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Free PDF Printer Driver

John P.

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Adobe PDFFolks, I just wanted to pass along a tip for a free PDF Printer Driver in case anyone was ever looking for one, or in case you don’t know what this even is!

A PDF Printer Driver is a little piece of software that installs just like a printer would, but instead of converting your printed output it saves the exact printed format as a PDF file. You might want to do this for any of the following reasons:

  • To e-mail a document in a universal format which preserves the exact page layout. For example, if you create a form using MS Word, you can convert it to PDF.
  • To preview exactly what a document is going to look like when printed before wasting paper and ink.
  • To post a printable version of a document on a Web site that people can access using any computing platform.
  • If you want to print something, but you aren’t near a printer you can print it to a PDF and then later print a hard copy. VERY useful for offline work on a laptop while traveling.

The only problem is that up until relatively recently the only way to accomplish this was to own a very expensive piece of Adobe software. But now there are a few free alternatives on the market, and I wanted to recommend Bullzip PDF Printer.

Given the fact that this is Freeware, Bullzip’s PDF Printer is one of the easiest pieces of software you can install. It’s a simple two step process.

  1. Download Ghostscripts and install it. (32 bit or 64 bit depending on your processor)
  2. Download the latest Bullzip PDF Printer driver and run the setup program.

So, hopefully someone will find this as useful as I do! Oh, and don’t forget, Adobe Reader Sucks!

Comments

  1. Guys, watch out! I downloaded and began installing three of the listed PDF print drivers you’ve been discussing and so far every single one of them tried to install a bunch of non-related junk:

    Coupon Management (from CNET’s downloader)
    Yahoo! default search, Yahoo! Start page
    NetAssistant
    Gaming something…

    This is b/s. Don’t accept stealthware (Toolbars/malware) in exchange for free software (even OpenSource).

  2. Any of these tools allow you to send the PDF file as an attachment to outlook without having to do any additional work . I have used Primo, that does the job in about 2 to 3 steps. can be simpler than that?

  3. Is any of these tools allow you to send the PDF file as an attachment to outlook without having to do any additional work . I have used Primo, that does the job in about 2 to 3 steps. can be simpler than that?

  5. THanks for this post.
    FOund your site after a lot of googling.

    Do this after installing the app.
    “chm to pdf” free – open a chm file > rightclick print

  6. Andy: The only problem I had with primoPDF was that it wanted to installed the .Net framework. Maybe I’m a bit paranoid, but why does a PDF writer need the .NET framework? Just to bloat up my (XP) machine? Since you are on Vista already, I think the .NET framework is pre-installed.

    I went with the SourceForge PDFCreator; it was updated December 2007, but the listing does not show Vista. Since I’m still running XP Pro on this machine, should not be a problem!

  7. I had issues with getting my Acrobat 5 to work on Vista, and while it works as an editor, there are problems with the pdf distiller so I cannot generate pdf files! Then I found PrimoPDF which has been working really well for me. Now I get to create my PDFs and edit it without spending extra money!

  9. Saim, do I missunderstand it??? it is about the PDF-writing software and the Aobe product is quite expensive, anyway the Bullzip one works fine for me.

    cheers

    Rhoody

  11. One of the biggest differences between the free PDF creators is the size of the PDF file they create. Adobe usually does the best job there and the free ones vary a lot. I’ve started using PrimoPDF (since Adobe Elements doesn’t work on Vista) and it is pretty good.

    I would suggest trying some of the free ones to see how they perform if size is important.

  12. I was just thinking that I would mention CutePDF Writer when I was reading the post. I heartily agree with BradDet that it’s extremely easy to use.

  13. I’ve been using PDFCreator: sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator ,for a few years now and it has worked mighty good. I use it to save articles I would like to read later. I don’t think it has been upgraded for Vista though because the last release was on 2006-08-25.
    I will certainly give Bullzip’s PDF Printer a try but not on my main computer yet.

  14. Hey,

    Another great one is CutePDF Writer. I’ve been using it for over 1 year and it works great. The PDF Printer part is free and very easy to install.