Joined on 10-01-2008
TechSoup Member
Can anyone recommend a freeware version of Adobe Acrobat/something that generates PDFs from PC Word docs? I find loads when I search, but....how can one determine if a "free" software is from a reputable source and free of virus/spyware? Thanks!!
Hi,
The orgs I work with have been using [
CutePDF Writer ] for years with great results. It installs as a printer meaning all your formatting is simply done in Word (or any other program) and retained when the document is 'printed' as a PDF file.
There are freeware and Pro versions available although I have found the freeware version more than adequate.
We also use the freeeware version of CutePDF Writer, and have found that it works great for our purposes.
If you ever need to create PDF forms, try OpenOffice writer, or Scribus. Both do a great job, though I find Scribus offers more control over the layout and behavior of the form.
Cheers,
-n8
Joined on 02-18-2004
New Hampshire
Another vote for Cute PDF writer. Printing to pdf is very easy. I use it at home to go paperless for receipts of online bill paying.
I've used
PDFCreator for a long, long time.
I absolutely love it.
Joined on 06-09-2003
Davenport, Iowa USA
My vote also to PDF Creator. I like that it is a GPL license and on sourceforge, you can even get the source code if you like.
Dave
Joined on 12-17-2002
New Zealand
TechSoup Member
Hey I have tried lots of these and they are not all equal. If you need good graphics quality ( ready for print) many show up problems.
I have settled on CutePDF it works very well at all levels including print ready graphics.
I used to use PDF creator but after Windows Service pack 2-3 it stopped working properly , it is great but buddy.
Richard
Joined on 03-05-2003
TechSoup Member
Greetings:
I agree with others who have recommended CutePDF. It is an extremely easy to use and reliable app. I've used it for years and have never had a problem.
If anyone knows of a free PDF to an editable text document conversion app I'd be FOREVER grateful. I've only found free online services and apps that extract the contents of a PDF as an image that cannot be edited.
Anyone know of a reliable FREE product to meet this need?
Peace!
-----------------------
Kozetta Jane Harris
SisterLove, Inc.
Another great (and free) PDF creator is
PrimoPDF. That's the one I use and recommend to anyone.
Yann
If anyone knows of a free PDF to an editable text document conversion app I'd be FOREVER grateful. I've only found free online services and apps that extract the contents of a PDF as an image that cannot be edited.
Anyone know of a reliable FREE product to meet this need?
Very hard to find a reliable free tool that does this!
But there are some free online tools that will do exactly what you want. So if you haven't ruled out using an online file conversion tool, then check out
ZamZar.
Here a partial review of ZamZar from
this site:
Zamzar is an online file format conversion service for documents and media files. It will allow you to upload a file up to 100 megs in size and will convert it remotely according to your requirements. It will then email you a link to download the converted file from.
Here are some observations:
* I did a number of image conversions and all of these went really well.
* I am often asked about a freeware program to convert PDF to DOC, and I am happy to report that this conversion works great in Zamzar
* Audio conversions also went without a hitch.
* The handful of video conversions I attempted (including FLV as source) worked really well and without any audio sync problems.
* Some conversion flat out failed, including converting a Powerpoint presentation (.PPT) into HTML.
Good luck!
Yann
Joined on 03-21-2001
Los Angeles
Sun has created an OpenOffice 3
extension that does this -- still Beta
PDFUNdo is yet another free online PDF-to-Word converter. There's also a free desktop version of the tool, which you can download from the site.
Hope this helps.
Yann
Joined on 06-09-2003
Davenport, Iowa USA
Another free PDF to Doc, Excel or RTF was posted on Tech Soup before
FreePDFConvert.com
They have free and paid versions, The free version limits you to 2 pages every 30 minutes. Not a problem if you have the occasional need to convert a document. A handy tool to break your PDF into individual pages is available called PDF Tool Kit, which is available with a graphical front end from
GUI PDF Tool Kit
Dave
PDF995 works nicely as well. http://www.pdf995.com/