Installing PDFCreator and creating PDF. PDF Creator - a program for creating PDF files Main features of the program

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PDF Creator - a program for working with PDF documents

There are many free programs for creating documents in PDF format, among them is PDF Creator, which compares favorably with similar utilities with its advanced capabilities and a set of various useful functions. Such programs are called virtual printers.

The PDF creator can work both locally and network printer. In case of network use, the utility is installed on the server. All users can work with 1 program local network. To do this, you need to select the desired option at the beginning of installation.

To view saved documents through browsers Internet Explorer and Firefox need to install plugins. They will provide the opportunity to save viewed web pages in PDF format. It is very important that the program supports Russian-language fonts.

Main features of the program

The program interface is multilingual, Russian and Ukrainian are present, so installation does not cause any problems. After installing the virtual printer, you can immediately start creating documents, but it is preferable to explore its capabilities and settings.

In the settings you can specify:

1. Directory for saving files. Otherwise they will be saved automatically in the default directory.
2. Output file format. It can be PDF formats, JPEG, BMP, TIFF and other graphic types. Additionally, you can specify the resolution, the number of transmitted colors, and the degree of compression. Moreover, the compression level can be set separately for text and pictures.
3. Specify the principle of forming the file name using tags: author, title, date, etc.
4. Customize fonts and choose a color scheme: CMYK, RGB or grayscale.
5. Protect the document from unauthorized actions. You can set the degree of encryption, prohibit or allow certain manipulations with it: copying, editing, printing.
6. It is possible to combine multiple PDF files created by different applications.
7. If desired, the created document can be immediately sent via e-mail.

Creator can be used not for its intended purpose, but to convert files of various formats.

If the user often has to create a large number of documents of the same type, you can activate their automatic saving in the menu in the specified directory with the specified parameters.

The source files, in addition to graphics, can be files created in Word and other text editors, a program for creating electronic presentations PowerPoint, and spreadsheet files.

Users who use this virtual printer note that its capabilities are not inferior to paid analogues. The developers do not prohibit its use for commercial purposes.

Creator can be downloaded for free and without registration from the official website.

The latest version works on all Windows platforms. Before downloading creator, you need to find out the bitness of the installed operating system.

Program overview

After installation PDFCreator will create in the system " virtual printer", which allows you to convert documents to PDF format. The program interacts with all graphic and text editors that support printing. For example, to convert a text file to PDF, you need to go to the editor of this file (for example, Microsoft Office, Notepad or PhotoShop), select a virtual printer and click "Print".

System requirements

• System: Windows 10, Windows 8 (8.1) or Windows 7 (32-bit / 64-bit).

To convert documents, images, etc., as a rule, use special programs or built-in functionality of the applications in which they were created.

Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages. External software offers many features, but it needs to be installed and configured. The built-in software is already available, you don’t need to do anything with it, but it doesn’t allow you to change much in the standard configuration

PDF Forge GmbH offers all users its own free converter - PDF Creator. At the time of writing, the most current version is 2.5.3.

PDF Creator Features

As already mentioned, this is a free program. Its big advantages are the presence of the Russian language and open source code. Powered by PDF Creator operating systems Windows XP SP3, Vista, 7, 8, 10 and is installed in the OS as a virtual printer. Conversion occurs after the document is sent for printing.

In addition, the application is capable of:

• Convert not only to .pdf, but also in other formats ( .jpg, .png, .tif etc.);
• Compress files;
• Combine several documents into one;
• Automatically save files by assigning names to them;
• Use different profiles for saving;
• Protect a PDF document using a password and encryption from opening and editing;
• Limit the number of printed copies, including completely prohibiting printing;
• Apply a digital signature confirming authorship anywhere in the world, wherever the document is opened;
• Add cover pages;
• Call user-written scripts, etc.

During installation, a free (limited) version of the PDF editor - PDF Architect - is also installed.

Before starting work

First you need to download the program to your computer. On the company's official website, in the section "Download" the free version is selected.

Note: PDF Creator Plus has more functionality than 2.5, but this is a paid version of the application.

Once the download process is complete, you can begin the installation.

Setting up PDF Creator

After installation, a window opens offering a brief conversion algorithm and two types of settings.

Button "Application Settings" sends you to a menu where you can change the language, update frequency, add a line to the Windows menu, etc.

There are no such settings in the built-in conversion of office applications. Standard ones are used - the file type where to save.

Many things are possible in PDF Creator, such as managing printers.

It is worth paying attention to the editor installed with the converter.

Button "Profile Settings" also opens up great customization possibilities. Additional information about the document is filled in here.

Select the saving mode and its parameters. Manual saving:

Autosave:

You can pre-select the actions that will be performed on the file immediately after conversion. It is also suggested to open it in PDF Architect. In general, authors pay a lot of attention to inviting the user to work with their editor.

There are also settings for output parameters when converting graphic files and settings for PDF document attributes, including digital signature, protection, compression.

Using PDF Creator

After completing the installation of PDF Creator, you need to make sure that the virtual printer appears in the appropriate Windows folder. It is located along the path: "Control Panel" > "Equipment and Sound" > "Devices and Printers".

To compare the work of the built-in converter and PDF Creator, we will use MS Word 2010. It uses a similar approach - a virtual printer.

In the same tab for sending a print job, you can see that two more programs can be used. This is PDF Architect:

When you send a file to MS Print to PDF, Word only prompts you to specify where to save the PDF file. Selecting PDF Creator as the printer led, despite the previously made settings, to a window asking you to confirm them and select further actions with the document.

When you choose to convert a document using PDF Architect, you may see a warning on the screen that you must activate the program before you can use it.

That is, you need to fill out and send the form and receive an activation key by email. And this is in the process, when the file has already been sent for conversion, without any prior warnings.

It turns out that you need to perform many additional actions before the same action is performed (converting the file to pdf format).

The image below shows the result of the conversion using the built-in functions of MS Word (file - dictionary_MS.pdf) and the PDF Creator program (dictionary_pdfforge.pdf). It is worth paying attention to the size of the received documents.

When opened in Adobe Acrobat Reader, both look completely identical. File 1:

Graphic file format .png was opened in a standard Windows image viewer. From there it was sent to print using PDF Creator. The dialog in the print window that opens asks you to select parameters for the future image in PDF format.

The result of the conversion is visible below.

Conclusion

In that small review The work of the free PDF Creator converter was reviewed and its work was compared with the built-in function of MS Word for converting files into PDF format.

What to choose: greater functionality with relatively little effort in installing and configuring external software, or be content with minimal standard features built-in software is up to the user to decide.

Strange name, isn't it?! In fact, there is nothing strange here! In fact, everything is not as it might seem at first glance. This printer does not print virtual text on virtual paper; it is needed for something completely different. In general, this article will talk about a program called PDF Creator, and how you can use it to create a virtual printer. And we’ll also definitely figure out why it’s still needed!

So, what is it and what can it be useful to you for?

A virtual printer is really just a program. This printer may be useful in the following cases:

A) Let's consider this situation: You have prepared a document that will later need to be printed. You don’t have a printer at home, and therefore you will have to take the flash drive with the document saved on it to a special place where they will print it all out for you for money. But before that, it is highly advisable to preview how it will all look on paper. But this function is only available if you have a printer with drivers.

In order to use the preview function without a printer, a virtual printer is used.

b) Print to file. Instead of printing on paper on a regular printer, we save the received data to a file. This way you can convert any document into formats such as pdf, jpg, etc.

Of course, this is far from the only application for a virtual printer, but the average ordinary user, as a rule, uses this kind of software precisely for such purposes.

How to install a virtual printer

In fact, there is nothing complicated here! It is installed just like any other program:

2) Run this downloaded file and install the program.

If no errors were reported during installation, then the program was installed correctly.

Note: During installation, be careful, there may be additional software offered for installation that is not required for the virtual printer to work (for example, an archiver). If you do not need this software, then simply uncheck the corresponding boxes.

Important: Before installation, make sure that you have not disabled the “print spooler” service, otherwise after installation the program will give an error and will not work.

You could disable this service after reading the article “”.

Unlike other virtual printers, the capabilities free program are not limited to the appearance of a new icon in the window " Printers and faxes", and settings with a couple of tabs, the items in which, by and large, are identical in many programs. By using PDF Creator You can flexibly customize the printing process, add new features to the Internet Explorer browser and to the Windows Explorer context menu, and much more.

The PDF Creator virtual printer works in two stages. First, a document is created in the format Postscript. It is sent to the print queue, which is served by its own monitor. From there, printing into a PDF document, into graphic images, automatic mailing documents by email. Now, let's take a look at the capabilities of this program in more detail.

After you send a document to print using a virtual printer, the PDF Creator dialog box opens. It can be disabled in the application settings by specifying use default options. However, if you do not touch anything, you will have to specify several parameters before printing.

Enter the title of the future document, the date of its creation and last modification. Using special buttons you can immediately specify the current time and date. Next, enter the author's name, which is taken from the system settings by default. You will have to manually add the document topic and keywords. After completing the printing process, you can send the document to the virtual printer queue, just save the file Postscript, and also send the PDF by email.

PDF Print Monitor allows you to organize a queue of documents. It is no coincidence that it is included in PDF Creator. The point is, on official page project, you can download the server version of the virtual printer. And here a monitor is really necessary. Apparently, the developers decided to leave this component in the local version, for which we thank them. The program has not worked any worse, and additional service capabilities will not hurt anyone, especially since no one is forcing them to use them.

The monitor allows you to compose documents in standby mode, send all or individual files for printing. It is possible to send documents by email. To do this, just enter the address in a special panel, which is hidden by default. All operations related to the monitor are recorded in the event log.

The program in question has its own settings window, which is not related to the printer properties. You can add integration with Explorer. A new item appears in the context menu that allows you to quickly print the current file or an entire group in PDF or graphic formats. You can print test pages and specify the priority of the virtual printer process.

The first step in the printer's operation is to create a Postscript document. The product includes GPL Ghostscript. The application settings allow you to use another module, as well as specify its operating parameters and keys.

The next group of options allows you to specify the default author, using a large number of built-in Windows variables. You can use the computer name and add counters. Next, indicate the default date and time (current or any other), as well as the paper size, for example, A4.

To save a document, you first specify a file name. It consists of two parts. You enter a prefix from a list of variables, which ends with a manually entered text string. The following is the document format that will be used for printing by default. Available in PDF, PNG, JPEG, BMP, PCX, TIFF, PS and EPS.

You can configure automatic saving of documents, and then no additional questions will be asked when printing. First, the format of the saved documents is indicated. The selection is similar to the previous list. Next, the file name is determined using the same “prefix plus user string” scheme, and the folder where the files will be placed is also indicated. It is possible to send a document by e-mail, as well as automatically open it in the program installed in the system by default.

Virtual printer settings allow you to execute arbitrary commands before and after printing. These can be various scripts and launching executable files. In the second case, you can specify launch parameters, select the window style (normal/minimized, with focus, etc.).

You may need to create a paper copy of the PDF document. The program allows you to automatically send PDF to any other printer installed on the system. It is possible to display an additional dialog box with printer properties or printing options.

Each final document format has its own set of settings. We are primarily interested in PDF. You can choose compatibility with Adobe Acrobat 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0. You can enable automatic page rotation and specify the document resolution. Compression is set separately for color and black and white images. You can use various JPEG or ZIP quality options. Pictures can be given a resolution different from the original by reducing the size. Single color images are compressed using CCITT fax compression. You can also specify the color scheme of documents. It can be CMYK, RGB or shades of gray.

Document encryption is possible using the Ghostscript or PDFEnc modules. 40 bit and 128 bit keys are supported. In the second case, the document can only be opened in Adobe Acrobat 5.0 or higher. A password is placed on the document. In this case, reading is available only after it is entered. The prohibition, if necessary, may apply to printing a document, copying its contents, changing the contents and comments. When setting a 128-bit key, it is possible to use low resolution when printing, filling out form fields, and changing attributes.

Along with installing a virtual printer, you can add panels for Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox browsers. Their main purpose is to quickly print web pages. In addition, the panels can act as a pop-up counter and have search bar. The search is carried out through the developer’s own service.