Basically you create a new macro and paste the below code into it, then save. You can find out how to add a macro to Word here. Hang on, where do I put this code?, you ask. Some steps for adding it as a button to a toolbar follow below. Pick whichever one you like and add it to Word. The first will provide you with the option to change file name and location, the second is a straight export, no questions asked. The macros below do only one thing: they save the currently open file as PDF, by default in the same folder, with the same file name. I generate PDFs practically everyday, so I wanted something easier.
But that option is buried in the ribbon interface and involves quite a number of clicks. In recent versions of Word, it is also pretty simple: just Save as… and select PDF. In LaTex, creating PDFs is a question of one simple command (plus a bit of fiddling with settings). One of the most common word-processing related task for academics is to generate PDF versions of documents - for sharing with colleagues, for submission to a journal, for uploading to a publication page, et cetera.
