Make PDF Documents for Free

Ever try to e-mail a document to find out people on the other end can’t open it?  Or maybe you want to e-mail something weird like your Excel attendance chart or something with special fonts and graphics. There’s a file format, PDF, which can display virtually anything and virtually anyone can open it.

PDF files are typically read in the free Adobe Reader (www.adobe.com/reader), which most modern computers come with pre-installed.  This is like a demo version of their PDF creator Adobe Acrobat, but Acrobat costs money.  We’re going to make PDFs for free!

There’s a few programs you can use, but I like PDF995 (download it here) because it doesn’t have any bells or whistles, it just makes PDFs.  On the download page you’ll need the Printer Driver and Free Converter.

Once they’re downloaded and installed, open up a document you’d like to PDF-ify (try your newsletter).  Go to File > Print.  At the top of the Print dialog box (the new menu that pops up) you should see your printer in a dropdown box.  Click the name to see your other options.  PDF995 should be there.  Click on it, then click Print.  After a second it’ll ask you where you want to save your new file; pick a spot and hit OK.  You’ll get a progress bar, then a pop-up advertisement (the cost of free software), which you can close.  Your new PDF should open for you to inspect.  E-mail it to all your friends!  (Or don’t.)

Questions?  Leave a comment!