converting .doc files to .pdf on Mac 10.3.9?

July 7, 2005 1:07 PM

I am having a helluva time converting Microsoft Word documents to PDF files. It's beginning to drive me mad. I am running Mac OS 10.3.9. Please to hope me!

When I select "Print to PDF" within Word, the pages come out in reverse order. Selecting "reverse page order" does NOT correct this problem.

I just downloaded this little piece of PDF conversion freeware, and it works, except for the fact that the formatting gets all screwed up in about ten different ways.

I've Googled all over the place but can't seem to find either a clean-functioning piece of freeware or a solution (on a discussion board, eg) to this problem, which seems to lie with Word (Word 2004, v11.1, BTW). Can anyone suggest a way to make Word order the pages properly, or suggest another (free) program which will make a clean .doc-to-.pdf conversion? Muchas gracias!

posted by Dr. Wu to computers & internet (9 comments total)

Quit any open Office applications.

Open:

Users -> username -> Library -> Preferences

and drag the following to the Trash:

com.microsoft.*.plist (files)
Microsoft (folder)

Restart Word to create a fresh set of Office preferences, and then try reprinting your document(s).

You might also try printing a range of pages, e.g.:

File -> Print...

and selecting the page range manually in the From: and To: fields, before clicking on "Print to PDF".

Thirdly, since you are running 10.3.9, you might try this tip to reduce the final size of the PDF file. PDFs created via "Print to PDF" option built into Mac OS X are generally much larger than they need be.
posted by Rothko at 1:25 PM on July 7, 2005

You can also try GoBCL.com for free online conversions.
posted by greatgefilte at 2:39 PM on July 7, 2005

Rohtko, thanks for the tips. I will try 'em out pronto.

greatgefilte: that's a nifty little service - thanks! One small problem is that a couple of the files I need to convert are graphics-heavy, and therefore larger than the 2MB limit on GoBCL.com. I guess I could just break 'em into two documents, but do you (or does anyone) know of a similar service with a larger file-size capacity?

Thanks, all. Please, any other suggestions are welcome, too!
posted by Dr. Wu at 3:33 PM on July 7, 2005

do you (or does anyone) know of a similar service with a larger file-size capacity?

There is the Create Adobe PDF Online service, but it is for-fee. However, the first five PDFs are free, so if you need to meet a deadline, those freebies might help.
posted by Rothko at 3:56 PM on July 7, 2005

Another way:

Print to postscript (should be easy on a Mac!).
Convert ps to pdf with ghostscript.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 5:21 PM on July 7, 2005

.doc files can be opened in TextEdit. Try saving a pdf from there.
posted by bitpart at 6:55 PM on July 7, 2005

ROU: What is ghostscript?

Thanks, all!
posted by Dr. Wu at 8:43 PM on July 7, 2005

Ghostscript.
posted by flabdablet at 8:53 AM on July 8, 2005

Specifically, this bit of it.
posted by flabdablet at 8:58 AM on July 8, 2005