, and only graphical position of elements on page is retained. This is also very interesting feature. You can publish a manual or a technical specification, and you know that nobody can reformat it easily and pass it for their own work.

pdf file is very bad for ebook readers with a small screen, because it ALWAYS looks the same. The problem is, the 5 inch screen on my PocketBook has less than ONE EIGHT of the area of A4 paper.
The dimensions of 5 inch screen are 75x100mm and dimensions of A4 paper are 210/297mm.

So. If you want to view pdf file that is formatted for A4 or letter paper on a 5" screen you have several options.
1. display the entire page on the screen with letters that are less than 1/3 of the original size
2. zoom the page and try to scroll around on a screen that has reaction time 1 second
3. try to reflow the page.

option 1 is only for people with very good eyes
option 2 is only good for very patient people
option 3 does not work. It can't work properly, because the vast majority of pdf files are not reflowable. They do not contain information where the paragraph ends, so your device had to guess. Make no mistake, the reflow software on PocketBook is very sophisticated, but only a true Artificial Intelligence would be able to reflow pdf file properly.