Recommendation for Word->PDF converter

[Lindsey]

Anybody have any recommendations for an add-on that will allow you to save Word files in PDF format? (Or, alternatively, perform a conversion on a Word file?) A Google search turns up a number of candidates, and Microsoft's online help directs you to one, but I thought I'd find out if anyone here had experience with one they thought was particularly good.

Doesn't need to be fancy; at this point, I'm not planning on anything complicated, it just occurs to me that it's a better way to share some types of genealogical information than a Word file.

(For what it's worth, I'm using Windows XP with Word 2003.)

--Lindsey

[Mike]

There are a lot of programs that will "print" a Word file to PDF. Each installs as a virtual printer, and each one has its advantages and disadvantages.

Most of them are free or at least shareware. Let's see if I have URLs for sources and reviews... ah!

Here. (http://www.planetpdf.com/index.asp)

And here (http://www.cogniview.com/convert-pdf-to-excel/post/pdf-editing-creation-50-open-sourcefree-alternatives-to-adobe-acrobat/) (updated).

[sidney]

Anybody have any recommendations for an add-on that will allow you to save Word files in PDF format?

Mike's suggestion of a PDF virtual printer is probably the easiest way to go. I have to reach back into my memory to try to recall what I used for this when I used Windows. I think I have used both PDF Creator (http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/) and CutePDF Writer (http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp), both of which are free open-source programs which are actively maintained. Note that the latter has two downloads on the linked page, both of which have to be installed, CutePDF Writer itself, and the link they call "free converter".

An alternative, though heavyweight, approach is to download and install OpenOffice.org (http://openoffice.org) which will read Word documents and has Export as PDF functionality built-in.

[Judy G. Russell]

Anybody have any recommendations for an add-on that will allow you to save Word files in PDF format? (Or, alternatively, perform a conversion on a Word file?)Make sure you compare the functions of the free PDF writers/printers with those of Adobe Acrobat itself. I've been using the full program for genealogy PDFs particularly in a very lengthy report on the Bakers of Colonial Virginia and the North Carolina Mountains (http://pamunkeybakers.com/reports.htm) and have found many of the functions of Acrobat (such as the ability to create hotlinks within PDFs after the PDFs exist) to be very helpful.

[ndebord]

Make sure you compare the functions of the free PDF writers/printers with those of Adobe Acrobat itself. I've been using the full program for genealogy PDFs particularly in a very lengthy report on the Bakers of Colonial Virginia and the North Carolina Mountains (http://pamunkeybakers.com/reports.htm) and have found many of the functions of Acrobat (such as the ability to create hotlinks within PDFs after the PDFs exist) to be very helpful.


Judy,

So what are you recommending? The full program and nothing else?

<g>

[earler]

Microsoft offers a free program to write a word file in pdf or xps format. It is called saveaspdfandxps.exe. This was supposed to be built into vista but anti-trust considerations made them content themselves as a free add-on utility.

[Dan in Saint Louis]

Microsoft offers a free program to write a word file in pdf
Score another point for WordPerfect!

[Lindsey]

Most of them are free or at least shareware. Let's see if I have URLs for sources and reviews... ah!
Oh, thanks! NitroPDF Professional is quite a bit pricier than what I had been looking at, but I do like some of the features it offers -- in particular copy protection, watermarking, and commenting tools.

And the second link -- OMG -- 50 different programs???? That's going to take some sorthing through!

Many thanks!

--Lindsey

[Lindsey]

Thanks Sidney! Both PDF Creator and Cute PDF Professional (the paid upgrade from Cute PDF Writer) look promising; the OpenOffice suite is a little more than I was looking for right now, but that might be an intresting thing to explore for the long term. I'm not all that comfortable with Word, and OpenOffice might be a much better product for me.

--Lindsey

[Lindsey]

I've been using the full program for genealogy PDFs
Ah, well you've anticipated exactly what I had in mind. PDFs can give you a little more control over how your documents are used, and given the wholesale copy-and-paste that I have seen a frightening amount of on the web, I'd prefer not to make it so very easy for other people to import my work into their own.

Acrobat 8 Standard is considerably more money than I was planning on sinking into this, but I notice that they do have a free trial, so that would probably at least be worth taking a look at.

Thanks!

--Lindsey

[Lindsey]

P.S. -- I'm going to have to take some time to explore your work on the Bakers; you have done an impressive amount of work!

--Lindsey

[Lindsey]

Microsoft offers a free program to write a word file in pdf or xps format. It is called saveaspdfandxps.exe. This was supposed to be built into vista but anti-trust considerations made them content themselves as a free add-on utility.
Thanks, earle! Unfortunately, the Microsoft web site says that requires Word 2007, and what I've got right now is Word 2003.

The Help function in my version of Word takes you to a download site for 123fileconverter (I think that's the name) which is not free, but is not terribly expensive, either. Do you know anything about that particular product?

--Lindsey

[ndebord]

Microsoft offers a free program to write a word file in pdf or xps format. It is called saveaspdfandxps.exe. This was supposed to be built into vista but anti-trust considerations made them content themselves as a free add-on utility.

Earle,

Nice looking, but with one caveat from my perspective. You need Office 2007 to use it!

<sigh>

[earler]

Word perfect has no risk (today, in the past it might have been at risk when it almost monopolized the market) of an anti-trust suit. Microsoft would have put the option in word otherwise, just as word perfect did.

[earler]

Reviews I saw this week gave the nod to pdfcreator and bullzip pdf printer and also liked pdf convertor though this last is an online converter.

[Peter Creasey]

Reviews I saw this week gave the nod to pdfcreator and bullzip pdf printer and also liked pdf convertor though this last is an online converter.

e, Two questions:

1) Will any of these work with Lotus Word Pro documents? and

2) What are the implications of an "online converter"? Converter is not PC resident? PDF documents are still handy?

[earler]

I haven't the foggiest idea that any converter might work with lotus word pro, though a converter that took its input qua printer might.

The non-resident converter is a web site. You upload the document and after a very brief period you may download it in pdf form. I have to assume this would work for the output from any word processor, including lotus word pro.

[Peter Creasey]

The non-resident converter is a web site. You upload the document and after a very brief period you may download it in pdf form. I have to assume this would work for the output from any word processor, including lotus word pro.

e, Very interesting! And, yes, the list of compatible formats is extensive (including LWP).

I can't see any downside to this facility, whether using it as a member or not.

[Judy G. Russell]

So what are you recommending? The full program and nothing else? <g>Nope. I'm recommending that somebody who wants to create PDFs consider all the features he/she might want and then see which program(s) offer those features.

[Judy G. Russell]

P.S. -- I'm going to have to take some time to explore your work on the Bakers; you have done an impressive amount of work!Yet it isn't nearly finished, even yet! Sigh... I really need to retire. Working for a living is definitely interfering with the things I want to do!

[Lindsey]

Yet it isn't nearly finished, even yet! Sigh... I really need to retire. Working for a living is definitely interfering with the things I want to do!
Well, you're certainly a lot farther along than I am!! But I second that working for a living is a complete bummer. Why couldn't I have been born independently wealthy, like Paris Hilton? <sigh>

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

Well, you're certainly a lot farther along than I am!! But I second that working for a living is a complete bummer. Why couldn't I have been born independently wealthy, like Paris Hilton? <sigh><sigh> is right. That one song from Fiddler on the Roof ("If I were a rich man...") could be my theme song...

[MollyM/CA]

Microsoft offers a free program to write a word file in pdf or xps format. It is called saveaspdfandxps.exe.

Score another for the Tapcis forum! I would NEVER have found this, and I was able to clip the text of a review of the premiere of my composer friend's latest major composition and wrap it into a .pdf with Word, to send as an alternative to the expired link to the Boston Globe article. It will be interesting to see what it does with something more complex, with tables and some graphics.

The few hundred words of text made a big 8 kb .pdf file! The same text as .htm was 48 kb.

This makes it even more a mystery that certain of our clients manage to make a .pdf of a megabyte or more from a simple sentence such as "meeting is..." I assume that their e-mail software has a button to make a .pdf attachment automatically, as clicking on a button seems to be about the limit of these particular persons' technical ability.

molly