PDF Creation Made Easy February 19, 2010
PDF Creation Made Easy
In my ongoing discussion on free or inexpensive ways to do things that used to cost big dollars, I’d like to cover the topic of PDF creation. I remember back just a few years ago it was a requirement to have a specific version of Adobe Acrobat that cost $200-300 in order to create PDF files. Now, much like many other options available to individuals and businesses, the task of creating PDF files to share with others and for long-term storage is easy and free.
Here are a couple of options:
PrimoPDF
I’ve personally used PrimoPDF for the past 2-3 years and I really like it. It installs easily and simply appears in your print options as another available printer. I’ve always been happy with the quality and readability of it’s output and I’ve used it extensively - even on multi-million dollar projects that I’ve managed. My clients have never been able to tell that it came from a free piece of software.
PrimoPDF’s website touts it’s product as the “world’s #1 free PDF creator.” As with other PDF creators, you can create PDF files from any file type that is printable…including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats.
PrimoPDF’s site states that it “is a free, high-quality PDF creation utility that enables printing to PDF from virtually any Windows application.” It is the only free PDF converter that supports drag and drop PDF creation - which can be a real convenience and a time-saver.
CutePDF
I’ve not used CutePDF, but I’ve heard it’s good and it’s reliable. The output quality is great and it’s as easy to use as the other offerings. As with PrimoPDF, you can create PDF documents from almost any available printable document format. To my knowledge it does not feature a drag and drop function, but accessing it as a printer option and saving it to a file is easy and problem-free.
Mac
I’ve not mentioned which platform these are offered on and there’s a reason for that. They are both - and probably all - Windows-based applications. And since I personally become a Mac lover in March of 2009, I know why. PDF creation is built into the Macbook’s OS functionality - it has been for a long time. So, Windows or Mac, you’re fully covered. And you’ll be producing professional output for your clients for free.
