Halp!

[cleolinda]

Okay, so: please recommend me some kind of free software to convert a Word document to a PDF file. I went to download.com and got the most highly-rated one, Foxit Reader, but then it turned out that you'd have to pay for the Creator part, and even if you just used the free evaluation version it would put a watermark on each page of your PDF and I'm sorry, I'm not selling that, that's just tacky. I would keep browsing the listings, but I'd rather ask y'all than go through the download-hate it-uninstall process umpteen more times. So. All I want is something to turn my heavily-footnoted Word document into a PDF file that will preserve the hypertext links and aforementioned footnoting. Gah.

What with all the formatting headaches, I'm probably not going to be ready to go by Monday. But we're still talking about the home stretch, rather than a month from now.

Also, while it's going to be as simple and unfancy as possible, because at $5 for 125 pages and 460+ notes (sample footnote), I think you can handle that, I have decided that the title page will say,

THE ANNOTATED MOVIES IN FIFTEEN MINUTES<sup>1

1</sup>wizards

I'm just easily amused at this point, I think.

Comments

[auraesque.livejournal.com]

CutePDF. :)

http://download.cnet.com/CutePDF-Writer/3000-6675_4-10206470.html

[carebear8six.livejournal.com]

seconded. this is what I use even at work (they are cheap asses who won't buy full adobe)

[msilverstar]

Send it to me? Macs can print to PDF from everywhere. I think they did a deal, back in the day.

[corkdorkdan.livejournal.com]

It's not so much a "deal" as the fact that PDF is just open source. Anyone can freely view and use the code (or write programs that use the standard and give them away on the internet). Macs have it incorporated in the OS so you can use it with any program. I think the latest versions of windows/office are starting to incorporate it as well.

[sarafinapekkala.livejournal.com]

I have that as an option in Word; have you tried looking through their help files?

[musikologie.livejournal.com]

Um, Word won't do that for you? Maybe it's only the Mac version of Office, but when I click "Print", there's a PDF button at the bottom, and then there's a whole host of "save as PDF" options.

If it is a Mac-only option, you could send the file to me and I could convert it and send it back? Or to anyone else that has Office for Mac. ...although there has to be a free Windows solution out there, because this is just silly.

[instantpicnic.livejournal.com]

It's not just Office for Mac, but it's only in Office 2007 (or later.)

[firei.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that Open Office (http://www.openoffice.org/) let's you do this...

[aka-paloma.livejournal.com]

Yep, it does. I've copied and pasted stuff into an Open Office doc then saved it as a PDF file.

[justseventeen.livejournal.com]

I know there is an option to "print to PDF" in Word. This site (http://www.go2pdf.com/doc-to-pdf.html) has instructions for PC users. (I have a Mac - it's slightly different.) Unfortunately, I do not know if it will preserve hypertext links, but it's worth a try.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I think the version of Word on this computer is too old.

[jheen.livejournal.com]

Seconding CutePDF! Once you have it installed, it's a breeze to you - all you need to do is print, select CutePDF from the printer list, and then it'll ask you to save it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_ravengirl/]

http://www.primopdf.com/
It creates a printer driver, then you go to print the file and choose PrimoPDF as the printer. So instead of printing, it "prints" it to a PDF file. I've never used it but my friend the computer-whiz recommends it.

[kiena-tesedale.livejournal.com]

I have better luck with PrimoPDF than with CutePDF, especially on older computers (like, say, my former job's computers, which were PoS and they refused to get us Adobe Creator).

[onlyonechoice.livejournal.com]

win2pdf will do it - creates a printer for you to convert docs to PDFs.

I use it at work all the time.

[jennawaterford.livejournal.com]

PDF Creator is what I use. It acts like another printer, so you just print to PDF Creator and get a PDF of whatever it is from whatever program you're using (Word, Excel, web browser, etc.)

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

[palmetto.livejournal.com]

This is what I use, too. I've never had a problem with it.

[tygress.livejournal.com]

I just use GoogleDocs to do it? :)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

GoogleDocs doesn't seem to support footnotes.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Word 2007 has a "print to PDF" option built in, and I believe you can download a plugin for earlier versions. I don't know how well it handles footnotes tho.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Primo PDF. Got it, love it so much I use it in preference to Adobe itself.

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

There's an extension for Microsoft Word that will let you do this, it just has to be downloaded from microsoft (I think if you google your version of word and "save as PDF" or "print to PDF" it should get you the appropriate result -- that's what I did for my Word 2007, although until then I just used Open Office.)

[angedesoir.livejournal.com]

Open office converts word files to pdf :) it's free and handles MS Word files without problem (I do believe Office 2007 converts word files to Pdf too).

Best of luck.

[sarapada.livejournal.com]

We use PrimoPDF at work, and I like it so much I downloaded it for my home computer.

[auroraceleste.livejournal.com]

I use dopdf. It lets me "print" to a pdf. Also, it's small and inobtrusive, because that's all it does.

[boinsie.livejournal.com]

Have you tried www.doc2pdf.net ? :)

[lady-moriel.livejournal.com]

That's what I usually use too--haven't found an especially good program to install yet, so when I just want a quick conversion, I use Doc2PDF because it's all online and pretty fast.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

On PCs, CutePDF has always worked for me. However, if you don't care about turn-around time, http://www.zamzar.com will do it.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Will they really? I LOVE THEM!

[angeleyesjg24.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to say that that title? Brilliant! I LOLed. I'm so excited to buy this.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hee, yay. The reason I like it is that the next set can be (^2)Vampires, and then maybe (^3)Stabnation, and so on.

[brassyn.livejournal.com]

pdf995 is what we use at work. It used to be ad-free but not so now. However they are not unbearable and it's super easy to use.

[leia1912.livejournal.com]

http://zamzar.com/

You can convert all kinds of things. It is online-based and free.

[moiread]

Switch from Word to Open Office. It's free, it can read Word documents and save new ones in Word format, and it has an easy "Convert to PDF" feature built-in.

[mazarin221b.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry, but when I saw your icon (which I love) the first thing I thought of was the Vampire Weekend song "Oxford Comma," that starts out "Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma, I've seen those english dramas too, they're cruel..."

[adventurat.livejournal.com]

I'll echo the CutePDF suggestion. But I'm not sure that any freebie will keep all the hyperlinks for you; even Adobe Acrobat doesn't do that (or hasn't for me).

[icepearls.livejournal.com]

I will recommend CutePDF too