Free PDF Creation
Monday May 12, 2008
While at the UPS store the other day I overheard a conversation between a customer and one of the clerks. They were discussing how to exchange digital files and maintaining the page format. The customer was not extremely computer-savvy and so the clerk suggested a free PDF creation tool. PDF995. I made a mental note of the name and looked it up when I got home. There are a lot of different PDF creation tools out there but this one looks to be quite full-featured yet super simple to use when all you want is to quickly create a PDF from any file. And being free is especially nice (although you'll have to pay a small fee if you prefer to get rid of the nag screens). Install it as a printer driver and choose that option when you print your file. That's the easy method. Want more control? It comes with a free configuration utility so you can "insert bookmarks, add links, combine files, change page orientation, add "Confidential" stamps, create PDF stationery, adjust image resolution, summarize documents, create batch print jobs" and more.
What Others Say About PDF995
If you want to extract pages from a PDF, add pages, stamp it with "Approved" or "Burn After Reading," or do any sort of editing, or if you want to create your own PDF documents, first you have to shell out $95 to $450 for a version of Acrobat capable of creating the files. Instead, get Pdf995 Suite... Ron White, PC World
pdf995 creates files three times as large as pdfFactory. That's no big deal with a two-page doc, but try it with a 40-pager embedded with graphics and you'll quickly see the problem. Nonetheless, if you work with small docs and can put up with the Web-site visit, pdf995 is for you. -- Steve Bass, PC World
For basic—and slightly better than basic—PDF file creation at a great price, it's hard to beat Software995's pdf995. But if you're too strapped to pay $9.95, you can get the full version free (you just have to put up with a simple pop-up ad that appears every time you create a PDF file). Whichever version you use, people who view your PDF file will never know it was created so inexpensively. -- M. David Stone, PC Magazine
What's your favorite free or cheap PDF creation tool? Do the nag screens on PDF995 (or other free programs) bug you?
Comments
My favorite is PDFCreator. Here is what the Key Features:
* Create PDFs from any program that is able to print
* Security: Encrypt PDFs and protect them from being opened, printed etc.
* Send generated files via eMail
* Create more than just PDFs: PNG, JPG, TIFF, BMP, PCX, PS, EPS
* AutoSave files to folders and filenames based on Tags like Username, Computername, Date, Time etc.
* Merge multiple files into one PDF
* Easy Install: Just say what you want and everything is installed
* Terminal Server: PDFCreator also runs on Terminal Servers without problems
* And the best: PDFCreator is free, even for commercial use! It is Open Source and released under the Terms of the GNU General Public License.
I use Corel Draw Essentials. There’s an export to PDF option which is as simple as a click of the mouse, and for $150.00 total you have a great 2D vector (Draw) and Bitmap (PhotoPaint) package as well as screen capture.