Today I'm starting what I hope will be a 15-week series of Friday posts about free software programs that I find useful. Let me make this clear up front: I am not claiming that these are the 15 best freeware utilities in the world. I'm not even claiming that all of these are the best freeware options in their respective categories. They are just 15 programs I've found after years of hunting for software to meet various needs. I've tested all of them enough that I'm comfortable recommending them, and I still use most of them to varying degrees.As I understand the license agreements, all of the freeware in this series is legal for personal, non-commercial use. Whatever your scenario, always read software licenses to ensure that you are in compliance.
PrimoPDF
Purpose: Creating PDF files from any application that can print
Web Site: http://www.primopdf.com/
Skill Level Required: Beginner
I've tried a few PDF creators, ranging from Adobe's professional ones to completely free ones. If you're looking for a free way to create PDFs, PrimoPDF is a great option. (I.T. departments can even appreciate the fact that unlike other PDF programs--such as PDFCreator on SourceForge.net--this one can run under limited user rights in Windows XP.)
As with many PDF creators, PrimoPDF installs a "printer" on your computer. When you print a file to that printer, the result is a PDF file rather than a physical, printed document.
A nice touch is that you can set some security on your PDF, including setting a password on the file, preventing printing, etc. (Note: You can never prevent a determined person from printing any document you give them--PDF or other. In a pinch, anybody could take a screenshot of any pages they want to print, and then print the screenshot. Don't heavily rely on this "security" feature.)
For details and screenshots, see http://www.primopdf.com/free-pdf-userguide.asp.
3 comments:
Been using CutePDF Writer to save my documents to pdf format. Have you found a freeware that allows you to edit pdf files? Also wife been using a freeware software to create invoices for her piano students, can't remember the name, but its really a piece of junk. . . I guess I got my money worth. Got any freeware suggestions for invoicing software? T Butler
Brian...I found you...can I link you in my blog?
Tim, I purchased Jaws PDF Editor for the college a while back, when I was looking for an affordable editor. It's $51 without an educational discount. I haven't found a free one, but I haven't looked in about 2 years.
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