Free PDF tool

[Brett...]

I haven't tried it, but the following PDF creation tool tool appears to be
free and fully functioning...

http://www.acrosoftware.com/products/cutepdf/Printer.asp


--
Brett

I lived in a house that ran on static electricity...If you wanted to
run the blender, you had to rub balloons on your head. If you wanted
to cook, you had to pull off a sweater real quick.

 

[Blair]

Thanks but no thanks.
After little luck with other low end PDF making software - pdf995 upset my
Win ME system, PDF Xchange wouldn't convert Publisher files, only Word docs,
so I warily downloaded CutePDF Printer and installed it.

Firstly, it refused to run until I did a restart. Then it froze over a
simple word doc, so I gave it a Pub file to convert and it went through OK
but messed up some formatting and made some very wierd font substitutions,
so I can't recommend it if you're fussy about retaining the look of your
publication.
Then I managed to get it to process a Word.doc but it's treatment of tables
was poor and font kerning came out very patchy and quite ugly.

To cap it off, other apps I was running started to play up and my system
finally froze. I might give it one more chance, but if it keeps up the same
performance I expect to be uninstalling it and doing a system restore. El
cheapos are just that (as always I'm afraid.)
Blair.

 

[Ron Cohen]

That's interesting. I installed the CutePDF driver in the link below and it
works just fine as does PDF995 which I've used for several years without any
problems. If your system is so screwed up that these drivers appear to cause
problems, I think you had better look a little deeper for the real cause. I
don't think you can blame the problems on a couple of print drivers.

 

[Brett...]

The one I use is 5D PDF Creator (also referred to as Niknak).
A commercial printing company offered as a free download a couple fo years
ago, if you provided your email address.
It works fine but is now no longer FOC.

 

[Blair]

Well you may be right, but I also run Serif DrawPlus which has it's own
inbuilt PDF maker and it runs perfectly. Why the others won't is a worry.
Blair.

 

[Mike Koewler]

Blair,

As does Serif's DTP program, PagePlus. It even works with folded
publications, such a tri-folds. It can be set to Publish for Printing
(putting the sections in the order needed to print) or Publish for
Viewing (Front, First Inside Leaf, Second Inside Leaf, etc.)

Mike

 

[°°°MS°Publisher°°°]

Mike that is one of the *AWESOME* features among many of Serif's PagePlus.

--

 

[Blair]

Yes, Serif has some nice products -
However, after further testing, I have to say CutePDF has convinced me it's
OK.
The help that comes with it is not adequate, but after playing around with
it's printer properties dialog I discovered the font problem was caused by
it's default setting to use only 'printer resident fonts'. I reset that to
'Always use TrueType fonts' and the problem disappeared although I am
finding some Word .docs cause fatal errors in Winword and in others it
ignores spaces with strange effects. Word may be causing this.

I just gave it a 60MB photo montage to crunch and it came up trumps as it
does with Pub files now that the font substitution is corrected.
I'm warily impressed now.
Blair.

 

[Brett...]

Yes, Serif has some nice products -

I don't know the DTP application but I am very impressed with Serif Draw 7
and PhotoPlus 8 looks good as well.

 

[°°°MS°Publisher°°°]

Watch for a DrawPlus 7.05 update in the next couple of days.
DrawPlus is *AWESOME* value for money.

PhotoPlus is magical and has the best range of features all in one program.

--

 

[Brett...]

Watch for a DrawPlus 7.05 update in the next couple of days.
DrawPlus is *AWESOME* value for money.

PhotoPlus is magical and has the best range of features all in one
program.

Hmmm, I'll ask the developer as I've been liasing with him for the last few
days!

--
Brett

I once tried to commit suicide by jumping off a building...I changed
my mind at the last minute, so I just flipped over and landed on my
feet. Two little kittens nearby saw what happened and one turned to
the other and said, "See, that's how it's done."