article on free PDF software

  • Thread starter Thread starter B. Otsing
  • Start date Start date
Good article. I use PDFCreator periodically and I never paid attention to
that 'waiting' option.

I'm generally not a big fan of the PDF format as it is still "owned" by one
company. If it were to become an adopted standard I would be inclined to use
it more.

M
 
B. Otsing said:
I wrote an article on the possibilities of free PDF software. Any
comments are welcome.
You can find it at:

http://freewarepdf.com
Click to expand...

Since PDFCreator is essentially a frontend for Ghostscript, like so many
other "print to PDF" programs, it is the granddaddy of PDF freeware.

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/

Another interesting Ghostscript frontend is Ghostword.

http://ghostword.sourceforge.net/

A great advantage to having Ghostscript installed is that Irfanview will
use it (with its postscript plugin) to create thumbprints for the first
page of your PDF files in the Irfanview thumbnails browser. Great for
those with large PDF collections.


No article on Free PDF programs is complete without a mention of pdftk.

Get down to the PDF nitty-gritty. Go under the PDF hood. Don't be
afraid to get your hands dirty.

http://www.accesspdf.com/pdftk/


Other valuable non-Ghostscript PDF freeware:

BeCyPDFMetaEdit. The author must be a saint. Get this quick before he
changes his mind.

Among other features, it is the only freeware (without ads) that
facilitates adding bookmarks to an existing PDF.

Any large PDF file NEEDS bookmarks. Trust me on this.

Also lets you add page "labels" to your PDF in case your PDF has a
preface section with small roman numerals, and the "real" page 1 does
not occur until page 12 or so.

http://www.becyhome.de/becypdfmetaedit/description_eng.htm


FtTek PDF File Save

Uses Adobe Acrobat Reader. Lets you save the data in PDF fill-in forms
when Adobe Reader says "No." Export fields as a FDF file and import them
again as needed. (Also, take a look at FyTek PDF Briefcase. Create PDF
archives.)

http://www.fytek.com/products.php?pg=pdffilesave


HTMLDOC

Turns any html editor into a super PDF word processor. Supports
hyperlinks, bookmarks, and automatic tables of contents. Turns web pages
into PDF documents with live hyperlinks. Unique and invaluable. A real
jewel. Even more valuable if you can find and download the manual.

http://users.tpg.com.au/naffall/htmldoc.html


SCAN2PDF

Most folks with scanners don't need this program, but some might. Free,
but makes VERY large files IMHO.

http://www.koma-code.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39&Itemid=82


TOMAHAWK PDF+

There might still be some links to the free version on the web
somewhere. I like it.


FREEWARE at COOLPDF SOFTWARE

Tweak PDF
PDF Watermark Creator
PDF Thumbnail Generator
PDF Bundle

http://www.coolpdf.com/products.html


FREEWARE at NicePDF Software Products

Free PDF Compressor 1.12
PDF Version Converter

http://www.nicepdf.com/products.html
 
B. Otsing said:
I wrote an article on the possibilities of free PDF software. Any comments
are welcome.
Click to expand...

Perhaps someone can add information about the size of the PDF files. I
tried a lot of free pdf creating software, incl. OpenOffice. All
generate very large files, except Tomahawk, but that isn't free
anymore.

Yrrah
 
Back
Top