Make a PDF

[Dan Zollman]

I use a small piece of software called PDFCreator that lets me print a file to a "printer" that converts the file into a PDF. It preserves things like text and links that can be copied or clicked on, just as in any other PDF.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

I wanted to post this because some people may want to make PDF versions of documents that look nice for distribution to sponsors and school administrators, uploading as a whitepaper, or posting on websites. My team used PDFCreator for a distributable version of our Chairman's essay.

Sometimes image quality doesn't look great in the PDF from this software; other times it's ok. I really don't know anything about using professional software to make a PDF. This is just something I happened to find a year or two ago. I know there's other free software out there that does this--if you use anything good, post it here.

[Rob2713g]

If the document is in Microsoft Word format, then there is a toolbar which has the option of converting the document to pdf format. In my use, it has so far provided good results.

[Gamer930]

There is an add-on that you can download (less then 1 MB) off of Microsoft web page that allows you to save as a PDF file in Office 2007. They made it quick and easy.

[Dan Zollman]

Originally Posted by Gamer930

There is an add-on that you can download (less then 1 MB) off of Microsoft web page that allows you to save as a PDF file in Office 2007. They made it quick and easy.

Hmm...another reason to consider getting Office 2007. I still have 2003.

[madmac625]

On the mac side, you can go to the print window>PDF>Save as PDF.

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by worldbringer

Hmm...another reason to consider getting Office 2007. I still have 2003.

uhhh....yeah....I recently upgraded to 2000 from 97!

[flightofone]

You can also just use Google Aps - it imports Word documents and gives the option of saving in PDF. Plus it is free.

[artdutra04]

You can also use OpenOffice, as that's been able to export right to PDF for years now. I used it as my primary office productivity software on my laptop, as it does the same thing as MS Office all for free.

[Nate Laverdure]

I use ExpressPDF. Upload a word document or excel sheet to the website and it will email you the pdf a minute later -- for free! I have it sent to my gmail account, so it gets automatically backed up as well.

[aksimhal]

Do any of these support converting Microsoft Publisher files?

[Gamer930]

Originally Posted by aksimhal

Do any of these support converting Microsoft Publisher files?

Just created a quick calendar in Publisher 2007 and was able to save it as a PDF. Quality looks great

It is also nice to know there is a website that can convert word and excel to PDF for when I'm not on my computer.

[aksimhal]

I use publisher to create out team's documents, but I'm the only person with publisher, so I started using the pdf converter. I was wondering if there was any open source (or free) publisher substitute?

Thanks

[Carol]

I use a freeware program called PDF Redirect for creation of pdfs from various types of files; Word, Powerpoint, Excel, even pictures. (I don't have the link but I'm sure you can find it easily). The feature I particularly like is the ability to concatenate different files into one pdf file. You can also encrypt the files.