35

I like to print PDFs of my documents. I've been using PDFCreator. Is this a good choice, are there any better solutions?

studiohack
  • 13,477
Artur Carvalho
  • 1,627

17 Answers17

31

CutePDF Writer is working well for us (way less flaky than the slightly old version of Acrobat we are running at work, anyway)

EDIT: There is also information in the CutePDF FAQ about using parameters to change the print quality/file size settings which we have found useful for larger documents.

fourstar71
  • 623
23

I prefer PDFCreator over the other tools. Much more flexibility than the others but probably is an overkill for simple purposes.

kartikmohta
  • 596
15

Using the built-in Export to PDF option in OpenOffice.org has one VERY major advantage over anything that simulates a printer: it creates clickable table of contents, cross-references, indexes and explicit internet links. Of course, most PDF viewers will recognise some URLs and email addresses. But when linking some text to some URL, most PDF printers do not make that into a clickable link. That's simply because the print processor does not "tell" the PDF printer about this.

As a side note: on a Mac, PDF is very much integrated. Still, when using OpenOffice.org on a Mac, one should also explicitly use Export to PDF -- using the Save to PDF option from a Mac's print dialog does not create clickable links. However, some other Mac programs do in fact somehow send such information to the Mac's print processor, through the print dialog. For example, when saving to PDF using the print dialog in Pages, Safari or OmniWeb (the latter being non-Apple software), all links are in fact clickable. (On a Mac, when one does NOT want clickable links when saving a web site as PDF, one should in fact use Firefox instead.)

By the way: getting a clickable table of contents is a very good reason to learn how to use styles and headers. One should never have to create a table of contents manually!

Arjan
  • 31,511
11

If it's Office 2007 applications that you're printing from, there's an add-in to provide a Save as PDF option:

Office 2007 Save as PDF Add-in

Sliff
  • 1,327
10

I used primo pdf since a while, and it works great

Davide Vosti
  • 151
5

I use doPDF and it is very successful. And free...

doPDF installs itself as a virtual PDF printer driver so after a successful installation will appear in your Printers and Faxes list. To convert to PDF, you just have to print the document to doPDF.

spinodal
  • 1,649
5

I use pdf995. Shareware, but the license isn't too expensive and it works really nicely. Also has the ability to split and merge pdfs, add watermarks and more.

Mark Pim
  • 1,664
4

OpenOffice is another option.

Mercer Traieste
  • 2,332
3

Another option (the one I used to use until all the other programs listed here came out) is to install a printer driver for a Postscript printer, connected to the FILE: port.

When you print to that printer, you'll get a postscript (.ps) file. You can then open that using Ghostscript and Ghostview and convert them to PDF from there.

Nathan Fellman
  • 9,662
2

I've used Bullzip pdf printer for a year or so and have been very happy with it.

It installs as just another printer, so is available to any application.

It's reliable, does watermarks, pdf merging, no ads, simple to use and good quality output.

Ash
  • 2,851
2

If "free" is not a requirement I would suggest Adobe Acrobat. It still is the most professional tool for creating PDFs.

Albic
  • 2,200
2

Google Docs download as PDF option is the best option if you want to convert your documents to PDF on the fly without installing anything...

1

I use pdfFactory from Fineprint Software.

Glorfindel
  • 4,158
hyperslug
  • 13,806
0

We are using FreePDF (formely known as "FreePDF XP") and it's working like a charm.

Martin
  • 2,326
  • 7
  • 37
  • 51
0

Amyuni PDF Converter (Commercial) Usual Disclaimer applies

yms
  • 818
0
Community
  • 1
jan
  • 291
0

Quite frankly, I use google docs and download my file as PDF from there :P

OscarRyz
  • 4,141