Convert Documents to PDF

It seems like every computer user needs a PDF reader sooner or later – and it’s no wonder. Adobe created its PDF (or Portable Document Format) in 1993, and today it is the standard file format for exchanging documents even amongst dissimilar computers. PDF files are essentially “print images.” You can view a PDF file on the screen or print it on your printer, and the document will look the same in both cases. All the correct fonts, colors, graphics and typesetting will be in place, even if you do not have those fonts installed on your computer. A PDF file is a true WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) document: whatever displays on the screen is what prints  out.

Perhaps the best feature for genealogists is the capability to exchange PDF files between different programs. That’s why some of today’s genealogy programs have built-in PDF converters that let you share the programs’ charts and reports with friends and family who do not have your program. However, this still leaves you with the question of how to share documents from programs that do not have this built-in conversion capability.

An even greater quandary for many is how to share documents between different computer operating systems in a readable format. You can create a PDF file on your Windows system and then e-mail it to a Macintosh user or a Linux user. What the other person sees or what is printed is always a faithful reproduction of the file you created. All the other person needs is a free PDF viewer program. Several such programs are available with Adobe Acrobat Viewer being the most popular.

PDF files are very popular for printing of documents: you can create the PDF file as you wish and send it to a printing service. Their phototypesetting machine can use the PDF file to produce a printed document that will be exactly the same as what you created. Many books are first converted to PDF files and then sent to the printer.

For the first few years after Adobe offered PDF, the only method of creating PDF files was to pay $250 or more for Adobe Acrobat, sold by Adobe Systems. At first, Adobe Systems jealously guarded the internal workings of the software as a trade secret. However, as the years went by, Adobe relented and released the specifications, allowing other companies to create software that works with PDF format. PDF now is an open standard and recently took a major step towards becoming ISO 32000.

Apple’s latest Macintosh OS X operating system even includes the ability to create PDF files from most any document, be it a word processor or spreadsheet or web page or even output from a genealogy program. In fact, Macintosh users can skip the rest of this article since you already have the capability to create PDF files. Some versions of Linux also include similar PDF functionality.

Microsoft has not added similar capabilities to Windows. In fact, the latest version of Windows, called Vista, now includes the capability to make print image files in Microsoft’s own portable document technology, called XPS. However, XPS apparently has not gained many supporters. PDF remains the de facto standard.

Even if Windows does not ship with PDF capability, the Windows user can easily download and use any of a number of free programs that will add the ability to create PDF files from most documents. I have experimented with several and eventually settled on PrimoPDF as the program I prefer.

PrimoPDF will create PDF files from any of more than 300 file formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt, .html, .txt, and many more). It even includes “one-button PDF creation” from Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Unlike many of the other free PDF converters, PrimoPDF will also create password-protected PDF files.

I found PrimoPDF to be easy to download, easy to install, and easy to use. It installs as a printer driver and appears on your list of installed printers. To create a PDF file, simply create the document in the normal manner with almost any program, and then select PRINT. When Windows asks which printer you wish to use, select “PrimoPDF” from the list of available printers. You will later be asked for a file name and subdirectory where the file is to be stored on your system, along with a few other parameters. The document is then “printed” as a PDF file and is stored wherever you specified.

PrimoPDF is a very professional looking product, and I think it should be installed on every Windows system. I especially like it when installed on a laptop PC. When traveling, I sometimes want to print something but do not have a printer along. I can create a PDF file and then send it via e-mail or copy it to a USB jump drive. I can later have the PDF file printed at any print shop, even if that shop uses Macintosh systems.

PrimoPDF is available at no charge at http://www.primopdf.com/. The same company also sells NitroPDF Professional, which adds the ability to create “fill-in-the-blanks” electronic forms, sticky notes, and review comments, as well as the ability to digitally sign and certify PDF files. Those added features may be useful in the workplace, but most individuals do not need them; the free version will work well for most.

Several other free document-to-PDF conversion tools are available. The more popular ones include the following:

Ghostscript at http://www.ghostscript.com was the first free PDF creation tool available. However, it is rather awkward to use, requiring a lot of systems knowledge and several other software tools. I no longer recommend Ghostscript.

CutePDF at http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp (although you must download additional free software from another site in order to make it work).

PDF995 at http://site4.pdf995.com/download.html (although it displays advertising while operating).

If you search online, you can find a few more free document-to-PDF conversion programs although they may not be as well-known as the above four.

You can find additional tools for creation of PDF files selling at $20 and up. At the top of the scale, Adobe Acrobat sells for a “street price” of about $280. As you move up in price, you typically gain the ability to create password-protected files or to “mark up” an existing PDF file with a highlighter, sticky notes, pencil, strikethrough, and more. Some of these products allow you to directly create PDF files when scanning paper documents.

Whatever tool you select, you can create PDF files from your Windows system.

If you prefer to not download and install software, you can use any of several free online conversion tools. While the details vary, most of these tools allow the user to upload (send to the server) a document in a supported format, and then the server will convert the file to PDF format. In most cases the user downloads the resultant file and saves it on the local computer. Some services will send the file to you in e-mail. These online services will work with Windows, Macintosh, Linux, handheld computers, and other, lesser-known operating systems.

The more popular free online document-to-PDF services include:

Primo Online at http://online.primopdf.com.

PDFonline at http://www.pdfonline.com.

Doc2PDF Online at https://www.pdfonline.com/convert_pdf.asp.

FreePDFconverter at http://www.freepdfconvert.com. (This service even converts Windows Help files to PDF, a nifty method of obtaining a user’s manual for products that do not include such a manual. I used it to create a user’s manual for The Master Genealogist version 7. FreePDFconverter converted TMG.chm into TMG.pdf and sent it to me as an attached file to an e-mail message in about five minutes.)

FastPDF at http://www.fastpdf.com (While the company does offer a free service, each document will have a watermark on each page advertising the company’s services. Documents may be created without watermarks if you pay a fee.)

I prefer to use software to create PDF files on my own PC. However, when using someone else’s computer at a local library or at an Internet café, installing software may not be an option. The online conversion services then become very useful.

Whether you install software or use a remote service, you have your choice of several easy and free methods of creating PDF files.

Then again, if you receive or download a PDF file that contains information you want to paste into your genealogy program or another file format, you have a new quandary: how do you change the PDF file to another file type? Converting in the other direction (changing PDF files back to their original document formats) is a more involved topic.  I will describe how you can do this in a future Plus Edition article.

Comments

[Walter Wood]

Good article. I have used PDF995 at my job for about 10 years and long ago paid the $9.95 to register it and avoid the ads. I also have and use the full version of Adobe Acrobat Standard. I find that in some cases PDF995 will convert a file that the full verions of Acrobat will not display correctly.

Of course the full (paid) version of Acrobat will allow you to add, remove, reorder and rotate pages. It will also allow you to add headers and footers and combine files. I have not found this capability in any of the free programs.

>> FreePDFconverter converted TMG.chm into TMG.pdf
>> and sent it to me as an attached file to an
> e-mail message in about five minutes.

I tried this with my tmg.chm file and got a message that it was not supported. Can you provide the steps to do this?

Thanks,
Walter

[Martin]

Dick,
Whilst you mentioned Adobe as the originators of pdf format, you seem to have entirely forgotten their own on-line document creation service. This can be found at http://createpdf.adobe.com/?Language=ENU (or similar). As a free service it is quite limited; though there is an option to use it for regular conversion by paying.
Many other programs that genealogists might use also have an inbuilt capability to generate pdfs, e.g. IrfanView,OpenOffice, Legacy, Serif to name but several.
regards,
martin

[Paul Meigs]

Dick, Your article on PDF was excellent.

Can you or any of your readers tell me how I can "COPY" a Page from my genealogly program 'Ancestral Quest' into a form that I can email to another genealogist.

I have tried several ways, I can not seem copy it by any means.

[Helen Shaw]

I have found that WordPerfect documents converted to pdf format do not maintain all the punctuation marks. Specifically quotation marks do not come over.

I write a quarterly newsletter for a small genealogical society and send it out to about half our members via e-mail. I happened see the pdf version on a member's laptop at a meeting and spotted the lack of quotes and other marks. I went back and checked other pdf editions and found this was not a one-time occurance.

[Happy Dae]

Not mentioned, too, is Open Office. Mr. Eastman recommended it long ago and I've used it since then. It will create PDF files in addition to other formats and does quite well.

The best part: Open Office is FREE!

Happy Dae.
http://www.ShoeStringGenealogy.com

[Dick Eastman]

---> Can you or any of your readers tell me how I can "COPY" a Page from my genealogly program 'Ancestral Quest' into a form that I can email to another genealogist.

I don't have Ancestral Quest here but I can tell you what works with 99% of all the other Windows programs. I bet it will work with Ancestral Quest also.

First, install PrimoPDF or one of the other PDF-generating programs. Then use Ancestral Quest in the normal manner. When you want to print, select FILE and then PRINT as you always do. When the list of printers appears, select the "PrimoPDF" printer. You will then be asked for the PDF file name and location. Enter that and your PDF file will be created.

[Bill Buchanan]

I have used both CutePDF and PrimoPDF to create eBooks. I use them with the free PDF SAM (PDF Split And Merge) software, which allows me remove pages and insert pages into a PDF file. For example, a descentancy chart may be generated by PAF and "printed to PDF" using PrimoPDF. A title page and stories are printed to PDF from Word. Maps may be from Google maps, etc. Then I use PDF SAM to combine the PDF files into one.

PDF Split And Merge
URL: http://www.pdfsam.org
Author: Andrea Vacondio andrea.vacondio@gmail.com
Prerequisites: A working Java Runtime Environment is needed.

Sample eBooks done this way can be seen at:
http://billbuchanan.clawz.com/buchanan/index.htm

[Oxa]

I just want to put in a word for PDF reDirect, an easy to use PDF file generator that allows encryption, can produce output in different levels of quality, and allows merging of PDF files. I also use and love PDF X-Change Viewer. A free PDF viewer, not a PDF file generator, this software allows a variety of markups in PDF files, such as typing, highlighting, outlining, comments, and more.

[Athena]

I like PrimoPDF too; it's one of the extras that I always recommend when I set up a new machine.

If you are creating genealogy books though, you may indeed want to purchase a full function PDF editor. Most genealogy applications are rather rudimentary when it comes to including photos or including output from other programs. I typically create photo-collages in my imaging program and generate PDF pages to be inserted in my books. I can also generate maps or timelines from other programs then combine them all with the output of the book feature to produce one file that can be printed in duplex mode at any printing service.

For those who want to combine files, delete, rotate, replace pages, NitroPDF and Nuance do everything available in Acrobat for less than half the price.

NOTE:
>> Microsoft has not added similar capabilities to Windows. In fact, the
>> latest version of Windows, called Vista, now includes the capability
>> to make print image files in Microsoft’s own portable document
>> technology, called XPS. However, XPS apparently has not gained many
>> supporters. PDF remains the de facto standard.

Although the Vista doesn't inlcude a PDF generator, there is a free PDF generator for the latest version of Office (Office 2007) available from the Microsoft download site.

[Kathy Wilson]

I use Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0. It has a PDF converter. I download census images from ancestry.com. Clean up the image in Elements. Save as jpg. then I save again in pdf. That makes the image a lot easier to see. I do still save that jpg. image. Sometimes a pdf. file becomes corrupt so having that jpg. to fall back on is a time saver.

I have used pdf995 for a number of years now. Great at converting microsoft word docs to pdf. Also great if you have census images where the names are continued on to the next page. Chose to print the 2 images and chose pdf995. Will put both pages in one pdf. file.

Kathy Wilson

[Wayne Dykstra]

Corel WordPerfect X3 will also create a PDF file from the Wordprocessor.
A great asset when you work hard to create a document and then the receiver doesn't have the same program.

[Mary Holland]

Can anyone suggest which program, free or paid, other than Adobe, would allow me to add text to a pdf file. I want to add source and person info to pdf files of census returns; birth, death or marriage certificates etc. This would make sure that all the information is in one place. I don't want it to be a "note" or comment type of addition. On original documents, I just print the info - what I want to do is add it the same way to a pdf file. Suggestions, please.

[Glen Gallagher]

I expect all the TMG users are aware of this, but The Master Genealogist Program includes a PDF printer function. Of course it's handy for printing reports that the program can generate, but the printer function works with other applications as well. As described for the other commercially available PDF tools, TMG's PDF printer can be selected as the output printer by any other application on your computer. It's a really useful tool.

[Athena]

>>I don't want it to be a "note" or comment type of addition...<<

How else would you do it? I add "sticky" text notes that look like Post-Its to my census pages that include all the source information (Name, Age, Census year, Place, Roll number, Page, Image)and add a red arrow next to the person/family I want to highlight to make it easy to find them on the page.

Nuance Pro and NitroPDF Pro have annotation features that are similar to Acrobat at about half the cost. You can use http://www.pricegrabber.com to find the best available prices.

[Mary Holland]

>>>>I don't want it to be a "note" or comment type of addition...>
Thanks for your suggestion about sticky notes and arrows - I'll print them out for when I get organized for this project.
I've done some reading and found that you can add either a header or footer to the page and put the text you want to record there. I'm most interested in this idea as it would leave the info right on the document. I thought if it was added in a differ net colour and signed with initials, it would show it was added.
Has anyone used this method? With what software? thanks.

[Athena]

>>I'm most interested in this idea as it would leave the info right on the document<<

That's exactly why I use the sticky note annotation tool in my PDF editor. I can create a yellow text box that contains the source information and it prints on the document. I also use the arrow tool in the PDF program to add the red arrow.

That's what the publishers mean when they say "Add notes, annotations, stamps, and watermarks to your PDF files" (from Nuance Professional product description).

As you say, you could put that information in an extra header or footer but I use my census PDFs in books and I prefer to have consistent header/footer information throughout the book.

[Dae Powell]

Here's another excellent converter: http://dottech.org/freebies/6301
The instructions are there to make installation easy.
I hope this helps.

Happy Dae·
http://ShoeStringGenealogy.com