Convert any Office file to PDF for free

Recently an associate whose PC lacked Adobe Acrobat sent me a Word file via e-mail, asking if I could convert it to PDF and e-mail it back to her. Since the process took all of about 30 seconds, I was delighted to help. Then the next day she sent two more files in need of conversion to PDF, and a couple of days after than another. After her fourth request of the week I felt compelled to tell her about two ways she could have converted the files herself for free: Adobe's own Create Adobe PDF Online free trial, and Arco Software's great CutePDF Writer freebie.

If you use Office 2007 you can download Microsoft's free Save as PDF or XPS utility, which adds the ability to convert files to PDF or Microsoft's competing XML Paper Specification to all eight applications in the suite. The great thing about CutePDF Writer is that it works with programs other than Office 2007. See below for more.

Slow and limited, but readily available: Create Adobe PDF Online
I've used Adobe's free PDF-conversion service for years, and while the $10-a-month service ($100 for one year) used to allow you to create 10 PDF files for free, that number has been reduced to five free conversions, which is sufficient for people who rarely have the need to make a PDF. (If you need more than five files converted, sign up for a new free e-mail account and re-register with that address.)

The downside to Adobe's free trial is that you have to register, and you have to wait for your PDF to be delivered. Otherwise using the service is straightforward. After you sign up, click Convert a file (you can also choose Convert a Web page), enter the path to the file/page you want to convert, or click Browse and navigate to the file.

Enter the path to the file you want to convert to PDF, and click Continue.

Click Continue to open the Conversion Settings window. Here you select the type of output you want to optimize the file for (Web, Print, etc.), password-protect and otherwise limit use of the file, and select a delivery method.

Optimize your PDF for print or viewing on the Web via these options.

The default delivery method is to have a link to the PDF e-mailed to you, but you can also choose to have the file sent to you as an e-mail attachment, wait for the file to open in your browser, or download the file from your account's Conversion History page.

Choose the delivery method for your PDF file: e-mail link, e-mail attachment, open in browser, or download from server.

After you click the Create PDF button, you receive a confirmation of the conversion that tells you how long you'll have to wait for the file to be available. When I tested the service, I had to wait a little less than 25 minutes for the file to be delivered, which seems like a long time to me. You're also informed that you have 72 hours to retrieve the file.

The confirmation screen lets you know how long you'll have to wait for your PDF file.

Fast and full-featured: CutePDF Writer
If you have more than the occasional need to convert a file to PDF, downloading and installing CutePDF Writer is a faster and simpler approach. The program installs in just a few seconds, though it requires a second program, which it downloads automatically--after you grant it permission--as part of the installation process. Once it's in place, simply open the file you need to convert in the application of your choice, choose File > Print, and select CutePDF Writer in the drop-down list of available printers. The utility opens a Save As dialog box, where you can rename the file and choose where to store it. What could be simpler?

Which makes me wonder why anybody would choose Adobe's clunky and limited online PDF-conversion service over a free utility such as CutePDF Writer. Perhaps they have an aversion to downloads, though this one lacks ads, spyware, or other unwanted companions. Or they may be using a PC other than their own and need a one-time conversion that doesn't entail a download. Still, downloading, installing, and using CutePDF Writer is faster and simpler than using Adobe's service even after you've completed the initial sign-up. I guess this is one of those computing areas where the online version can't match the desktop approach.

Monday: disk management and optimization made simple.

[Gomphos]

On Macs, print the document (web page, etc.) and select an option ("Open PDF in Preview", "Save as PDF...") from the "PDF" drop-down in the "Print" window. Built-in and easy!

[jheine]

There is another program called PDFCreator that pretty much does the same thing as CutePDF. It is open source, and installs to emulate a printer. You just print to PDFCreator. It will open a dialog, where you can fill in the PDF metadata, and click save to open a window where you can browse to the location you want to save the PDF. Alternately, there is an email button that will attach the pdf into a new email message in your default browser. If you choose so during installation, it will also associate Postscript file (.ps) to itself. I've been using it for a couple years now, and we actually installed it on most PCs at my last job.

[awygladala]

You can ger a brilliant free open source PDF creator at

http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=767596

[dcardozo]

OpenOffice has had one-click pdf creation since I can remember.
It's free, and it can open and save in MS Office docs format.

[CJP Photos]

OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org) a free productivity suite comparable to MS Office has a built in pdf converter. Open Office is ALL I use now. You can also "save as" microsoft format.
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CJP Photos
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[bravo515]

http://www.pdf24.org/ is a widget that I have pinned to my google homepage - it's free and it emails the file to you right away. you can email the pdf document to any email address you want.

[scottalmas]

How could you have missed mentioning www.zamzar.com, the online file conversion site that converts just about anything to just about anything. Unlimited free conversions to pdf without any registration required. And trust me, you'll use it for much more than pdf conversion. If you haven't already, bookmark it.

[VMRink]

cutePDF is not a good product to adverstise. In a world of 508 compliancy, this product does not produce compliant PDFs. I don't know about the other online products. We've had cutePDF removed from all computers in our Agency.

[Timcal]

Thumbs up on Open Office. It works.

[tjcs]

Print to PDF (via the standard print menu in any application) has been available on the Macintosh as part of the built-in system software for several years. No 3rd-party software required, and the conversion takes only a second, as mentioned above. Also, there are plentiful open-source solutions.
Why are people still paying for these tools, when free, robust ones already exist?
(any why write a 770-word article about the obsolete ones?)

[aemarques]

I've used several free PDF creators for some years now. My current favorite is Bulllzip PDF Printer. No watermarks, Compliant PDFs, fast and reliable...
http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php

P.S.: Regarding Microsoft and PDF support: Microsoft WANTED to include native PDF creation in Office 2007. ADOBE DID NOT. Solution: you have to download the (free) converter from Microsoft.com... *Sigh...*
If MS wanted to incorporate this sort of feature at the OS level, I can already imagine the sort of crap that would come from the US DoJ and the European Commission... Sad, but true... *Double sigh...*

[cb3431]

A prime example of how Microsoft is expected to play by a different set of rules. If Microsoft is prohibited from providing pdf functionality at the OS level then Apple should be prohibited as well. Microsoft's plan to include pdf functionality natively with Office 2007 was a benefit to the consumer.

My statement has nothing to do with liking either company more than the other. It has to do with equality and fairness.

[sniperdoc]

The problem is that it's not just about taking a plain Document, whether it'd be a word doc, excel, or an image...

I totally get why people resort to Adobe Acrobat. Presevervation of layers, editable text fields, batch conversions, etc... none of your solutions so far listed offer that.

I just got contacted by Nuance, they have an Enterprise version of PDF Converter Pro 5 that's only $140 and is supposedly 300% faster than Adobe Acrobat 8 Pro and has features Adobe Acrobat does NOT have. $395/Pro license for Volume licensing is a ripoff when I can get a networked Enterprise version for $140!!! Adobe is a hack company and greedy as hell. They're an equivelant of Microshaft.

[Maarek Stele]

Old news. CuteFTP was listed as one of the Essential programs to download a year ago. it shows up under the print option.

[MadShinobi]

For MSOffice 2007 just download add-in from microsoft.

[Kiqlo]

Maybe this wiil be slightly off the original post but you can use swftools to convert your pdf in swf. It is easy and the default implementation comes with a simple flipping book. So if you put the two converters togheter you can transform your worddoc in swf. swftools is for windows and linux. if you want to see how it work you can use Kiqlo.com service. It is entirely free.

[ajnds]

i need the PDF converter software because this is very easy and needful to use any documents.