Work with PDF files sans Adobe Acrobat
Some programs are more trouble than they're worth.
I'm a big fan of the PDF file format. It lets you share files with people using almost any type of computer without worrying about whether they have the right program installed to view it, or whether it will look to them the way it looks to you.
The problem is Adobe Systems' Acrobat, which is simply more software than I need to meet my meager PDF requirements. (It's also more annoying than any two Office apps combined.)
The fact is, you can create, convert, and edit PDF files without adding any software to your system. And if the files you work with are small in size and number, you can do so without paying a dime by using the Zamzar e-mail-based conversion service.
Files converted, delivered to your in-box
Have you ever wished you could open a PDF file in Word? There are plenty of programs that let you convert a PDF to Word's .doc format (or some other file format that Word supports), but you can manage the same trick for free at Zamzar.
Just select the file on your PC, choose the format you want to convert it to from the service's drop-down list (it supports many different image, text, audio, and video formats), enter your e-mail address, and click the Convert button. In just a few seconds, an e-mail arrives with a link to a page on the Zamzar site from which you can download the converted file.
Convert PDFs to other formats for free at Zamzar.com.
(Credit: Zamzar)Zamzar is free for files smaller than 100MB and up to five concurrent conversions. The service gives you one week to retrieve the converted file. For $7 a month you can convert files as large as 200MB, have up to seven conversions at one time, and store up to 5GB of files on the service. If you pay $16 a month, the file-size limit expands to 400MB, concurrent conversions to 10, and online storage to 20GB. The top-tiered service costs $49 a month for converting files as large as 1GB, up to 15 simultaneous conversions, and 100GB of storage.
The fee-based services also give you higher-priority delivery of your converted files, a personal in-box, ad-less pages (with the top two tiers), and the ability to delete and rename your files. The most expensive plan also lets you encrypt your converted files.
Use Gmail's built-in 'conversion'
An even quicker way to get a different view of your PDF files is to attach them to an e-mail you send to your Gmail account, and then click View as HTML to open the file in your browser, though this shows you only the text of the file. Then you can save it as an HTML or text file and reopen it for editing in Word or some other application.
Tomorrow: confessions of a Linux newbie.
Dennis O'Reilly has covered PCs and other technologies in print and online since 1985. Along with more than a decade as editor for Ziff-Davis's Computer Select, Dennis edited PC World's award-winning Here's How section for more than seven years. He is a member of the CNET blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. 
If I'm converting a .doc to .pdf I'll use PrimoPDF (http://primopdf.com) to ensure that all the formatting stays the way it was in Word. However, I create many documents in Open Office itself and save in .odt format. In that case I'll export to PDF from within Open Office.
Just a matter of using the right tool for the right job. One thing is certain though. I don't want to mess around with a web-based PDF converter because between relying on a solid I-net connection and e-mail access there are too many points of failure introduced that are unnecessary when free local-based options are available.
I'm sorry... but a Mac just does all of this for free... and it can do it with any file. What is the big deal here?? This is yet another way you must spend more money to do what just happens with a Mac.
I am no Mac Fan-boi, but I am a fan of equipment that does what I need it to do, even when I don't realize I need it!
Why can't Windows just do what is needed without requiring me to be nickel-and-dimed to death?
Had you bothered to read other replies, instead of immediately bashing Windows, you would have seen several free tools that do exactly what OSX does as far as PDFs, and have been around longer then OSX.
Sadly, you were too busy getting on some imagined high horse.
- by hasan123joann June 18, 2008 12:18 PM PDT
- Dear Dennis :
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(14 Comments)I have an acrobat adobe 5, I opened one of these latest pdf files, but I can not type in it. Actually I used your zamzar to convert into .doc to work with word.
My question is there anything I can do to use my acrobat adobe 5,
is the extra bells and whistles in the pdf file not compatible with old adobe 5 version. I hope not, I am just overlooking something.
My email is hjtezduyar@yahoo.com this is the email I registered cnet.com
Thank you....
Hasan