Most people print hard copy of web page or document for later reading & keeping. For instance, we print our online ticket booking confirmation or invoice page, account’s profile information, or perhaps just to print our favorite web page for offline reading. Eventually, there is an alternative way beside printing hard-copy of these documents, i.e. Print to PDF files.
PDF is one of the most common & widely used formats available in the internet. The format was officially released as an open standard in 2008. Many developers have come out with variety of programs to help users create their PDF files. One of them, which I’m currently using, is the PDFCreator.
With the PDFCreator installed on your computer, creating a PDF file is as easy as printing a document. It helps users convert any printable documents into PDF files. It is FREE for use & even commercial purpose.
Some features about PDFCreator which is worth mentioning.
- As long as you can print the document, you will be able to create the PDFs.
- It is more than just PDF, documents can be printed to PNG, JPG, TIFF, BMP, PCX, PS, or EPS
- Encrypt or Digitally sign your PDFs to protect them from being opened, modified, printed, etc.
- Merge multiple files into one PDF
- It also runs on Terminal Servers.
- Installation is easy & strightforward
- Open Source & FREE for commercial use.
The Printing Process
- Download PDFCreator, double click the downloaded file to install. By default the installer will install a PDFCreator Browser Addon to your browser. If you don’t want this to be installed, simply unchecked this installation option.
- Print your document, select your printer as PDFCreator, and click OK.
- Click “Save” to save your PDF document. That’s it, now you can open your PDF file & see the result.
