PDFCreator


PDFCreator Options ScreenRating: 55 Star Rating pick

Version tested:  0.9.3

PDFCreator is an open source virtual printer than can convert any printable document into PDF, PNG, JPG, BMP, PCX, TIFF, PS, and EPS file formats.

Another day, another virtual PDF printer, it seems. Except this one also converts to multiple image formats: PNG, JPG, BMP, PCX, TIFF, as well as adobe Postscript (PS) and Extended Postscript (EPS). This program might well benefit from a name change, because although there are many free virtual PDF printers out there, this is possibly THE only decent truly freeware program that can also convert to image files.

This is a sophisticated virtual printer that packs a number of nice features, as follows:

  • Upon sending a page to PDFCreator, you can use a “wait-collect” button tell it to hold off on printing and go to the print monitor screen. This allows you to manage your documents, print more pages, save print jobs and/or to combine them a single document.
  • The options screen allows you to access the quality parameters for output formats (see screenshot) before printing. For PDF these are comprehensive (resolution, colors, fonts, security, etc.). I must admit, though, that I really like PrimoPDF’s simple quality options and will probably have both programs installed simultaneously.
  • You can integrate PDFCreator into the shell (right-click) menu. This will allow you to right click on any file and send it straight to the PDFCreator virtual printer.
  • Allows for autosaving files based on tags such as date of creation, user name, computer name, etc.
  • You can create a PDF and send it straight to email.
  • It is free for personal as well as commercial use (in contrast to, say, PrimoPDF, which is free only for personal use).
  • It can be run on Terminal Servers.

Note: PDFCreater will also offer to install a toolbar on your browser that will (a) enable you to quickly and easily send the webpage to PDFCreater, and (b) install a Google and Yahoo search box for you. Personally, I do not like more toolbars cluttering my already busy browser interface with ‘search’ functionality, and I already use both the Google and Yahoo toolbars because of the options that these offer. Thankfully, uninstalling the PDFCreator toolbar is a very simple process.

With the ability to create PDFs and image files this program may well be the virtual printer to rule them all.

Go to the project page for the latest version.


50 Samer

Samer Kurdi has written 1140 awesome posts for Freewaregenius.

He has been reviewing software since 2006 when he started Freewaregenius.com

22 responses to “PDFCreator”

  1. Swirly

    Salutations, I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your site. I’ve been looking for many of the programs you’ve suggested for weeks/months/years, and it’s awesome that they are all right here… with download links, pictures, and helpful reviews to boot. Thanks for your hard work! ^_^

  2. gomer

    I have enjoyed your site. I am glad to see a different type site which seems to replace Pricelessware.org which I had used for many years. Keep up the good work, you are appreciated more than you know.

  3. man

    I want to check this software.

  4. Anonymous

    güzel

  5. ahmad diken

    Thanks a lot

  6. jason

    wheni download the video to my desktop and when i play it jsut flashes green and white but it still plays the music. can anybody tell me how to fix that problem

  7. ace

    its good but i do not understand

  8. Mikael

    do you prefer this over primopdf, bullzip pdf and cutepdf? you wrote in the primopdf review that you prefer primo over all the others. how does this stand up against primo?

  9. Mamonk

    Important note about some controversy regarding PDFCreator.

    If you have used a recent version of PDFCreator you will notice that PDFCreator will install on your internet browser a toolbar (PDFForge) with or without your consent.

    Sounds annoying right?

    Well it’s worse than that. It appears that whenever you get a 404 error, the PDFForge toolbar will redirect your search to an advertising website. This has meant that many people have characterized the software as a kind of ‘malware’.

    Thankfully it can be uninstalled easily. Still it’s discomforting to see a kind of ‘malware’ lurking within a good freeware product.

  10. Amox

    Right,and if combine it with PDF converter yet it would work better.
    Nemo PDF Converter 4.0 converts PDF to Word/RTF and Word/Excel to PDF for uses of different situations with speed and 100 accuracy. It keeps intact of the original files and supports batch conversion. You can either batch convert files from the converter or from the button integrated in your documents with ease. Moreover, its user-friendly interfaces will make you a veteran from a new user in minutes.
    http://www.nemopdf.com/index.html

  11. crisulici

    Hi, my name is Cristi and I work for Spigot.

    I am here to provide information about how to uninstall the Spigot Toolbars and turn off mybrowserbar redirection.
    To uninstall the toolbar please follow the below steps:

    •Click on your Windows Start button
    •Click “Control Panel”
    •Click “Add or Remove Programs” or “Uninstall a program”
    •From the dialog box that appears, choose the Spigot Toolbar and click “Uninstall” to remove it.

    You can also uninstall the toolbar from the browser by going to the “Help” button on the toolbar and selecting Uninstall.

    For screenshots and more information on this please visit: http://www.spigot.com/uninstall.html
    To disable MyBrowserBar Network Error Assistant please follow these steps:

    •Click on the “Options” button on the toolbar and click the “Options” menu item
    •Click the “Search Settings” tab in the Options dialog
    •Uncheck the “Enable browser network assistant page” option by clicking on the checkbox
    •Click the save button.

    For screenshots and more information on this please visit: http://www.spigot.com/network_error_assistant.html

    Please contact me from our website if you have more questions, http://www.spigot.com/contact.html, thank you.

    Cristi

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