This week’s Freeware Frenzy is dedicated to the PDF. PDF stands for Portable Data File and is very popular online for distributing published information in a professional format. Due to this popularity, many of us use PDF readers such as Adobe Acrobat or Foxit Reader: http://www.pcmech.com/article/foxit/ . But how do we create PDFs without pricy software? With the tools in this article, you will have everything you need to create PDFs.

CutePDF Writer

http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp

CutePDF Writer requires a PS2PDF converter; which is a fancy way to say PostScript to PDF converter. You can download this right along with CutePDF Writer from the website or grab it during the install process. The converter CutePDF Writer uses is called Ghostscript, and is a freeware script to convert plain text to a PDF-readable type of text. After Cute installs, a readme will popup in your browser on how to use it. The process is quite simple when you think of CutePDF Writer as a ‘virtual’ printer.

Open a document, such as a Word file, and select Print from the File menu. Do not just click the printer icon or your document will go straight to your default, physical, printer and come out on paper. Instead you will go to the Print Settings and choose ‘CutePDF Writer’ in the drop down box of installed printers. Then click Print. You’ll next see a prompt for where to save your new PDF. Title it, save it, and you’re done. Now you can open that PDF document with your preferred reader. Simple!

PDFCreator

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

This is another simple writer program that works similarly to CutePDF Writer. You will also need the Ghostscript text converter, which is included in the download. One thing that sets it apart is that you can choose to install it as a standalone virtual printer for your computer only, or as a network printer to share with other users. Be sure to uncheck the browser toolbar unless you need one. You can also choose some extra options, such as desktop and Quick Launch icons, associate .ps (postscript) files and to add to the Explorer context (right click) menu. Once installed you’re ready to roll.

PDFCreator uses both the virtual printer in your Printers box, and a standalone program to tweak any options. With the virtual printer, simply follow the same procedure from CutePDF Writer above. With the program, simply add your document(s) to the list, batch conversions are allowed, set your save options and convert. Again it will finish almost instantly for a text document (larger files with pictures will take longer) and it will open in your default PDF reader.

PrimoPDF

http://www.primopdf.com/

PrimoPDF again installs as a virtual printer but adds a few options to the converting process. Instead of a simple save and convert, you can customize your settings for color/grayscale and DPI (dots per inch), add a password and edit the document properties. Just as with PDFCreator, your new PDF document will automatically open in your PDF program for review.

PDF redirect

http://www.exp-systems.com/

PDF reDirect takes the post-print options to the highest level; launching a full program to help you through the process. A browser readme will explain the options with screenshots. You can cover all of the options found in PrimoPDF, such as quality and security. You will also have the option to merge files into one large PDF and check out a quick preview of your results before converting anything.

To wrap up, all four of these options will convert your documents into PDFs. The only question is how many extras you need. From my testing, the finished PDFs always came out perfectly, so any of these programs are worthy contenders.