What is the best way to convert a web page into a PDF file? ...w/o using Acrobat.

November 17, 2005 4:39 PM

What is the best way to convert a web page into a PDF file? ...w/o using Acrobat.

Saving as .MHT just isn't doing it for me, so I need something that can save web pages in a common format.

If PDF, then obviously I'm looking for an Acrobat alternative -- don't need a lot of bells & whistles. Open to non-PDF alternatives as well (if there are any).

I'm willing to pay some money for something that's convenient and functional -- under $40 though. Thanks!

posted by JudgeBork to computers & internet (10 answers total)

http://www.pdf995.com/
posted by fire&wings at 4:42 PM on November 17, 2005

If you're on a Macintosh, you can simply use the print dialog box to save any file as a PDF. The menu command is File > Print, and then click the PDF button. You'll get an exact PDF of your file, although these are not active PDFs with links or anything.

You can also use the Mac Preview program to open nearly any file and export it as PDF.

You can also save as PDF using any page-layout desktop publishing software, such as Project or Quark or PageMaker.

You might also want to ask any of your friends if they have the full version of Acrobat; you can open any file and then save it as a PDF pretty easily.
posted by tarintowers at 4:50 PM on November 17, 2005

If you have some .mht files that you want to convert to PDF, you can do it very easily and quickly online at PDF Online (free). It also supports DOC PPT GIF RTF PPS PNG XLS BMP WMF TXT JPG EMF and TIFF files in addition to the MHT files. Works like a charm!

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posted by Independent Scholarship at 4:56 PM on November 17, 2005

Open Office lets you export things as PDFs. It's free and multi-platform.
posted by hooray at 5:03 PM on November 17, 2005

Assuming you're on Windows, it sounds like you're looking for something that you can install and use on a regular basis. Try PDF2HTMLgui, which is a GUI for the command-line program PDFtoHTML.
posted by Geektronica at 5:28 PM on November 17, 2005

A web page? You can give this a try.

1. Go to your browser's Print dialog box.
2. Make sure Print to File is checked.
3. Print that sucker.
4. Upload the output file to ps2pdf.com.

Good luck!
posted by DrJohnEvans at 5:37 PM on November 17, 2005

PDF Creator is an open source program that can produce basic PDF files. It installs as a printer driver, akin to the Adobe Distiller.
posted by toxic at 6:00 PM on November 17, 2005

PDFCreator installs as a Windows printer driver. It uses GhostScript as its backend, but you'd never know.
posted by scruss at 6:02 PM on November 17, 2005

CutePDF is a virtual printer that's worked for me for ages.
posted by electric_counterpoint at 6:39 PM on November 17, 2005

CutePDF is awesome. I use it constantly, best solution out there since you just go to File > Print.
posted by exhilaration at 8:44 AM on November 18, 2005