Plenty of free PDF converters around, e.g. PDFCreator for Windows
http://www.pdfforge.org/. It installs as a printer driver but
outputs to a file instead of a printer so you can get PDF output from
any application that can print.

Oh!

I'm not sure that works on XP but I'm sure something will.

A warning: I recently tried to install PDFCreator on my Windows XP box
(SP3) and it appeared to work, but brought up a huge number of MSI
installer popup windows concerning Micsosoft Office components every
time I tried to print something; these were very hard to cancel. There
is an entry in their FAQ referring to this problem, and pointing victims
to a Microsoft page supposedly containing a fix. On this page Microsoft
actually says there *was* a fix but they have withdrawn it because of
damage to other Windows components. It seems very unsatisfactory that a
sourceforge project is messing with such intimate parts of Windows, when
comparable products do not. I uninstalled PDFCreator and as far as I can
tell nothing else on my system has been damaged. Based on my experience
I cannot recommend it on Win XP.

I have used PDF995 for some time, and although it has two annoying
popups trying to persuade you to pay for the popup-free version, it
works well. It also produces smaller files than PDFCreator. YMMV of
course.


--
Clive Page

In article , says...

Plenty of free PDF converters around, e.g. PDFCreator for Windows
http://www.pdfforge.org/. It installs as a printer driver but
outputs to a file instead of a printer so you can get PDF output from
any application that can print.


I have used PDF995 for some time, and although it has two annoying
popups trying to persuade you to pay for the popup-free version, it
works well. It also produces smaller files than PDFCreator. YMMV of
course.

Not tried pdfforge, but freepdf (was freepdfxp) served me well and works
in XP & 7, needs ghostscript installed too. The pdf is produced as an
image so you cannot search which can be a pain.

http://freepdfxp.de/

Or use openoffice which will export to pdf.

Tim Lamb wrote:

Am I likely to have a facility on this m/c to create pdf files?

No, Macs come with the ability to create and manipulate PDF documents
built in (and to script the manipulation of those files) but heck you
buy inferior, you get inferior.

If you want to create PDF documents for free on Windows I suggest Cute
PDF. It's free, easy to use and produces better output than the Adobe
Distiller.

http://www.cutepdf.com/products/cutepdf/writer.asp

On Sat, 22 Jan 2011 13:44:47 +0000, Huge wrote:

On 2011-01-22, Clive Page wrote:
Plenty of free PDF converters around, e.g. PDFCreator for Windows
http://www.pdfforge.org/. It installs as a printer driver but
outputs to a file instead of a printer so you can get PDF output from
any application that can print.

Oh!

I'm not sure that works on XP but I'm sure something will.

A warning: I recently tried to install PDFCreator on my Windows XP box
(SP3) and it appeared to work, but brought up a huge number of MSI
installer popup windows concerning Micsosoft Office components every
time I tried to print something; these were very hard to cancel.

Open Office runs on Windows, can open MS Office documents and can create
PDFs directly ...

Office 2007 can create PDFs directly!



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

On Fri, 21 Jan 2011 20:55:44 +0000, Tim Lamb wrote:

In message , The Other Mike
writes
On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 09:21:40 +0000, Mark
wrote:

On Tue, 18 Jan 2011 07:14:56 -0800 (PST), "Man at B&Q"
wrote:

On Jan 18, 2:28*pm, Mark
wrote:
I have to deal with a lot of people who are not technical. *They send
out documents in whatever format they feel like

So how do you deal with those formats? Are they all MS's fault? Why
can't you deal with docx the same way?

Personally I can open .docx files. The problem is that others can't
and haven't read them before a relevant meeting. This wastes time.

Anyone with half an ounce of common sense who was distributing complex
documents for others to read on screen or print (and not edit) would
use pdf. Anything simple should use plain text and not HTML.
Unfortunately Microsoft have spawned a generation of ****wits.

There is also huge potential with all Microsoft formats for the
document to be displayed or printed in a completely different manner
than that of the original author when the version numbers don't match
or conversions are done with other programs.

All closed formats are like that, total ****e.

Ah well! You have pointed up the differences between us users and the
adepts:-)

Am I likely to have a facility on this m/c to create pdf files?

Word 2007 onwards can be configured to save as PDF.
--
Cheers

JW

On Fri, 21 Jan 2011 20:55:44 +0000, Tim Lamb wrote:



Am I likely to have a facility on this m/c to create pdf files?


Cutepdf for windows or Openoffice for most. The latest openoffice opens
docx text files ok but fancy graphics in them don't come through.


--
David

In message , John
Rumm writes
On 22/01/2011 14:40, Steve Firth wrote:
Tim wrote:

Am I likely to have a facility on this m/c to create pdf files?

No, Macs come with the ability to create and manipulate PDF documents
built in (and to script the manipulation of those files) but heck you
buy inferior, you get inferior.

I bet I can but a decent PC, and the poshest version of acrobat for
good deal less than even a crap mac.

If you want to create PDF documents for free on Windows I suggest Cute
PDF. It's free, easy to use and produces better output than the Adobe
Distiller.

http://www.cutepdf.com/products/cutepdf/writer.asp

Enough already! My daughters insist on using Macs so I think it is a
generation issue:-)

I have book marked both above recommendations. Ta. If I ever need Docx
or pdf I'll know where to go:-)

regards

--
Tim Lamb

John Rumm wrote:

I bet I can but a decent PC, and the poshest version of acrobat for good
deal less than even a crap mac.

Well no you can't please feel free to assert that you can.

On 22/01/2011 18:01, Steve Firth wrote:
John wrote:

I bet I can but a decent PC, and the poshest version of acrobat for good
deal less than even a crap mac.

Well no you can't please feel free to assert that you can.


Mac Mini starts at UKP612 (apple's store).

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium
Starting at£1,725.24 (Adobe's store).

Steve gets that one...

On the other hand, Dell will sell you a similarly-specced Vostro for
about UKP350... so I see John's point.

Andy

In message , Steve Firth
writes
Tim Lamb wrote:

Am I likely to have a facility on this m/c to create pdf files?

No, Macs come with the ability to create and manipulate PDF documents
built in (and to script the manipulation of those files) but heck you
buy inferior, you get inferior.

If you want to create PDF documents for free on Windows I suggest Cute
PDF. It's free, easy to use and produces better output than the Adobe
Distiller.

http://www.cutepdf.com/products/cutepdf/writer.asp

Cute's OK.

But I prefer
http://www.bullzip.com/
or
http://www.dopdf.com/ (which doesn't need Postscript).

And there are even more still.

I used to use FreePDF XP, but it seemed to leave Postscript copies of
what you had 'printed' to PDF in various unexpected places in my PC.
--
Ian

Ian Jackson wrote:

Cute's OK. But I prefer
http://www.bullzip.com/

Another vote for bullzip PDF, especially if you want to overlay text
onto a form (e.g. for invoice printing from an accounts package).

In message , Andy
Burns writes
Ian Jackson wrote:

Cute's OK. But I prefer
http://www.bullzip.com/

Another vote for bullzip PDF, especially if you want to overlay text
onto a form (e.g. for invoice printing from an accounts package).

Ah...
I've never used that facility in Bullzip. Can it do that?
I add text etc to PDF documents using my usual PDF viewer (PDF-XChange
Viewer).
--
Ian

Ian Jackson wrote:

Andy Burns writes

Another vote for bullzip PDF, especially if you want to overlay text
onto a form

Ah... I've never used that facility in Bullzip. Can it do that?

Yes, it can automatically merge the print-to-PDF stream onto an existing
PDF file, so I produce the invoice layout in OpenOffice, save it to PDF,
then printing from Sage produces invoices suitable for emailing or
printing on plain paper (because Sage refuses to print the invoice
including the form, presumably to protect their pre-printed stationary
business).

On 23/01/2011 18:09, John Rumm wrote:
On 23/01/2011 16:22, Andy Champ wrote:


Mac Mini starts at UKP612 (apple's store).

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium
Starting at£1,725.24 (Adobe's store).

Creative suite is not Acrobat alone but a complete suit of other tools
such as photohshop, illustrator, indesign etc *and* Acrobat.

Acrobat 9 Pro on its own is more like £200 - £250 trade.

That's the old version. X Pro is 500 quid list. Interestingly the same
price for MAC as well as Windows, which tends to suggest you get rather
more than is shipped with the MAC.

Andy

In message , Andy
Burns writes
Ian Jackson wrote:

Andy Burns writes

Another vote for bullzip PDF, especially if you want to overlay text
onto a form

Ah... I've never used that facility in Bullzip. Can it do that?

Yes, it can automatically merge the print-to-PDF stream onto an existing
PDF file, so I produce the invoice layout in OpenOffice, save it to PDF,
then printing from Sage produces invoices suitable for emailing or
printing on plain paper (because Sage refuses to print the invoice
including the form, presumably to protect their pre-printed stationary
business).

Thanks. I'll have a look at some of the other features in Bullzip.
However, mention of invoices has reminded me that some freeware is free
for personal or non-commercial use only.
--
Ian

Ian Jackson wrote:

mention of invoices has reminded me that some freeware is free
for personal or non-commercial use only.

As a small business, we're in the clear on that one due to Bullzip's
generous licence ...

"This program is FREEWARE with limitations, which means that it is FREE
for personal and commercial use up to 10 users".

In message , Andy
Burns writes
Ian Jackson wrote:

mention of invoices has reminded me that some freeware is free
for personal or non-commercial use only.

As a small business, we're in the clear on that one due to Bullzip's
generous licence ...

"This program is FREEWARE with limitations, which means that it is FREE
for personal and commercial use up to 10 users".

Noted.
--
Ian

John Rumm wrote:

Either way, the point stands that buying any mac for the sole purpose of
getting out of the box PDF generation capability is not financially
sound option unless you particularly want a mac.

I don't think anyone suggested that one does that. However the fact
still stands that Mac OS is the more capable one in this respect.

Oh, and of course that when PC weenies go on about Macs being expensive
the expensive is over-exaggerated.

Now, if I wanted a crap Mac with the facilities of OSX, I could get one
off eBay for £100. You'd still be looking at the thick end of twice that
for Acrobat.