Who can recommend a great (not good) Word to PDF converter—free or otherwise?

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by allizomeniz, Jan 17, 2016.

  1. allizomeniz

    allizomeniz Registered Member

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    ETA: Title should say "Word to PDF."

    I've tried Acrobat (overrated bloat), Nitro Pro, 7-PDF Maker, Libre Office, Open Office, Word PDF add-in. The main drawback of all of them except 7-PDF Maker is they can't translate Word footnotes into the PDF. I'm getting very frustrated creating perfectly formatted Word documents only to have them mangled by worthless PDF converters. Would anyone have something in their secret stash to recommend. I'll pay for one that can do the job.
     
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2016
  2. Pliskin

    Pliskin Registered Member

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    Try this older version of doPDF (because it's only 4MB):
    http://www.filehorse.com/download-dopdf/16587/

    "doPDF converts any printable document to PDF format while allowing you to select the page size, unit type, orientation, resolution, and scale"
     
  3. Brummelchen

    Brummelchen Registered Member

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    word to pdf? how about built-in pdf output?

    i use now priprinter for a long time, i changed from Fineprinter pdf. but i think pdf-x change pdf printer will do also fine.
    some say that ghostscript and freepdf will do fine also.
    to mention bullzip pdf (uses also Ghostscript)

    neither nor recommende: 7-pdf (online), pdfforge (spiked with adware)

    links
    http://priprinter.com/features.htm
    http://fineprint.com/
    http://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-tools
    http://freepdfxp.de/index_en.html
    http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php

    i missed one but i forgot the name.
    HTH
     
  4. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    For Word to PDF I use PDFCreator for PDF to Word I've used Able2Extract with good results.
    Don't know which one you need, your post seems different than thread title...
     
  5. allizomeniz

    allizomeniz Registered Member

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    I made a mistake in the title and made note of it in my original post. Hopefully a Mod will change it. Word to PDF is what I'm after.
     
  6. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    OK, sorry, I've missed your note.
     
  7. JRViejo

    JRViejo Super Moderator

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    Done!
     
  8. allizomeniz

    allizomeniz Registered Member

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    Many thanks JRViejo. :)

    doPDF does a fantastic job. It converted exactly as I had it laid out in Word. It can't convert footnotes though. I can live with that for most of my documents. In the meantime I'll check out some of the other suggestions.
     
  9. Buddel

    Buddel Registered Member

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    I've been using PDF24 Creator for a year or two and like it. I use it for converting my Word documents, which often include numerous tables, pictures, links etc., to PDF files. I don't know if this tool is really great or just good, but it has always done its job.
    Link: https://en.pdf24.org/
     
  10. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Microsoft Print to PDF is included in Win10. It will print any document or photo to a PDF.
     
  11. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    Unless I misread, both Microsoft Word (Office) and LibreOffice have the ability to export a word document to PDF when you're viewing the document.

    It's a very handy feature that I recommend to people looking to avoid display issues across word clients.
     
  12. JRViejo

    JRViejo Super Moderator

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    allizomeniz, you're welcome! Take care.
     
  13. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    @allizomeniz What version of Word are you using? In Word 2007 and later, you will be able to save to PDF directly from Word, without any 3rd party software required.
     
  14. whitedragon551

    whitedragon551 Registered Member

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    CutePDF and NovaPDF are what I use. Both in an enterprise environment.
     
  15. allizomeniz

    allizomeniz Registered Member

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    roger, Word 2007. I've been told that but my version simply doesn't have that natively. I installed MS's Save as PDF add-in but it does a horrible job on most documents. The text comes out unevenly-spaced with gaps in the middle of words, at least for me. I've tried reinstalling and repairing Word but it keeps doing it. It might be something peculiar to my setup, but other converters don't create such gaps so I'm suspicious of Word itself. It has no quality options nor does it save footnote links.
     
  16. Pinga

    Pinga Registered Member

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    PdfFactory & PdfFactory Pro. Both are great and allow lots of tweaking:

    http://fineprint.com/
     
  17. jpcummins

    jpcummins Registered Member

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    I belong to a volunteer group and email a Monthly Newsletter. I prepare the Newsletter in Microsoft Office Word 2003 and convert to PDF using Expert PDF 5. If I use a link such as "http://www.whatever.com" the link can be opened from the converted PDF file. But, if I use a link such as "See Complete Article" the link cannot be opened from the created PDF file. However, sending the Word created Newsletter file to (Zemana Online file conversion) the Zemana created PDF file works as it should; no problem with the links either way. I can continue sending the Word files to Zemana to be converted to PDF but it would be nice to have a program that would allow me to do this myself. Anyone know of a program, preferably free, that would allow me to do this. As always I would appreciate all replies and would thank you in advance.

    John
     
  18. jpcummins

    jpcummins Registered Member

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    I had hoped someone had experienced the same problem and knew a work around. Surely someone has had the same experience. If so, I would appreciate hearing from you. As always I would appreciate all replies and would thank you in advance.

    John
     
  19. allizomeniz

    allizomeniz Registered Member

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    I'm using Word 2007 and have never been able to create links to external web pages; don't know if it's me or the program. What I'm saying is I can't say for sure, but you might try 7-PDF Maker http://www.7-pdf.de/en/downloads#140. It can export endnotes and footnotes, and it exports internal hyperlinks created in Word. You might give it a try. In my experience it has trouble with long or complex documents; overall it does good but not perfect. On smaller and simpler documents it does great. The last time I tried the portable version I believe it wasn't free, if memory serves, but that's been awhile.
     
  20. JRViejo

    JRViejo Super Moderator

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  21. allizomeniz

    allizomeniz Registered Member

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    Okay, I got it working. Strangely enough I had a registry key missing. Found a fix from MS, now it's finally working after all this time. I did my own simple test using the same text "See Complete Article" and linked it to whatever.com. 7-PDF Maker exported the link and it worked.
     
  22. jpcummins

    jpcummins Registered Member

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    Downloaded 7-PDF Maker and converted the Newsletter Word file and the links work perfectly as they should. Unfortunately now the columns don't line up as they should. The Newsletter has several pages so that may be the reason. Anyway will continue using Zemana until I can locate a program that meets my needs. I certainly do appreciate the help Allizomeniz.
     
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