J
Jeff
Anyone know of a totally free, fully functional, program to create .pdf
files?
files?
M
Mel
=========================================================================
CutePDF Writer
Create PDF documents on the fly — for Free!
Portable Document Format (PDF) is the de facto standard for the secure
and reliable distribution and exchange of electronic documents and forms
around the world. CutePDF Writer (formerly CutePDF Printer) is the free
version of commercial PDF creation software. CutePDF Writer installs
itself as a "printer subsystem". This enables virtually any Windows
applications (must be able to print) to create professional quality PDF
documents - with just a push of a button!
FREE for personal and commercial use! No watermarks! No Popup Web Ads!
http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp
========================================================================
Paperless Printer® is a universal document exchange utility. You can use
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Document Format (PDF), Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Microsoft Word
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Other users can view your work on Microsoft® Windows, Mac® OS, LINUX,
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Users can print from almost any Windows® application to this printer and
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parts. Paperless Printer appears like a normal printer on a Windows PC.
You can actually see the Paperless Printer object in the Printers folder
[Start -> Settings -> Printers]. Using an application's Print command
you can print anything to this printer. Instead of printing on paper,
Paperless Printer creates content in PDF, HTML, DOC, Excel, JPEG or BMP
files. Paperless Printer can convert almost any application data to PDF,
HTML, DOC, Excel, JPEG or BMP including those created with drawing,
page-layout, or image-editing programs. Using the application's Print
command, you can create files directly from Microsoft Office
applications, database applications, word processing applications or
common authoring applications.
This product is FREE for noncommercial use or benefit only.
You may not use the software for any commercial, business, governmental
or institutional purpose of any kind. If you desire to use this software
for commercial purposes you need to buy and register the product. Please
read the End User License Agreement for more information.
http://www.rarefind.com/paperlessprinter/index.html
========================================================================
PrimoPDF is a free tool for high-quality PDF creation. PrimoPDF's
user-friendly interface enables printing to PDF from virtually any
Windows application. Additionally, PrimoPDF offers users the ability to
optimize their PDF output for printing to standard laser printers or for
onscreen viewing. The resultant PDF output conforms to the PDF
specification and subsequently can be viewed with any PDF viewer
software. The product is completely free - not just a trial -
eliminating cost barriers for those users requiring basic creation of
high-quality PDF files. There are no annoying pop-up ads, no
watermarking, and no catches.
http://www.activepdf.com/corporate/news/pressreleases/primo.cfm
http://www.primopdf.com/
http://www.download.com/PrimoPDF/3000-6675_4-10265652.html?tag=lst-0-1
======================================================================
I
Ian Jackson
I have all three, and they all work very well indeed (although theMel said:
resulting pdfs do sometimes differ slightly. I had decided that I
preferred Cute, but then I found one snag with it, as follows:
Having used Cute to produce a perfectly acceptable pdf document, I
wanted to cut-and-paste of some of the text into a word document. All I
got was a lot of horizontal lines where the text should have been (Adobe
Readers 7, 6 and 5 were all the same). However, there was no trouble
with Primo. I didn't try Paperless Printer.
Ian.
--
O
ozzy
I have been searching for one too for a long time and have found none.
So far the only one that allows 100% TRUE fully functional
create/edit/print/etc... is adobe.
I have tried all the ones that Mel has posted links to but they do not
allow the proper editing of exisiting pdf files. If you just need to
create pdf files and do nothing else, then those programs will do,
marginally.
I am still waiting for 100% TRUE functionality features.
ozzy
C
cmdrdata
I have been using win2pdf and it worked fine for me. Create your
document anyway you want using Word, or any other application, e.g.,
powerpoint, then send to printer and in the printer selection select
win2pdf. It creates a pdf file for you at that time.
document anyway you want using Word, or any other application, e.g.,
powerpoint, then send to printer and in the printer selection select
win2pdf. It creates a pdf file for you at that time.
I
Ian Jackson
I also tried win2pdf, but I recall that it seemed to do scary things to
my computer (like sometimes bringing it to a grinding halt). For me,
Cute is the most direct, but does have the apparent problem if you later
want to do a cut-and-paste from the pdf text (see my other post). So my
present choice is Primo.
Ian.
--
my computer (like sometimes bringing it to a grinding halt). For me,
Cute is the most direct, but does have the apparent problem if you later
want to do a cut-and-paste from the pdf text (see my other post). So my
present choice is Primo.
Ian.
In message said:
--
H
Harvey Van Sickle
On 09 Jul 2005, ozzy wrote
Sorry for the thread drift, but it sounds like you know your pdf's, and
I hope you can clarify something for me.
I've never been able to afford Adobe, so I've tried various pdf
creators; they all have a *huge* drawback as far as I'm concerned, in
that the document has to be a single printable entity before it can be
sent to the virtual printer to create the pdf.
The way I work, that seems to bloat the thing to an incredible extent.
Example (which I've just tried with CutePDF). I have a report which
consists of a text file (a few KB) and 15 .jpg images, which in total
comes to 8.7 MB. If I create a *single* file to turn it into a pdf, I
can roll the 15 .jpg's into the Word document, but the resultling .doc
file is 138+ MB -- 15 or 17 times the cumulative size. If I send that
to CutePDF turns out a 24 MB pdf file.
A few questions: can adobe (or anything else) "build" a pdf directly
from the original 8.7 MB collection of .doc + 15 images, or do all of
them require the document to be consolidated first?
If Adobe can do the compilation of the pages -- rather than the
sequence of "files/word/pdf" -- would an 8.7 MB collection still
produce a 24 MB pdf?
Finally, is there a better way to combine a .doc and 15 jpg's to
produce the single file for apps like CutePDF which, unlike Word,
doesn't bloat the thing to 15X the size of the inputs?
Thanks for any comments.
Sorry for the thread drift, but it sounds like you know your pdf's, and
I hope you can clarify something for me.
I've never been able to afford Adobe, so I've tried various pdf
creators; they all have a *huge* drawback as far as I'm concerned, in
that the document has to be a single printable entity before it can be
sent to the virtual printer to create the pdf.
The way I work, that seems to bloat the thing to an incredible extent.
Example (which I've just tried with CutePDF). I have a report which
consists of a text file (a few KB) and 15 .jpg images, which in total
comes to 8.7 MB. If I create a *single* file to turn it into a pdf, I
can roll the 15 .jpg's into the Word document, but the resultling .doc
file is 138+ MB -- 15 or 17 times the cumulative size. If I send that
to CutePDF turns out a 24 MB pdf file.
A few questions: can adobe (or anything else) "build" a pdf directly
from the original 8.7 MB collection of .doc + 15 images, or do all of
them require the document to be consolidated first?
If Adobe can do the compilation of the pages -- rather than the
sequence of "files/word/pdf" -- would an 8.7 MB collection still
produce a 24 MB pdf?
Finally, is there a better way to combine a .doc and 15 jpg's to
produce the single file for apps like CutePDF which, unlike Word,
doesn't bloat the thing to 15X the size of the inputs?
Thanks for any comments.
Q
Querulantus
Jeff said:
Tomahawk:
http://nativewinds.montana.com/software/tomahawk.html
Features:
http://nativewinds.montana.com/software/tomahawk.html#Downloads
Download:
http://nativewinds.montana.com/software/tomahawk.html#Downloads
Get it while you can, because the freeware version will disappear.
Q.
I
Ian Jackson
Harvey,Harvey Van Sickle said:
If you are producing a Word document with 15 jpgs which turns out to be
8.7MB, then you may be doing something wrong. It may be because of the
original filesize of the jpgs, or of the way you are inserting them into
the document.
The first rule for minimising overall filesize is to ensure that the
filesize of the original jpgs is no larger than is necessary to produce
an adequate resolution and quality of the pictures. For example, 100 dpi
is probably more than sufficient. Also, use a fairly high amount of
compression. An image (say) 2" x 2" generally need only need be about
25kB at the most.
One 80 page document I worked on was 48MB. 20MB of this was ONE of about
25 images, which, when 'sucked off' the document turned out to be 20MB
in its own right! It was only about 1" x 2", but you could have blown it
up to the size of a football pitch, and still cut your fingers the
sharpness of the image! I eventually reduced the document to about
1.5MB.
The second thing is to insert the image using the 'Insert' facility on
the Word toolbar ('Insert', 'Picture', 'From File'). Although you CAN
insert from an opened image (right click, Copy, and Paste), this makes
the Word document large. Worse still, you can insert by simply right
clicking on the filename. This produces absolutely horrendous filesizes.
You can even fun out of memory while doing it.
One of my work colleagues does use the 'proper' Adobe Acrobat. He to
often produces large pdf filesizes. I understand that Adobe Acrobat has
the facility of choosing the resolution of images, so you can start with
a Word document with high resolution pictures, and reduce them in the
pdf. The freebies don't seem to have this facility. However, most of the
pdfs which I produce are, at the most, only about 50% greater than the
original .doc.
Finally, if you are copying something from an existing .doc to paste in
another, try using 'Edit', 'Paste Special', and 'Paste As Picture'. This
can also vastly reduce the filesize (especially with graphics).
I hope this helps. Sorry for the long posting.
Ian.
--
O
ozzy
The problem is that I already have tons of existing pdf files, with
embedded drop down menus. I only have the [OT] adobe reader.
I want to be able to directly drop them into some application, make my
menu selections and then save the results as a true pdf file.( Adobe
reader doesn't allow saving the changes. It only allows you to select
the menus and print it.) What application does this? I have tried ALL
the ones listed and none so far do it
(So far only [OT] adobe writer allows this.
ozzy
M
Michael Salem
Ian Jackson wrote:
....
I don?t know if it will solve your size problem, but it's worth noting
that Openooffice.org (Ooo) can export documents to PDF files. It
supports documents in MS Office as well as its own format.
In the past I have had trouble with Ooo-generated files not being
readable by Adobe Reader, but current Ooo & Adobe Reader are fine.
I use the latest beta of Ooo v2, but there is also a stable release of
Ooo 1.
HTH,
....
I don?t know if it will solve your size problem, but it's worth noting
that Openooffice.org (Ooo) can export documents to PDF files. It
supports documents in MS Office as well as its own format.
In the past I have had trouble with Ooo-generated files not being
readable by Adobe Reader, but current Ooo & Adobe Reader are fine.
I use the latest beta of Ooo v2, but there is also a stable release of
Ooo 1.
HTH,
I
Ian Jackson
Querulantus said:
So I tried Tomahawk.
It doesn't seem to do .docs (but will .rtfs).
With an rtf, it didn't produce any images.
It crashes my computer (CPU usage hits the 100% endstop).
These things scare me! So I haven't really been able to find out where I
am going wrong.
I'll stick to Primo / Cute / Paperless Printer.
Ian.
--
H
Harvey Van Sickle
On 10 Jul 2005, Ian Jackson wrote
files which totalled 8.7 MB.
Not at all -- thanks for the detailed explanation and help, as it
clears up a lot. I'll try various ways of putting the images into the
Word doc, and see what that does.
The .jpgs I've been preparing are generally archival images -- out of
copyright --- sent to people who use them in various ways --
powerpoint/submittable reports/bidding for projects. Each image (or
page of images) is A4 size, to be reproduced as a stand-alone report,
so I've just been sending them as separate .jpg files to be cut-and-
pasted at will.
I decided a while back to try drag-and-drop to create a single file --
it's probably the drag-and-drop that ballooned the thing from 8.7 megs
worth of images (each 600-800KB) up to 138 MB -- but I'll play around
and see what happens.
Again, many thanks for your time and the useful tutorial!
-snip example, which produced a 138MB Word document and a 24MB pdf from
files which totalled 8.7 MB.
Not at all -- thanks for the detailed explanation and help, as it
clears up a lot. I'll try various ways of putting the images into the
Word doc, and see what that does.
The .jpgs I've been preparing are generally archival images -- out of
copyright --- sent to people who use them in various ways --
powerpoint/submittable reports/bidding for projects. Each image (or
page of images) is A4 size, to be reproduced as a stand-alone report,
so I've just been sending them as separate .jpg files to be cut-and-
pasted at will.
I decided a while back to try drag-and-drop to create a single file --
it's probably the drag-and-drop that ballooned the thing from 8.7 megs
worth of images (each 600-800KB) up to 138 MB -- but I'll play around
and see what happens.
Again, many thanks for your time and the useful tutorial!
D
Dion Johanson
Ian Jackson said:
I never experienced such problems with Tomahawk (2K an XP systems).
From the site: "Freeware version depends on which converters are
installed on your computer."
Dion Johanson
H
Harvey Van Sickle
On 10 Jul 2005, Michael Salem wrote
Thanks; I may give that a go -- I tried OpenOffice a couple of times,
and was extremely impressed with it; but as I have a working copy of
Word on the machine there's not been a huge incentive to switch.
(It'll happen when I next need to upgrade, but that's not often as my
word processing needs are very, very basic.)
Cheers,
Harvey
Thanks; I may give that a go -- I tried OpenOffice a couple of times,
and was extremely impressed with it; but as I have a working copy of
Word on the machine there's not been a huge incentive to switch.
(It'll happen when I next need to upgrade, but that's not often as my
word processing needs are very, very basic.)
Cheers,
Harvey
I
Ian Jackson
Dion Johanson said:
Noted. It was worth a try, anyway.
Ian.
--
L
lugnut
Harvey
I have had the same problem with the reports I have to send
out. I am still using Lotus WordPro but the size problem
was the same for me. My work around was to use PicSizer to
reduce the images to about the size I will be printing. To
maintain my originals unaltered, I have the reduced prints
saved in another folder. Next, I set my printer for the
document to Cutepdf Writer and set it for a 600dpi final
printer output resolution in the properties because that is
all my printer will reproduce anyways. You can reduce the
final file output size more by selecting a lower resolution.
You should go into the Cutepdf Writer properties to setup
your printer defaults for printout. As I prepare my
document, it is correctly formated for the CutePDF Writer
and the printer. If I wait to make the printer selection
until the document is well underway, it will skew the
layout. I import the photos into the document and place
them where I need them. Once they are placed, I can add
captions, etc as needed. When the document is completed, I
save it in the .doc or .lwp format depending on what needs
to be done. Before closing the document, I print it to
Cutepdf Writer which was selected as the default printer
while preparing the document Cute pdf will save it as a
..pdf document. I can then open it with the Adobe reader and
either print the entire document to my printer or select
individual pages. I know this is a convoluted way of doing
it, but it works for me. I just completed a .doc report
that came in at 13.7mb. The .pdf came in at 2.4mb. The
greatest file size reduction was in reduction of the image
files to the final print size before starting the document.
Lugnut
H
Harvey Van Sickle
On 10 Jul 2005, lugnut wrote-snip useful suggestions.
Many thanks; I've printed that out, and will give it a test run.
FWIW, I discovered that inserting the .jpg's into a Word file by
"Insert Picture" instead of drag-and-frop kept the Word document about
the same size as the input files -- 8.7 MB -- but that simply printing
that to CutePDF via Word still turned out a 24 MB file.
It'll be interesting to see what size of pdf your work-round turns out;
thanks again.
Many thanks; I've printed that out, and will give it a test run.
FWIW, I discovered that inserting the .jpg's into a Word file by
"Insert Picture" instead of drag-and-frop kept the Word document about
the same size as the input files -- 8.7 MB -- but that simply printing
that to CutePDF via Word still turned out a 24 MB file.
It'll be interesting to see what size of pdf your work-round turns out;
thanks again.
L
lugnut
snipped
Harvey,
One thing I should have mentioned and I am not entirely sure
of this: If you drag and drop an image, the entire image is
added to the final file which rapidly increases it's size.
By using the Insert Picture, I believe you are basically
just linking the image to the document. This means the
linked image and document cannot be moved if you ever want
to reproduce or edit the document from the original. That
may explain why the file is so much smaller when inserted
instead of D&D. You may want to play with it to be sure
what is happening. One thing is for sure: when you print it
to CutePDF, the images are part of the document and cannot
be moved. This is precisely why I wanted to go to the PDF
printout - I can send an electronic copy of my report to the
client w/o worrying about him editing my reports for me and
always have my original.
Lugnut
Harvey,
One thing I should have mentioned and I am not entirely sure
of this: If you drag and drop an image, the entire image is
added to the final file which rapidly increases it's size.
By using the Insert Picture, I believe you are basically
just linking the image to the document. This means the
linked image and document cannot be moved if you ever want
to reproduce or edit the document from the original. That
may explain why the file is so much smaller when inserted
instead of D&D. You may want to play with it to be sure
what is happening. One thing is for sure: when you print it
to CutePDF, the images are part of the document and cannot
be moved. This is precisely why I wanted to go to the PDF
printout - I can send an electronic copy of my report to the
client w/o worrying about him editing my reports for me and
always have my original.
Lugnut
M
MsOsWin
Harvey Van Sickle said:
possibly the difference is due to linking rather than embedding the image file?
PDF filetype is probably most famous for bloat. and for bizarre copy text interface, but column selection mode (intro with
acroread 5?) helped a lot.