Another Vista workaround, please. How to create PDFs.

August 28, 2008 9:32 PM

How can I view AND create PDFs without Acrobat?

Acrobat Pro does not play with (delightfully useless piece of junk) Vista, and last week Vista corrupted on my 1-year old computer and had to be reinstalled. I had a version of Acrobat Pro on the computer before, but my computer guy told me in no uncertain terms not to reinstall it. So what other options are there for viewing AND CREATING PDFs sans Acrobat? I need to create PDFs on a near-daily basis.

I searched the archives here but did not find an answer. I know there's got to be one out there, though.

Thanks!

posted by FlyByDay to computers & internet (23 comments total)

I use STDUtility for viewing (bonus is that it doesn't obey no print or no copyclip flags).
posted by Mitheral at 9:41 PM on August 28, 2008

Does it create them, though? That is imperative.
posted by FlyByDay at 9:47 PM on August 28, 2008

In one piece of software? Can't help you.

For creating, I use PDF Creator.

For viewing, I use Foxit.
posted by Jimbob at 9:51 PM on August 28, 2008

cute pdf creates them for free. As does this website.
posted by drjimmy11 at 9:51 PM on August 28, 2008

Open Office?
posted by achmorrison at 10:27 PM on August 28, 2008

I couldnt get PDF Creator to work on Vista, but Cute PDF Writer worked.
posted by damn dirty ape at 10:29 PM on August 28, 2008

There's nothing wrong with the current version of Acrobat reader for Vista.
posted by damn dirty ape at 10:29 PM on August 28, 2008

TinyPDF works fine.
posted by pmurray63 at 10:37 PM on August 28, 2008

I need to create PDFs on a near-daily basis.

Well, OpenOffice can save documents in PDF. In linux you could just use ps2pdf. Ghostscript would work with windows.
With windows and since you create a lot of PDFs I would recommend something like a PDF printer
But such tools often have limitations.
posted by yoyo_nyc at 11:10 PM on August 28, 2008

Seconding CutePDF, though it had some bugs at one point. It's worked for me before though.
posted by katrielalex at 11:24 PM on August 28, 2008

Several of these answers show that a critical piece of information is missing. "I need to create PDFs on a near-daily basis." From what application?
posted by megatherium at 4:39 AM on August 29, 2008

CutePDF for creating, and Foxit for viewing. To answer against the question posed by megatherium, if the program you have has a Print command, you can create a PDF from it. So what application really isn't that big of a deal.
posted by deezil at 5:26 AM on August 29, 2008

FWIW, in Linux and OSX, PDFs are easy to create and view. It's only at Microsoft that it's crippled because they didn't invent it.

What do you want to create PDFs from? What's the source document? That matters.
posted by cmiller at 5:41 AM on August 29, 2008

I use Photoshop and Inkscape to create many PDFs but that is because I work with graphics quite a bit. If I have documents I want to create PDFs from then use some freeware like PDF995 in conjunction with any program. It sets up as a virtual printer and "prints" directly to a PDF. We use that all the time at work.
posted by JJ86 at 5:52 AM on August 29, 2008

From what application?>>

Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign. For Microsoft products, there's actually a plug-in that allows you to make them, so I can make PDFs from Word docs and such, but it's the design programs I'm concerned with.
posted by FlyByDay at 5:54 AM on August 29, 2008

Photoshop allows you to create PDFs natively. I assume all Adobe products offer this. If Illustrator doesn't then DL Inkscape.
posted by JJ86 at 6:05 AM on August 29, 2008

Illustrator will save natively to PDF, with many options to set if you so choose.
posted by shinynewnick at 6:36 AM on August 29, 2008

Thanks guys - I'll check these out!
posted by FlyByDay at 6:37 AM on August 29, 2008

I like PDFCreator, too. It seems it doesn't fully support Vista but here are some instructions on making it mostly work.

BTW, you may have gotten bad advice: Acrobat 8.1 specifically supports Vista. There's lots of reasons not to like Acrobat, but lack of Vista support isn't one.
posted by Nelson at 8:12 AM on August 29, 2008

As an aside, I have Acrobat Pro installed on Vista Ultimate x64 with no difficulties. I'd question any 'wisdom' that suggests it was the cause of your problems. So I suppose my answer becomes "Just install Acrobat Pro".
posted by Rendus at 8:13 AM on August 29, 2008

What version of Pro? I wouldnt be surprised if the older versions completely tanked on Vista.
posted by damn dirty ape at 8:23 AM on August 29, 2008

All Adobe graphics products create PDFs natively. You're covered there.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:56 AM on August 29, 2008

What version of Pro? I wouldnt be surprised if the older versions completely tanked on Vista.>>

I think it was 7 that was on my computer before its meltdown. I've since tried 8 and 9 and neither worked. Files would open and the program would immediately crash. I've now downloaded the new Acrobat Reader that works with Vista, and I will use some of the above suggestions for creating them.
posted by FlyByDay at 10:15 AM on August 29, 2008